Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 60

The Final Shield – a free bonus short story

The short story that will accompany DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS is THE FINAL SHIELD, and newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of THE FINAL SHIELD when CROWN OF THE GODS comes out in a few weeks.

What is THE FINAL SHIELD about? Well, the DRAGONSKULL series is concluding with CROWN OF THE GODS, but I still think there are more stories to tell in the world of Andomhaim. THE FINAL SHIELD will be a preview of my next epic fantasy series, which should be coming in 2024.

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you haven’t done so already! 

-JM

Ad Results July 2023

Let’s see how my ads performed for July 2023!

First up, let’s take a look at how Facebook ads performed. As usual, this is what I got back for every $1 I spent on the ads:

FROSTBORN, w/audio: $7.82

GHOSTS, w/audio: $4.17

CLOAK GAMES/MAGE: $4.57

SILENT ORDER: $4.88

Unfortunately, CLOAK GAMES/MAGE never sells enough audiobooks to really move the needle. But other than that, everything was going well on Facebook ads this month. This is also the only reliable way I have found to promote audiobooks – advertise the ebooks, and if you sell enough ebook copies, eventually the needle will move on audiobooks.

For Amazon ads, the only thing I am advertising is DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE. Remember that for an Amazon ad to work, it needs to generate a sale for every 6 to 8 clicks on the ad.

Amazon ads:

DRAGONSKULL: $4, 0.74 clicks

So it was performing well. The reason it generated less per dollar spent was because the book was on sale for $0.99 USD for Bookbub. So SWORD OF THE SQUIRE made less, but overall DRAGONSKULL as a series made more.

As always, thanks for reading, everyone!

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS cover image

Editing is underway for DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS, so let’s take a look at the cover image!

If all goes well the book should be out before the end of August.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS rough draft done!

I am very, very pleased to report that the rough draft of the final book in the DRAGONSKULL series, DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS, is finished!

Next up is the bonus short story newsletter subscribers will get for free, THE LAST SHIELD.

CROWN OF THE GODS might be the final book in the DRAGONSKULL series, but there are more tales to tell in the world of Andomhaim. THE LAST SHIELD will be a preview of my next epic fantasy series in the world of Andomhaim, which I will start writing in 2024.

Check back in a few days to see the cover image for CROWN OF THE GODS!

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 162: Writing Dialogue

In this week’s episode, we discuss writing dialogue in fiction, and share eight tips & tricks for writing better dialogue.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

Progress Update and Top 10 July 2023 books

Took a couple of days off for travel, but time to get back to it!

First, let’s see my top 10 bestselling books of July 2023.

Good thing that I’m working on the final DRAGONSKULL and the final SILENT ORDER books in the next few months.

Speaking of that, I am at 75,000 words of DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS. A couple more good pushes and I think the book should be done, so I am hoping to finish up the rough draft this week if all goes well.

-JM

A 2nd 10,000 word day of DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS!

I am very pleased to report that I’ve had a second 10,000 word day for DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS, which makes for the 2nd 10k word day of 2023.

Since I had only one in 2022, this is very gratifying.

I am now on Chapter 15 of 20 of the book, so just about 75% of the way through the rough draft!

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 161: Lessons In Fantasy Worldbuilding From Willow

In this week’s episode, we take a look at what fantasy writers can learn about worldbuilding from the Willow streaming series. I also discuss how I wrote 10,000 words in a single day for the first time since January 2022.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS progress update

I am pleased to report that I am now on Chapter 12 of 20 of DRAGONSKULL: CROWN OF THE GODS!

Heading into the finale of the series very soon now.

-JM

The Tale of Tinúviel

Today we’re going to talk about two tangentially related topics, THE SILMARILLION and Magic The Gathering: Arena.

If I remember correctly, I first read THE SILMARILLION when I was either seventeen or eighteen. I got it at the small-town bookshop in the small town where I grew up – the bookshop, alas, no longer exists and the storefront is now occupied by a place selling kitchen fixtures. I still have the specific paperback copy of THE SILMARILLION I bought – it was the gold mass market paperback that showed the Fall of Númenor on the cover, and the cover blurb said it was the history of the Elves of Middle-Earth.

Since I had read THE LORD OF THE RINGS when I was sixteen, I was definitely interested in trying THE SILMARILLION. Reading THE LORD OF THE RINGS gives a sense of a vast history behind the story, a history that had been going on long, long before Bilbo ever met Thorin Oakenshield and found the Ring in the goblin-tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains. At the end of RINGS, there are bits and pieces of that history in the various Appendixes, but it had never been fully explained.

So I thought THE SILMARILLION might be an intriguing read, and at seventeen or possibly eighteen, I was already very interested in fantasy worldbuilding, which would serve me well later in life.

Now, it must be said, THE SILMARILLION is kind of a difficult read. Like, it starts with a creation myth, and then has a long section where the Valar order the world and explains who each of the Valar are in great detail, and the Elves don’t even show up for a while. In terms of the text, it feels like a combination of reading an ancient chronicle like something Xenophon or Tacitus wrote combined with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the historical books of the Bible, specifically the ones where every chapter starts with “King Whoever did evil in the eyes of the LORD, more than all his predecessors combined.” So, in terms of reading, THE SILMARILLION is a heavy lift.

What did I think of it the first time I read it?

In all honesty, THE SILMARILLION blew my underdeveloped adolescent mind.

It was one of the first fictional things I read that was truly epic in scope. Like, some parts of it I just didn’t get, but I had just enough historical knowledge at the time to grasp some of the inspirations – like the Valar were kind of like the Greek/Roman gods without the jerkish behavior, Melkor/Morgoth was an analogue for the devil, Númenor was inspired by Atlantis, and so forth.

As you get older, some of the memories of adolescence get hazier, but I can still clearly remember reading portions of THE SILMARILLION in that gold mass market paperback for the first time – the Music of the Ainur, Fëanor and the Silmarils, Melkor and Ungoliant, the Battle of Tears Unnumbered, Fingolfin’s duel with Morgoth, Beren & Lúthien Tinúviel, Túrin and the dragon Glaurung, the Fall of Gondolin, the voyage of Eärendil, and finally the War of Wrath when Eärendil casts the great dragon Ancalagon the Black from the sky onto the towers of Thangorodrim and Morgoth is overthrown.

And finally Maglor, in despair and grief after so much suffering, casting the final Silmaril into the sea and forever wandering Middle-earth singing of his regret.

All these amazing epic and tragic scenes that catch in the imagination. I mean, I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I do remember reading THE SILMARILLION for the first time.

About that time, I started digging around my school’s library, and found some of the various History of Middle-Earth books that Christopher Tolkien had published from his father’s copious notes. Among them was THE LAYS OF BELERIAND, which included a epic poem Tolkien wrote about the quest of Beren & Lúthien but never got around to finishing. (The poor guy enjoyed puttering so much that it is probably astonishing that he finished THE LORD OF THE RINGS at all.) I don’t generally enjoy poetry, but since I already knew the story of Beren & Lúthien, I was able to follow along, and the sheer craft and skill of it blew my mind. Like, I never have had any interest at all in writing poetry, but this was amazing.

THE SILMARILLION, like THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT, is one of those books that will endure the test of time and become part of sort of the cultural canon, like Sherlock Holmes, Romeo & Juliet, Ebenezer Scrooge, and so forth.

Let’s jump forward many years to 2023, when I started playing MAGIC THE GATHERING ARENA. The game received a THE LORD OF THE RINGS-themed expansion pack, which I started playing with in June when it made its way into the app. It’s a point of pride that I’ve never spent any actual USD money on the game, but I’ve won enough matches that in-game gold starts to accumulate, and the only thing to spend the in-game gold on is in-game card packs, so I’ve gotten more and more LORD OF THE RINGS-themed Magic cards.

One of the cards is The Tale of Tinúviel, which is an enchantment card that distributes its effects over three turns. On the first turn, you pick a creature to be invulnerable for the next three turns. On the second, you can pick two creatures to have lifelink until the end of the turn. On the third, you can bring back one of your previously killed creatures. It’s a powerful card, which is fitting, since in THE SILMARILLION Lúthien forces Sauron to flee and puts Morgoth and his entire court to sleep long enough for her and Beren to escape from Angband with one of the Silmarils.

Anyway, the very first time I played The Tale of Tinúviel card, I was losing the match pretty badly, but I played the card, and it turned things around just long enough for me to win three turns later. It was an interesting experience, since it brought back the memories of reading THE SILMARILLION and THE LAYS OF BELERIAND for the first time all those years ago in a previous century.

And amusingly, I played a match right before I published this post, and I won because I used The Tale of Tinúviel yet again.

-JM