Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 50
December 13, 2023
Why did I put HALF-ELVEN THIEF in Kindle Unlimited?
HALF-ELVEN THIEF had a very strong launch, especially for something new and unconnected to any of my previous settings. The last two completely new things I tried were COVERING FIRE in 2021 and SEVENFOLD SWORD ONLINE: CREATION in 2023, and HALF-ELVEN THIEF had a stronger first day than both of them, and came within like two copies of having a stronger first day than both combined.
So thank you for reading, everyone!
Rivah Half-Elven will join Caina, Nadia, Victoria Carrow, and Moriah Rhosmor as one of my Angry Thief Girl characters. 
The series will have six books, and I’m going to work on them on the side as I do other stuff in 2024.
I did put HALF-ELVEN THIEF in Kindle Unlimited, which means that it’s only available on Amazon.
I do regret that it’s only on Amazon, though once the series is complete, I will take it wide.
I think I had good reasons for this decision, which I will now enumerate in the Internet’s preferred format for discourse, a numbered list!
1.) I did this before in 2020, and it worked pretty well.
We all dealt with the Great Covid Panic in different ways, some for better, some for (much) worse. Myself, I spent 2020 learning how to use Photoshop and writing an entire epic fantasy series, specifically WRAITHSHARD. I ended up writing all five WRAITHSHARD books in 2020, and I originally put them in Kindle Unlimited and then phased them over to all the other stores in 2021.
This had very good results, and I am hoping to have something of a repeat with HALF-ELVEN THIEF.
2.) Amazon vs. AI problems under control.
Amazon had a bad problem with ChatGPT over the summer of 2023. Scammers were using ChatGPT to churn out “content”, format it as ebooks, upload it to Kindle Unlimited, and then use click farms to harvest page reads. This caused widespread problems, and Amazon finally responded by limiting the number of new books an individual author could publish to three a day. Some of the scammers were uploading hundreds or thousands every day, so this put a crimp in their operations.
I had avoided KU entirely for that time, but since it seems to be stable again, I’m willing to give it another try. We’ll see how things go.
3.) Why put the short story JEWELED CURSE wide and not in KU?
Because then I can give it away for free on my Payhip store. Everyone gets something!
4.) Bad economy.
Don’t believe what you see on the news about good job numbers – the economy suuuuuuuuuucks and has for some time for many complicated reasons. So subscription services are really an important part of people’s entertainment because the value for the cost is pretty good. That’s why (most) of my books are on Kobo Plus, most of my ebooks and audiobooks are on Scribd (or whatever Scribd is calling itself now), and (many) of my audiobooks are on Spotify even though the money from both those particular channels isn’t always super great. It does add up over time, and it is nice to have a lower-cost option for people on tight budgets.
5.) Everything else will stay wide.
Indie authors sometimes get stuck in binary thinking about Kindle Unlimited and wide.
Why not both? I write enough that I can do both.
THE SHIELD WAR, new Nadia books, and new Caina books in 2024 will all be wide and not exclusive to Amazon. Which is similar to what I did in 2020 – WRAITHSHARD was in KU, but DRAGONTIARNA and CLOAK MAGE were wide.
So that is my reasoning, and hopefully we will see more from Rivah Half-Elven in 2024!
-JM
The Seventh Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the seventh day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the SEVENFOLD SWORD ONLINE story GRIEFER! Since I’m about halfway through the rough draft of SEVENFOLD SWORD ONLINE: LEVELING, this will be a good preview for next year!
You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back tomorrow for the eighth day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
3.) ELVEN HONOR
5.) DRAGON SONG
6.) GHOST CANDLE
7.) GRIEFER
-JM
December 12, 2023
The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 178: No More Crossover Series
In this week’s episode, I explain why I won’t write any more crossover series in my 2nd decade as an indie author. We also discuss why too long of a backstory can become a problem.
You can listen to the entire episode (with transcript) at the official Pulp Writer Show site.
-JM
The Sixth Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the sixth day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the Caina short story GHOST CANDLE! In it, Caina sets out to find who tried to kill her friend Nerina Strake.
You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back tomorrow for the sixth day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
3.) ELVEN HONOR
5.) DRAGON SONG
6.) GHOST CANDLE
-JM
December 11, 2023
The Fifth Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the fifth day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the CLOAK MAGE short story DRAGON SONG! In it, Nadia has to play chaperone for a pair of dragons, and meets several people who will have a significant impact on her future, though she doesn’t know it yet.
You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back tomorrow for the sixth day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
3.) ELVEN HONOR
5.) DRAGON SONG
-JM
December 8, 2023
The Fourth Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the fourth day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the DRAGONSKULL short story THE FIRST HOLDFAST! In it, an old friend makes her way to join the quest of the DRAGONSKULL.
You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back on Monday 12/11 for the fifth day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
3.) ELVEN HONOR
-JM
December 7, 2023
Caina & DRAGONSKULL double feature!
Not sure how this happened, but I ended up having two audiobooks come out on the same day! Maybe if I’m lucky this will have some sort of “Barbenheimer” like effect where they feed off each other and shoot into the stratosphere. Then again, I don’t think anyone in either audiobook is wearing pink or building an atomic bomb, so maybe it won’t happen, alas.
Let’s discuss the new audiobooks in alphabetical order!
The first new audiobook is DRAGONSKULL: DOOM OF THE SORCERESS, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. You can get the audiobook at Audible, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Chirp, Storytel, Payhip, and Spotify. Brad’s also recording the ninth and final book right now, so very soon the entire DRAGONSKULL series will be available in audio.
The second new audiobook is GHOST IN THE SERPENT, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook at Audible, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Chirp, Storytel, Payhip, and Spotify. If all goes well, we’re planning to record the sequel to GHOST IN THE SERPENT, which will be called GHOST IN THE VEILS, in the second half of April.
Since December traditionally involves a lot of holiday travel, you’ve got some audiobook options for your journeys!
-JM
The Third Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the third day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the CLOAK MAGE short story ELVEN HONOR! It’s one of the more popular CLOAK MAGE stories. The best comment about it came from reader Scott Osmond on Amazon AU: “A trip to the mall with Nadia is never boring. I’m surprised that she’s not banned.”
You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back tomorrow for the fourth day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
3.) ELVEN HONOR
-JM
December 6, 2023
Cover image for HALF-ELVEN THIEF
Making good progress on editing HALF-ELVEN THIEF, and if all goes well I think the book will be out towards the end of next week.
Meanwhile, let’s see the cover image!
-JM
The Second Day Of Short Story Christmas!
It’s time for the second day of our Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas!
Today’s story is the DRAGONSKULL short story THE FINAL WAYSTONE! You can get it for free at Payhip from now until December 31st, 2023!
Check back tomorrow for the third day of Twelve Days Of Short Story Christmas.
Our free short stories so far:
1.) THE FIRST SPEAR
-JM
