Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 260
January 29, 2016
introversion vs. extroversion in fiction
I recently read an interesting book on extroversion vs introversion, which made me think about extroversion and introversion in fiction.
Of my lead characters, I would say that Mazael Cravenlock, Ridmark Arban, Calliande, Annarah, Claudia Aberon, and Kylon of House Kardamnos would be extroverts, while Caina Amalas, Corvalis Aberon, Morigna, Lucan Mandragon, Nerina Strake, and Molly Cravenlock would be introverts.
Though Caina could pretend to be an extrovert for a very long time if necessary.
Nadia Moran would be an introvert, while her brother Russell Moran would be an extrovert, which is why Russell needs Nadia to drive him places so he can go be extroverted.
Morgant’s level of extroversion varies depending on how annoyed he is feeling at any particular moment.
The Old Demon is extremely extroverted, much to the regret of anyone who meets him.
Conventional models of psychology would not apply to someone like the Red Huntress.
-JM
January 27, 2016
FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS Table of Contents
Here’s the Table of Contents for FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS. I was going to type it into the browser, then I realized I could just take a screenshot. Screenshots are great!
Barring unforeseen misfortune, it should be out in the first week of February.
-JM
January 25, 2016
BLADE OF THE GHOSTS now available in print
My first print book of 2016 is now available! Click on this link to get BLADE OF THE GHOSTS in paperback format.
-JM
January 24, 2016
a GHOST EXILE fix-up?
A confession: I was looking at putting together a GHOST EXILE fix-up from the GHOST EXILE short stories like CHAMPION OF THE GHOSTS, and in hindsight I really like the GHOST EXILE short stories.
I’ve enjoyed writing and reading short stories for a long time. If you think about, two of the most famous characters in literature – Sherlock Holmes and Conan of Cimmeria – got their start as recurring short story characters. Robert E. Howard, in fact, only wrote one actual novel with Conan, THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON, though some of the longer Conan stories like RED NAILS and THE SCARLET CITADEL got up to novella length. The novel is the dominant form of written fiction nowadays, but I’m pleased I’ve found a commercially viable niche for short stories in my new-release newsletter and the eventual fix-up novels.
But I think the GHOST EXILE short stories are my favorites in hindsight. I really like GHOST PRICE, GHOST RELICS, GHOST NAILS, GHOST KEEPER, and GHOST ARTS. I enjoyed the scene in GHOST ARTS when Caina and Morgant go to the art gallery, and Caina pretends to be Morgant’s empty-headed girlfriend (to Morgant’s great annoyance). Or the band of hapless thieves in GHOST RELICS, and Damla wincing at the hakim’s atrocious table manners in GHOST NAILS.
The question becomes, though – what stories to include in the fix-up? Right now GHOST RELICS is part of GHOST EXILE OMNIBUS ONE, and any short story that’s in the fix-up couldn’t be in the omnibus because of Kindle Unlimited’s terms.
On the other hand, maybe I could write a short GHOST EXILE prequel in the vein of BLADE OF THE GHOSTS, like a short novel or a really long short story, or do that instead.
Decisions, decisions. 
-JM
January 23, 2016
Sherlock Holmes vs Caina Amalas
A Sherlock Holmes marathon tonight – I shall watch THE SPECKLED BAND and THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER with Jeremy Brett playing Holmes. I think the Jeremy Brett version of THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER achieves the rarest of all feats – a TV adaptation that slightly improves upon the original short story. Like, if I was rewriting THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER, I would make the changes to the story that the TV adaptation made.
Still, THE SPECKLED BAND and THE ADVENTURE OF THE NORWOOD BUILDER are some of the best examples of short fiction in the English language, and everyone should read them.
It’s a pity that the public domain status of Sherlock Holmes is still in flux. About two years ago I wrote an outline for a short novel where Sherlock Holmes meets Caina Amalas, in a version of Victorian Britain where the Royal Magisterium uses sorcery to defend and protect the British Empire, and the Ghosts act as a check upon the power of the Queen’s Ghosts, but I decided that the risk of legal complications was simply too high, so I dropped the idea.
I suppose I shall simply have to write GHOST IN THE PACT instead.
-JM
January 18, 2016
FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS cover image
Editing is now underway for FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS, so let’s have a look at the cover image!
If all goes well, I’m hoping the book will be out either the last week in January or the first week in February.
-JM
January 15, 2016
FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS rough draft finished!
I’m pleased to report that the rough draft of FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS is finished! 103,000 words in 33 days.
Next up is UNTITLED FROSTBORN SHORT STORY, which I will give away to newsletter subscribers, once 1.) FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS is ready, and 2.) I think up a better title than UNTITLED FROSTBORN SHORT STORY.
I hope to start editing FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS on Monday, and I’ll share the cover image then.
-JM
January 14, 2016
sales percentages in 2015 – which platform sold the most books?
Let’s talk about ebook sales today! Specifically, which platforms sold the most books. In today’s post, I will compare my ebook sales in 2014 with 2015’s sales, and see what changed over the last year. (Short answer: a lot!)
To start, I would like to thank everyone who bought a book in 2015. There were a lot of you!
Now to the numbers. I sold almost as many books in 2015 as 2014 – it came to about 1% less. So the following pie charts are comparable to each other. Also, these numbers aren’t “total copies sold”, but “total revenue received”, which seems like a more valuable metric. After all, if you sell 10,000 copies of one book at $0.99, but 1,300 copies of one book at $3.99, you’ll have made more money with the $3.99 book.
In 2014:
Amazon US: 40.71% / Amazon UK: 33.4% / Amazon Germany: 0.09% / Amazon Other Countries: 1.8% / B&N: 12.47% / Apple: 6.8% / Kobo: 1.9% / Google Play: 1.5%
In 2015:
Amazon US: 38.6% / Amazon UK: 26.9% / Amazon Germany. 0.01% / Amazon Australia: 1.7% / Amazon Other Countries: 0.1% / B&N: 9.4% / Apple: 6% / Kobo: 10% / Google Play: 3.7% / Kindle Unlimited: 1.8% / Tradpub Royalties: 0.01% / Affiliate Links/Ads: 0.01%
What conclusions can we draw from this?
-It’s good to diversify. Amazon US, Amazon UK, and B&N all dropped for me, but other sources made up for it.
-Despite all the sturm and drang in the media about Amazon becoming a monopoly, Amazon is definitely not an ebook monopoly. 69% market share does not a monopoly make. It makes for a dominant player, yes, but definitely not a monopoly. My Amazon sales went down by 7% since 2014, which is also not a sign of a monopoly. Monopolies, generally speaking, do not have vigorous competition.
-Amazon UK went down from 33.4% to 26.9%, and the reason for that is quite obviously the European Union’s 20% VAT that went into effect for ebook sales starting in January 2015. As one might expect, the new tax has done nothing to stimulate ebook sales in the EU, to the point where small publishers have been complaining that it is stifling their business. So the VAT on ebooks was a bad decision that benefited no one, but to be perfectly candid the ebook VAT probably wouldn’t even make the Top 50 list of the EU’s bad decisions of 2015, so let’s leave it at that and move on to a different topic.
-Amazon Australia became its own platform this year, and my books have done pretty well on it – FROSTBORN, GHOST EXILE, and CLOAK GAMES have all gotten into the top twenty of their category on Amazon Australia this year.
-Kobo went way up, from 1.9% in 2014 all the way to 10% in 2015. After Amazon UK, it was my second-best seller. The reason for this was Kobo’s new internal email promotion program. Basically, Kobo is running its own internal Bookbub service. They run regular promotions, and in exchange for a percentage (usually 10%) of the book’s sales, they’ll feature it in a promotional email. This has worked out really well, and FROSTBORN OMNIBUS ONE caught a couple of good sales, so the FROSTBORN series is a consistent seller there.
-Barnes & Noble went from 12.47% to 9.4%. I hope B&N turns it around the way Waterstone’s did in the UK, but the prognosis doesn’t look good.
-Google Play went up from 1.5% to 3.7%, almost double. I think that’s partially because I increased the number of books available on GP, and Google has been cracking down hard on ebook pirates, so there’s less competition from people selling pirated books, which is a good thing.
-Kindle Unlimited did pretty well. I think KU’s change from borrows to pages read was a good idea. I don’t want to pull any of my novels off the other platforms, but KU is big enough that I don’t want to neglect it entirely. So it seems my strategy of producing fix-up novels from short stories is a good one for 2016.
-Apple shrank about 0.8%. I dunno why – from everything I heard, Apple was growing while B&N was shrinking, but maybe that was limited to romance writers. Apple sells worldwide, so I suspect the EU’s VAT hit Apple’s European book sales, which likely accounts for the slight drop. I’ll have to dig into the Apple sales more to find out.
That’s it for 2015. Looking forward to seeing what 2016 will bring!
-JM
January 13, 2016
FROSTBORN: THE KNIGHT QUESTS now available!
I am pleased to report that FROSTBORN: THE KNIGHT QUESTS is now available for borrowing on Kindle Unlimited and for sale at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Canada, and Amazon Australia.
FROSTBORN: THE KNIGHT QUESTS is another one of my fix-up novels, like CHAMPION OF THE GHOSTS. For years now, I’ve been giving away a free short story when I release a new novel (which I will do again when FROSTBORN: THE HIGH LORDS comes out), but I’ve always been keen to do more with the short stories once they’re released. Hence, the fix-up novel – FROSTBORN: THE KNIGHT QUESTS was originally the short stories THE SOULBLADE’S TALE, THE ORC’S TALE, THE MAGE’S TALE, THE SOLDIER’S TALE, THE PALADIN’S TALE, THE THIEF’S TALE, THE ASSASSIN’S TALE, and THE KNIGHT’S TALE.
The frame story is the Warden of Urd Morlemoch looking into the shadows of the future. (If you’ve read the series through FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN, you’ll understand at once.)
-JM
January 11, 2016
Print Book Catalog Now Available!
20 of my novels are now available as trade paperbacks, and you can find the complete list of them here!
One of my goals for 2016 is to get better organized with print books, and this page is the start.On the page linked above you can find links to each of the major sites that carries my paperback books. If you would prefer to order a book from your local bookseller instead of Amazon or Barnes & Noble, the ISBN numbers are listed for each book. Simply provide the bookseller with the ISBN-13 number, and they can order the book for you.
I hope to expand the number of print books soon. I’ll start with BLADE OF THE GHOSTS, then finish the CLOAK GAMES series, and move on to FROSTBORN and GHOST EXILE.
-JM
