Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 98

DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT done!

I am very pleased to report that the rough draft of DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT is done!

Next up is THE FIRST SPEAR, a short story that will be set between SWORD OF THE SQUIRE and SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT. Subscribers to my newsletter will get a free ebook copy of THE FIRST SPEAR when SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT comes out.

Next week I’ll start editing, and we’ll share the cover image then!

If all goes well, DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT will be out in early January.

-JM

2021: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES coming soon

Most of the self-publishing platforms close to new submissions to do maintenance from the 17th to New Year’s, and while I’ve been making good progress on DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT, there’s no way it’s going to be ready by the 17th.

So we’ll have some schedule slip – DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT will be out in January, and CLOAK OF IRON should be out in February. It will be nice to work ahead a bit and start fresh in 2022.

But I was always planning to release a bundle of all nine short stories I published in 2021, and that will be out next week! I’ve given away all these stories for free to newsletter subscribers over the year, but enough people want short stories in a bundle that TALES OF THE SHIELD KNIGHT and OTHERWORLDS did well, which makes it worthwhile to occasionally bundle some short stories together.

2021: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES will start out at $0.99, and then go up to $3.99 in January.

Here are the nine stories (and their main characters) that will be in the collection:

1.) GHOST EYE (Maglarion from CHILD OF THE GHOSTS)
2.) SHIELD KNIGHT: REBELS (Niall & Moriah)
3.) GHOST MIRAGE (Caina)
4.) THE FIRST SORCERESS (Azalmora, chief villain of the DRAGONSKULL series)
5.) JUNKYARD WOLVES (Nadia)
6.) COPPER COILS (Cormac Rogan)
7.) PHASE DRIVE (Jack March)
8.) THE FIRST RISING (Gareth)
9.) GHOST SPIRE (Caina)

-JM

 

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 99: The Thankful Writer

In this week’s episode, I look back at nine things in the writing world that I am thankful for in 2021.

I also answer reader questions and look at Facebook and Amazon Ad spending for the month of November.

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

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT, the final push

Starting the week at 70,000 words of DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT.

Hoping to reach the end of the rough draft by the end of Friday!

-JM

Spotify, The Review

A few weeks ago I signed up for Spotify and have been using it on and off.

Unlike practically everyone else I know, I resisted using Spotify for years. It’s not that I distrust the idea of The Cloud, it’s just that I expect The Cloud to stab me in the back at the least convenient time. I’ve been using computers for so long that I automatically hit CTRL+S to save at the end of every sentence, and I keep local backups of all my data. (Hits CTRL+S) The idea of trusting The Cloud to store my data sets off alarm bells in the back of my head. Additionally, I have a hoard of about 40 gigabytes of MP3 music files I’ve accumulated since I first got an MP3 player (a Rio Chiba) in 2003, and I’ve been moving that collection from computer to computer ever since. In other words, I’m old enough to assume that the default will be that there is no Internet connection, or that the Internet will stop working at the worst possible time.

(Hits CTRL+S)

So, what changed?

You might have seen a news report that Spotify bought audiobook distributor Findaway Voices. All my Caina and Nadia audiobooks are on Findaway, so there’s a non-trivial chance that they might be available on Spotify in sometime in 2022. Of course, no one knows how this will work out in practice. Spotify says it presently doesn’t plan to offer audiobook subscriptions. Then again, when a publicly traded corporation says something, there’s a 50/50 chance it’s lying, and Spotify doesn’t currently have any ala carte sales. And I’m not opposed to the idea of audiobook streaming in principle, as my YouTube experiment demonstrated. Someone calculated that a 10-hour audiobook would only generated $0.80 for the author under Spotify’s current payment scheme. But which is better – to sell 20 copies of an audiobook a month on Audible for about $4.50 a sale, or to stream the same audiobook 1,000 times a month for $0.80 a stream?

Anyway, because some of my audiobooks might turn up on Spotify, it makes sense that I should get familiar with the platform.

People always say that the organic discovery and recommendation features on Spotify are very good, and I can confirm that this is true. An anecdote will illustrate the point. Way back in 2008, I liked the soundtrack for the game ROME TOTAL WAR so much I taught myself to use Audacity just so I could extract the soundtrack from the game’s music files. Recently ROME TOTAL WAR had a remaster release, which meant the soundtrack was finally available – and Spotify recommended the soundtrack to me based off about a week of casual listening. That’s some accurate recommendation right there!

There’s a lot of argument about whether or not Spotify is good or bad or musicians, and no one knows whether or not it will be good for audiobooks. But for the end user, it does seem like Spotify is a pretty good deal.

That said, I’m keeping my hoard of MP3 files, and if I find something I really like, I’m still buying it and keeping the files.

-JM

 

 

Fun With Social Media Ads

A new month is upon us, so time for some new images for my ads on a Certain Major Social Media Platform we’ll call VisageTome.

(VisageTome is, of course, Facebook. I wrote this post on FB and it gets twitchy if you mention FB in a post, so I usually use a euphemism like “VisageTome” when discussing it on FB itself.)

In the last (nearly) three years, I’ve run something like 250 campaigns on VisageTome, and here’s what I’ve learned about advertising fantasy books.

-Advertising a discount or free book works best.

-The narrower you can get the targeted audience, the better.

-Just be careful that it doesn’t tip over into too narrow.

-Target US and UK audiences separately.

-The images that get the best conversion results are square, prominently feature a woman who isn’t showing too much skin (and too much catches the attention of VisageTome’s bots), who is either holding a sword, doing Something With Magic, or both.

-If you can work a dragon into the image, all the better.

This seems like a lot of work, and it is, but it’s worthwhile. In December, for the CLOAK GAMES series I got back $3.98 for every $1 I spent advertising CLOAK GAMES: THIEF TRAP.

-JM

General Progress Updates

I am now on Chapter 12 of 20 of DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT, which puts me at 56,000 words. Over halfway there!

I am 13,000 words into CLOAK OF IRON.

Additionally, I just passed the 18,000 word point of CORRUPTING FIRE.

Back when The Virus first started in 2020, I had the idea that I would focus only on one project at a time, and not work on any side projects. But I’ve decided that clearly doesn’t work for me, so it’s back to my Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary project system. (I would like to get another SILENT ORDER book out in 2022 once CORRUPTING FIRE is done.)

Also, in audiobook news, DRAGONTIARNA: STORMS & WARDEN should be coming out around January 4th, 2022, and GHOST IN THE INFERNO is about 2/3 recorded.

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 98: How To Create Conflicts For Powerful Characters

In this week’s episode, I offer tips and tricks for creating conflicts for powerful characters without artificially de-powering them.

I also discuss my recent Chirp deal for CHILD OF THE GHOSTS and the 10th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

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

-JM

 

 

DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT progress

Thanksgiving was nice, but it’s time to get back to work!

I’m currently on Chapter 10 of 20 of DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT, and I am hoping to reach the 65,000 word mark by the end of the week.

-JM

Happy Thanksgiving 2021!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

For me personally, 2021 was a more challenging year than 2020 (and 2021 isn’t over yet!), but there are still many things for which to be thankful. It is good to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln’s original Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1864. And 1864 for was probably a much worse year than 2021.

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.”

Of course, the idea is far older than Abraham Lincoln, as this quote from the Book of Deuteronomy shows:

“You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

I’m very thankful that I get to write so much, and that so many of you have come along on the journeys of Ridmark, Gareth, Caina, Nadia, Jack March, and Cormac Rogan this year.

-JM