J.A.’s Comments (group member since Feb 22, 2011)

J.A.’s comments from the Q&A with J.A. Konrath group.

Greg wrote: "I never queried. Never tried the traditional route. Just hunkered down and wrote 15 books. Didn't worry about printing anything. Recorded them as audiobooks. Built a base, and wrote more books. Too..."

Yep, all of my ebooks are audiobooks, coming soon from Brilliance Audio and Audible.com.

Stevie wrote: "Joe, where do you stand on lending and swapping of ebooks. I've always swapped dead tree books with friends and family. This is not now possible with the limited kindle lending scheme."

I love lending and swapping. I also support piracy. If you can find my ebooks online for free, go for it. And if you want to share them, you have my blessing.

Media wants to be free, and the more people who read me, the better off I'll be. Besides, I haven't seen a single convincing study that piracy hurts the artist.

Bobbie wrote: "Hi Joe,

I would LOVE to read a sequel to AFRAID!

Also, is there any for a release date for DRACULAS 2? I hope so because I REALLY want to know how the story progresses; you guys left us high, dry..."

This year we're doing MUMMIES and WOLFMEN.

DRACULAS 2 and FRANKENSTEINS will happen at the end of this year, or early next.

Janene wrote: "Hey Joe! I serve on a readers advisory counsel..and was recently asked my fav horror novel off all time. 'Afraid' is it. My #1 read of 2009. I hated to see it end, but thank god it did. Reall..."

That's so cool. Thank you.

Thanks for the kind words! :)

Kaitlyn wrote: "I'm with the above poster in that I love the Jack Daniels series. I had stopped reading for years and Whiskey Sour got me back into it. Love."

Thanks!

Besides KILLERS, a Jack Kilborn novella which was just released in ebook (soon to be released in print)I'm going to begin work on a new Kilborn book called CONSUMED.

It's just awful. You'll love it.

As for a sequel to Afraid, I have an idea I'm kicking around that may bring some of those characters back. We'll see.

Katie wrote: "I agree with John. I am very disappointed there will be no more Jack Daniel's books. The collaboration with Crouch does nothing for me and if I'm completely honest the change in focus to his charac..."

I'm sure Crouch's fans say the same thing about him collaborating with me. Change can sometimes be hard to absorb.

But pitting my hero, Jack Daniels, against his villain, Luther Kite, is too much fun for both of us to pass up. It's like James Patterson's hero Alex Cross chasing Hannibal Lector.

If you read Cherry Bomb, fully 1/2 of the entire book was in the villain's perspective, and Stirred will be similar. But while Cherry Bomb was the direct sequel to Fuzzy Navel, Stirred will be a cap on the entire Jack Daniels series, along with Serial Uncut, Killers Uncut, Desert Places, Locked Doors, and Break You.

It's so rare when authors combine their universes. I'd love it if Michael Connelly wrote a book with Robert Crais, or if Janet Evanovich teamed up with Sue Grafton.

If this bothers you, all I can say is it will be Jack's most exciting adventure yet. And the ending is going to be a killer...

John wrote: "Very disappointed that this is the final Jack Daniels book. I hope this is not a result of your collabaration with Blake Crouch. Serial Uncut was OK but seemed more like his territory than yours...."

I'm lucky that I'm able to explore different topics and stories with my writing, so Jack Daniels is going on hiatus for a while.

Will she return? I won't say never, but I currently don't have any future plans for Jack. Though she does play a starring role in my novel Shot of Tequila, and a part in my upcoming spy thriller Flee, written with Ann Voss Peterson.

Jennifer wrote: "SO very excited to see another Jack Daniels Mystery coming out. I have loved listening to them in Audio book format - the couple you have reading are wonderful! Will we get to hear the same readers..."

Thanks! I believe there's a new reader for Shaken, but I heard they were awesome.

Chryse wrote: "Mr. Konrath,
Your blog is my home page, and I find it highly informative. Thank you so much for listening to your Encore publicist and answering questions here :)

So my question: what is the mo..."

Thanks!

I post on Kindleboards.com occasionally, and I've found many folks to review my ebooks here on Goodreads. Offer free books to your friends here in exchange for a review.

Bobbie wrote: "The price matching --- does the publisher authorize that or does the book seller take the hit to stay competitive in the bookseller market?

I've had authors tell me both ways...

If I am asking to..."

The publisher sets the price. It's their job to make sure all prices are equal with different retailers. if they aren't the retailer will match.

And ask as many ???s as you like. :)

Amazon doesn't discount. They may match prices it another retailer is selling a book for less, but the publisher sets the book price.

It always takes a while for people to embrace a new technology. In the case of writers, they also must conquer Stockholm Syndrome. We're so used to pursuing traditional publishers that we don't believe we can survive without them.

But we can. I'm proof.

I love the ebook experience. It's faster, I have more control, and keep more of the royalties.

As for writing great descriptions, read a lot of books in your genre and look at how they do it. Read the back jacket copy.

Currently, on my blog, http://jakonrath.blogspot.com, Blake Crouch has a great description for his new novel, RUN.

A good cover artist can take two months or more to get a cover. Mine is well worth the wait. He's Carl Graves at http://extendedimagery.blogspot.com. He does all of my ebooks, and also did Shaken.

If you're in a time crunch and need a cover immediately, you can always upload your book with a crummy cover self-made, then change it later on.

It amuses me that this thread is getting more views than the others.

>>>>DAMMIT! And I was going to ask you about that squirrel with one nostril on MASH in 1981... D'OH!!!

That kind of talk can get you banned from these here parts, young lady!

1. Write a damn good book.
2. Make sure it has professional cover art.
3. Keep the price under $4.
4. Make sure the formatting is flawless.
5. Write a good product description.
6. Upload to Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.
7. Repeat. Over and over, until the world can no longer ignore your work.

No one likes to think about how big a part luck and random events play in success. But luck is huge.

However, the harder you work, the luckier you get. And the more shelf space you have (virtual or real) the more chances you have for people to discover you. So 36 ebooks for sale give you a better shot at success than 2 do.

I think there will always be a market for print books. But I'm not going to actively act as my own distributor to try and sell print.

I love print, I love bookstores, but most of all, I love writing. The more I take on the duties of a publisher (printing, distributing, marketing), the less time I have to write.

I'm lucky to be doing well self-pubbing, so I don't have to worry as much about selling books, and I can devote my time to writing them.

That said, Blake Crouch and I are investigation options to do limited hardcover editions of out ebook titles. So you may find me in a horror makeup shop yet. :)