Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 280
November 15, 2014
MASK OF SWORDS progress update
Looks like MASK OF SWORDS will be about 93,000 words long, which puts it at 4770 Kindle locations and 244 Nook pages.
It will also include update versions of the Glossary of Characters and Glossary of Locations from SOUL OF SWORDS. Many people have told me they found the Glossaries helpful, and I have to admit that I found them helpful while writing MASK OF SWORDS, especially when I couldn’t remember if a certain character got killed off in book 6 or 7. 
-JM
November 14, 2014
A free Caina Amalas GHOSTS story for the weekend!
It’s Friday, so let’s have a free GHOSTS story! GHOST OMENS is free on Amazon today through 11/16/2014. Links below!
-JM
November 13, 2014
another MASK OF SWORDS excerpt
Let’s have another excerpt from MASK OF SWORDS!
“The rusted knight,” said Liane.
“Rusted?” said Adalar, looking at his armor. “I should hope not. I take very good care of my weapons and armor. A man’s life depends on them in battle.”
“Not your armor,” whispered Liane. “You. You have seen too much blood and too much pain and too much death, and it has rusted you. Just as my sister has seen too much death and too much loss and her blood has turned to ice. Neither ice nor rust are strong, and you must be strong for what is to come.”
“What?” said Adalar. “What is to come?”
-JM
Kindle Unlimited For Self-Publishers, Month #1
Last month (October) I started an experiment where I put 19 of my older short stories into Kindle Unlimited. (My reasoning is explained in this post.) My goal was to have at least 34 borrows, since that would match the sales I lost by removing the short stories from non-Amazon sales platforms, assuming the rate that Amazon pays for borrows stays above $1.
So, for the month of October, the 19 short stories had 49 borrows between them, exceeding my goal of 34 – 44 in the US, and 5 in the UK. GHOST PRICE was the most borrowed short story. I should also point out that most of the stories were not listed in Kindle Unlimited until October 12th, which means November will be the first full month of my Kindle Unlimited experiment. So the experiment looks promising so far.
That said, I think short stories are more valuable to the self-publisher as a promotional tool, and a book in Kindle Unlimited is also in Kindle Select, and a book in Kindle Select can be given away for 5 days out of the 90 day enrollment period. In October, I set THE SOULBLADE’S TALE, THE MAGE’S TALE, THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT, and GHOST CLAWS for free, and between the four short stories I gave away 647 copies. I usually saw a small uptick in the related novel series for a few days after the giveaway (like, 1-5 copies more than usual). A small bonus, but certainly a welcome one.
For now, I think I will keep to my plan for short stories – giving them away for free with my new-release newsletter via Smashwords coupon code, and then phasing them into Kindle Unlimited after a month or two. My novels and technical books will continue to remain available on all ebook platforms.
Tune in next month to see my results for November!
-JM
November 11, 2014
another MASK OF SWORD excerpt
Mazael Cravenlock and Adalar Greatheart have both previously been POV characters in the DEMONSOULED series. Sigaldra of the Jutai is a new character, so let’s have a short snippet from her POV:
“He is not going to marry my sister,” spat Sigaldra. “He wanted to kill us all in the middle lands. He will marry Liane over my dead body.”
“I suspect,” said Talchar, “that he would prefer it that way.”
“Why I can’t I simply marry you?” said Sigaldra.
Liane made a choking noise, her eyes widening.
“Well, you are young and pretty and thirty years younger than I am,” said Talchar, “so I can’t say I would object. My wife might, though, and she would express that displeasure by feeding us both to her dogs.” Sigaldra could believe it. Talchar’s wife Kuldura had survived the Malrags and the exodus and the runedead, all while raising eight sons, and Sigaldra had once seen the woman beat a Malrag to death with a cast-iron pan.
-JM
November 10, 2014
MASK OF SWORDS short excerpt
Let’s have a short excerpt from MASK OF SWORDS! Note that it has spoilers for a few of the previous seven DEMONSOULED books.
“What is it?” said Mazael.
“That letter,” said Romaria. “When you looked at it…the Sight came upon me.”
“The Sight?” said Mazael with a flicker of alarm. The usurper Malaric had almost killed Romaria, and Riothamus had healed her, but the process had left its mark upon her in the form of the Sight. It let her see magical auras and sometimes showed her glimpses of far-off places and the future. “What did you see?”
She shook her head, hair brushing against her shoulders. “Nothing clear. I thought I saw a…mask made out of swords?”
“Sounds painful,” said Mazael. “Might be useful for shaving, though.”
-JM
MASK OF SWORDS cover art
Editing is now underway for MASK OF SWORDS, so that means it’s time to share the cover image!
-JM
November 7, 2014
A free FROSTBORN story for the weekend!
It’s Friday, so let’s have a free FROSTBORN story. THE THIEF’S TALE is free on Amazon today through 11/9/2014. Links below!
-JM
November 6, 2014
now writing THE RANSOM KNIGHT
I’m now writing THE RANSOM KNIGHT, the short story I’m going to give away with MASK OF SWORDS. Like the other two DEMONSOULED short stories (THE WANDERING KNIGHT and THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT), it takes place when Mazael Cravenlock is a young knight and Gerald Roland is his squire.
They’re always fun to write because Mazael at twenty-four is a much rougher and more reckless man than he is by the end of the DEMONSOULED series – his primary interests are fighting, beautiful women, alcohol, fighting, gambling, and fighting, though he still has a moral core that Sir Nathan and Master Othar hammered into him (even if that core conflicts quite frequently with what he really wants to do). So he can get into trouble in ways that his older self would know to avoid. Of course, older Mazael still has all of his younger self’s destructive impulses, but now they’re backed up by self-restraint and a lot of battle experience, which means he can make considerable trouble for someone who challenges him.
-JM
November 5, 2014
MASK OF SWORDS rough draft finished!
I am pleased to report that the rough draft of MASK OF SWORDS (the first book in the MASK OF THE DEMONSOULED trilogy) is now finished! 99,900 words in 28 days, for an average of about 3,567 words per day.
I think it will probably be out in December. I was hoping for November, but December looks more realistic at this point.
-JM
