Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 282
October 14, 2014
THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT free on Amazon today!
Since I’m starting a new DEMONSOULED book, what better way to celebrate than by giving away a free DEMONSOULED short story? THE TOURNAMENT KNIGHT is free on Amazon for the next few days. Links below!
-JM
October 13, 2014
Kindle Unlimited For Self-Publishers
So why did I put a bunch of short stories into Kindle Unlimited?
Kindle Unlimited (KU), if you haven’t heard of it, is basically Amazon’s version of Netflix for ebooks. Basically, you pay $9.99 a month in the US and £7.99 in the UK, and you can read all the ebooks you want from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited catalog. For readers, especially the sort of power readers who can get through multiple books a day, this is a pretty good deal.
For writers, this can be a variable deal. Basically, once 10% of a borrowed book has been read, the writer receives a payment. The payment comes out of a fund of money Amazon sets aside each month for KU, which is then divided by the number of borrows total across Amazon for the month. The fund for October 2014 is $3 million, so the payment per borrow will be $3 million divided by the total number of borrows. So far, this has been about $1 to $2 per borrow.
There’s a catch, though – to be in KU, a book has to be in Amazon’s Kindle Select program, which confers a number of benefits (you can set a book to free for 5 days every 90 days), but a book can only be on Amazon – no Barnes & Noble, no Kobo, no iBookstore, no Google Play, no Scribd, nothing. It has to be only in Amazon.
This wasn’t something I was willing to do. On any given month, about 75% to 80% of my sales are on Amazon, which means to do KU, I would have had to walk away from about 25% of my monthly book sales. I wasn’t willing to do that with my novels or technical books.
My short stories, though…
I write short stories mostly as a bonus. I give them away for free with my new-release newsletter via Smashwords coupon, and after that I put them for sale on the various platforms. They don’t really do much then. A few copies a month, but little more than that. Most of those copies are on Amazon.
So I did some math, and in September, of all the short stories for THE GHOSTS, GHOST EXILE, DEMONSOULED, and FROSTBORN, I sold 155 copies (not counting GHOST RELICS, which was too new), and of those 155, only 34 of them were on non-Amazon platforms. Why not experiment with those in KU? That’s one of the advantages of self-publishing – you can try something and base further decisions on actual data from the results, not upon whatever a particular publisher happens to feel like doing that day.
I decided to put the short stories into KU as a promotional tool. The enrollment term for Kindle Select is three months, and I figure it I can get more than 34 borrows a month by the end of December, the experiment will have been a success, especially since the borrow would (currently) earn more money than the $0.35 or $0.70 I would get per story. Additionally, I can use the free days to give away stories when I send out newsletters. When I sent out the newsletter for FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN on October 5th, I also set THE SOULBLADE’S TALE to free. THE SOULBLADE’S TALE got downloaded a bunch of times and was briefly in the top 20 free SF/F short stories on Amazon. Since THE SOULBLADE’S TALE also had a link to FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT, which had a mini-boom in sales from that – as of this writing it’s at #14 for Arthurian Fantasy in Amazon US, #2 for Arthurian Fantasy in the UK and #8 for Historical Fantasy on Amazon AU.
So even if KU is a bust, the ability to give away an older short story as a free bonus with my new-release newsletter is obviously valuable.
Writers do have to self-promote, and I think my old short stories will help me do that. Since I know many writers are unsure about Kindle Unlimited, I will post my results here.
-JM
October 10, 2014
now starting MASK OF SWORDS
As you might have guessed from recent Facebook posts, I am now writing a new DEMONSOULED novel entitled MASK OF SWORDS. It is the first book of a planned trilogy, and if all goes well MASK OF SWORDS should be out sometime before Christmas. (Note that “before Christmas” is defined as everything up to 11:59 PM on December 24th. 
)
So what is MASK OF SWORDS about? A hint is below. Note that this hint has !!!SPOILERS!!! for the end of SOUL OF SWORDS, so if you haven’t read all the DEMONSOULED books you should probably skip the paragraphs below.
###
For three thousand years the Old Demon walked this world, shaping it as he pleased.
When he began so long ago, many dark powers contested for the rule of our world. The Imperium of the Dark Elderborn, which ruled from ocean to ocean. The soliphage, who feasted upon the souls of mortals. The Trichirabi, whose mastery of necromancy made the High Lords of Old Dracaryl seem as feeble children. The San-keth, worshippers of the serpent god. The princes of the deep waters and the lords of the burning realms, and a score of others, each powerful and fell. Yet the Old Demon overcame them all, banishing them from his sight and locking them away in desolate places and the underworld, forcing them to creep through the shadows.
He did this not out of benevolence nor kindness, but only that they should not hinder his plans. For the Old Demon raised up generation upon generation of Demonsouled, leading them to their doom so that one day he might feast upon their power and become a god. For thirty centuries the Old Demon moved unchallenged through the world, making kings and nations and empires dance upon his strings, until at last he was ready.
Yet at the very moment of his triumph, in the instant he reached out his hand to claim the power and become the new god, the Old Demon was defeated and slain, and mankind saved from his malicious grasp.
But his old enemies remain, watching the realms of men with hungry, covetous eyes.
For the Old Demon was the darkest horror of the old world…but with him slain, who left has the strength to vanquish the other creatures of dark power?
-JM
October 9, 2014
At last! A map of DEMONSOULED
A map of the world of the DEMONSOULED series. I might add more locations later for a variety of reasons:
-JM
October 8, 2014
Ridmark Arban vs Mazael Cravenlock
(Note that this post has SPOILERS for the DEMONSOULED series and FROSTBORN: THE GRAY KNIGHT.)
After reading FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN, a reader asked me a serious question that we must now consider with sober deliberation. Namely, who would win in a fight, Ridmark Arban or Mazael Cravenlock?
It depends on the timing.
When Ridmark was still a Knight of the Soulblade, he would win handily. Heartwarden’s power would let him match Mazael’s strength and speed, and a soulblade would do tremendous damage to Mazael’s Demonsouled blood. It would also inhibit Mazael’s Demonsouled healing abilities.
However, after Ridmark loses Heartwarden, he wouldn’t last long against Mazael. Mazael would have the better strength and speed, coupled to Demonsouled healing. Additionally, Mazael would have the greater experience. So without Heartwarden, Mazael would defeat Ridmark.
But what about an army? Ridmark commanded Andomhaim’s army at the battle of Black Mountain, but Mazael commanded an army in many battles. Tactically, Mazael would likely win an individual battle, simply based on greater experience. If Ridmark won the battle, though, there is still a good chance Mazael would win the war, because it’s possible to lose most of the battles but still win a war. Mazael has also lost battles before, which is important – how a general handles major setbacks is just as important as handling a victory. A good example is the Roman general Pompey, who won every battle of his career until he lost to Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus. Having never been defeated before, Pompey did not respond well, and fled the battlefield with his family and gold. A counter-example from the American civil war is Robert E. Lee, who kept his army together after the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. Or George Washington, who lost several battles during the Revolutionary War, but kept going.
So, to sum up, Ridmark could defeat Mazael with Heartwarden, but without the soulblade his chances are much worse. However, the FROSTBORN series isn’t over yet, and there’s more in store for Ridmark…
-JM
October 7, 2014
FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN now available!
I am pleased to report that FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN is now available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple iTunes, and Smashwords.
Click here to read the first chapter of FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN.
-JM
October 1, 2014
September 30, 2014
FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN table of contents
Making good progress on FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN, so let’s close out September by sharing the Table of Contents:
A brief prologue
Chapter 1 – The Torn Hills
Chapter 2 – The Sorceress and the Exile
Chapter 3 – Things To Lose
Chapter 4 – Memories
Chapter 5 – The Swordbearer
Chapter 6 – The Knight’s Quest
Chapter 7 – The Devout
Chapter 8 – The Archmage
Chapter 9 – Something New
Chapter 10 – Urd Morlemoch
Chapter 11 – Mechanisms
Chapter 12 – Guests
Chapter 13 – To Your Deaths
Chapter 14 – The Frostborn
Chapter 15 – Who Am I?
Chapter 16 – Bliss
Chapter 17 – The New Empire
Chapter 18 – Power at a Price
Chapter 19 – Threshold
Chapter 20 – Knights
Chapter 21 – Wrath of the Devout
Chapter 22 – The Long Game
Chapter 23 – One Hundred Thousand Years Of War
Chapter 24 – Where The Secret Rests
Epilogue
-JM
September 29, 2014
FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN vs Kindle Unlimited
Reader A.L. asks concerning FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN:
I recently got a Kindle Unlimited account, considering my recent spending on books it was a good idea! Will The Dark Warden be available through it?
That is a good question, which has both a short answer and a longer answer.
Short answer: Definitely not now, but maybe in the future, depending on what happens over the next year.
Now for the MUCH LONGER answer. Brace yourselves for math!
Kindle Unlimited is sort of Amazon’s “Netflix for ebooks”. The idea is that you pay $7.99 a month subscription fee (or £7.99 in the UK), and then you can read an unlimited number of Kindle Unlimited ebooks per month. This is a good deal for readers, especially the kind of power readers who can get through multiple books a day. Authors with books in Kindle Unlimited get paid if more than 25% of their book is read, and then their payment comes out of a “pool” – typically $2.5 million dollars – that is divided out based on the number of borrows per month. Usually this comes out to between $1 to $2 per borrow, and Amazon also pays out bounties to the top 100 Kindle Unlimited writers per month.
For a writer, though, the big downside of Kindle Unlimited is that the book has to be available ONLY on Amazon – no Barnes & Noble, no iBooks, no Google Play, no Kobo. For me personally, this would be a major disadvantage. In August of 2014, 42% of the books I sold were through Amazon US, 29% through Amazon UK, 0.7% through Amazon Germany, 1% on through Amazon Australia, 1% through Amazon Canada, 11% through Apple iBooks, 9% through Barnes & Noble, 2.5%through Google Play, and 1.5% through Kobo. So about 74% of my sales were on the Amazon websites, and 26% were on Amazon’s competitors.
So if I put FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN in Kindle Unlimited, I would hypothetically lose about 26% of the book’s potential sales, and I’m not willing to do that. Barnes & Noble’s Nook platform has kind of stagnated over the last year, alas, but I’ve been seeing growth on iBooks, Kobo, and Google Play, which I would like to see continue.
It might not continue, though. If I get to a point where, say, 90% of my book sales are on Amazon, it will definitely be time to start experimenting with Kindle Unlimited.
That said, I might try to move my short stories onto Kindle Unlimited. In the last few years, I’ve written something like sixteen FROSTBORN, THE GHOSTS, and DEMONSOULED short stories that I’ve given away as a free bonus with my new-release newsletter announcing a new book. (Subscribe now!) But after the short stories are out and the free copies downloaded, the short stories just sort of sit there and don’t sell very many copies, and they especially don’t sell very many copies on non-Amazon sites. What I might do long-term is give away a new short story with each new book, and then after a month, move the short story over to Kindle Unlimited. Kindle Unlimited items can also do short free bursts and temporary price promotions. So the goal would be to pull fresh readers into FROSTBORN, THE GHOSTS, and DEMONSOULED, since each short story would have a link to the first book in the series at the end. And if it doesn’t work out, I would move the short stories off Kindle Unlimited and back to the other sites.
The big advantage of self-publishing ebooks is that you can make decisions based on actual data, rather than a gut feeling or how the editor’s morning doughnut happened to affect his mood that particular day.
-JM
September 28, 2014
a question about GHOST IN THE HUNT
A reader writes concerning the character of Cassander Nilas, magus of the Umbarian Order, in GHOST IN THE HUNT.
I like the name Cassander, did you make it up?
Actually, I took the name from a historical figure – Cassander of the Antipatrid Dynasty, who was the King of Macdeon from 305 BC to 297 BC. Cassander and his father Antipater were among Alexander the Great’s chief lieutenants, and after Alexander died in 323 BC, Cassander assisted his father in battling the other lieutenants (known as the “Diadochi”, from the Greek word for “successors”) for control of Alexander’s empire.
The Diadochi were a hard bunch, but even among them, Cassander was known for his ruthlessness. Cassander rebelled against his father’s control to seize Macedon for himself, and later had Alexander’s mother, wife, legitimate son, and illegitimate son murdered to secure his hold on power. When I started plotting out GHOST IN THE HUNT, I wanted a Greek/Roman name for the Umbarian magus Caina would meet, and Cassander was the perfect fit.
Likely the fictional Cassander Nilas will prove just as ruthless as his historical namesake.
-JM
