Thanks for taking part in my survey – your feedback is important to me and helps me better serve your wants and desires. I look forward to reading your responses!
Thanks for taking part in my survey – your feedback is important to me and helps me better serve your wants and desires. I look forward to reading your responses!
One of the more interesting things that I always watch for is the change in a person once they earn their first degree black belt. With a good practitioner, earning that shodan is usually a humbling and moving experience – especially if the tests they had to overcome involved a great deal of sacrifice and [...]
One of the more interesting things that I always watch for is the change in a person once they earn their first degree black belt. With a good practitioner, earning that shodan is usually a humbling and moving experience – especially if the tests they had to overcome involved a great deal of sacrifice and cleansing of improper skills physically, mentally, and spiritually. They gratefully acknowledge the grade and when they wrap that piece of cloth around their waist for the first time, they perhaps feel empowered and as if they have reached the top of a mighty summit.
But as they stand atop their peak, they must also realize that just beyond their mountain are many, many more mountains – each of them significantly higher than the one they just climbed. The sheer size of these peaks in no way detracts from the hard work the new shodan did to reach this point; rather these peaks serve as a strong reminder that there are many more challenges – many more mountains – that the practitioner has yet to climb. And the view should serve to humble the practitioner. It should remind them that their journey is only just beginning; that mastery is still far from their grasp and their quest will take them to even loftier heights, provided they have the emotional and spiritual maturity to accept the forthcoming challenges.
The catchphrase around the dojo I attend, is that earning your shodan is like getting your Learner’s Permit when you’re starting to figure out how to drive. You’ve got the very minimal basics down, but now it’s time to get out on the road and put those skills to the test. You’d never think of jumping into a NASCAR upon getting a Learner’s Permit thinking that you could even control such a vehicle. The same applies to the first degree black belt. You aren’t suddenly invincible, nor are you particularly gifted. What you have is a very limited set of skills that have been tested to a certain extent. Now it’s time to see what you do with those skills that determines how far you will travel in the art.
Or how quickly you will get sidetracked and defeated by your own ego and sense of entitlement.
What sometimes happens is the newly-minted black belt starts thinking they are a gift to the world of taijutsu. They decide that since they have reached this level, they should now teach others and bestow upon them their “immense wisdom” or physical gifts. Their whole attitude changes from one of a humble practitioner, to a cocky, swaggering braggart too quick with a critique and too certain of their own awesomeness.
Inevitably, they start to fall. Unable to look into the mirror and objectively see their own ego hamstringing their future success, they project their inadequacies upon others. If asked to sit on a testing board, they are often the harshest judges, dispensing cruel sentences without taking into account the many, many factors that go into assessing an individual’s performance and progress within the art. If asked to teach class, they are so certain their method of teaching is the best, they refuse to listen to criticism (let alone learn from it) and focus instead on propping themselves up even further. And with every passing day, their skills falter even more. The individual starts to slide backward in terms of physical talent. As the blinders of their crushing ego close even further, they are able to see less and less until they only see through the tiny pinhole of delusion that remains. Their behavior becomes surly; they feel a sense of entitlement and will do things like forget to show respect to their seniors and even to the Chief Instructor himself.
They assume they have it all when, in fact, they have nothing.
Over the years I’ve been at the dojo, I’ve been very fortunate to see a lot of good practitioners come up through the ranks. I can recount the black belt tests that were truly awe-inspiring to watch and help grade. For some of those people, their black belt test served to propel them onward to leap at new opportunities and accept new challenges. They used their success to breed more success. And today, as they quest ever further down the path, they are bright spirits full of ever-expanding potential and talent. They help out in the dojo; they help others; they serve to reinforce the strong ideals that are important as black belt students at the dojo; and they have a strong sense of community – grateful for the learning they have obtained and humble in their quest to acquire more; they show proper respect to those who have come before them and – most importantly – to their Chief Instructor.
Others? Well, unfortunately, this is not the case. And most disappointing are the practitioners who might have once shown such promise.
As senior students at the dojo – we watch everyone. We don’t always say much, but we always observe. And when we spot a talented practitioner, we grow hopeful. We love to see students coming up who display talent and perseverance – we want to see people succeed who will then help elevate the dojo to new heights through their skill. Usually, when we stand around or teach a class, it will be a parting comment, “Nice ukemi.” Then a nod. That’s it. We’ve said all we need to say to know that we saw that spark and that we hope the practitioner continues to train hard. Among ourselves, we’ll talk about who is coming up that we think is particularly talented.
And when we see someone we thought was talented start regressing instead of progressing, it’s a shame. Personally, I just write them off. Any inclination I had to train with them, or perhaps show them something, or make a correction – it stops. They become insignificant – just another body in the dojo unworthy of respect. If they can’t be bothered to understand and accept responsibility for their mistakes, I can’t be bothered to give a damn about them.
This might sound heartless, but the fact is (thankfully) there are always new people coming in – and many of them will turn out to be great practitioners who don’t let their immaturity and their ego trip them up.
Those are the people I want to train with; those are the people I would go into battle with.
Those are the people who will understand what a black belt really means.
On August 31, 2011,
in common sense, Uncategorized,
by admin
Congratulations Tom May and NStar management. Seriously. Tropical Storm Irene gave you an incredible opportunity to show that you are a modern 21st century utility company that is attuned to the needs of its customers and responds to emergencies in a timely and communicative manner; that you are proactive and forward-thinking about improvements to infrastructure [...]
Congratulations Tom May and NStar management.
Seriously.
Tropical Storm Irene gave you an incredible opportunity to show that you are a modern 21st century utility company that is attuned to the needs of its customers and responds to emergencies in a timely and communicative manner; that you are proactive and forward-thinking about improvements to infrastructure and contingency planning – especially as it relates to national security.
Instead, you failed so utterly and completely and epically, that it is almost beyond reason.
Rarely in combat does a general get five days’ advance notice about the approaching enemy, its strength, and the potential impact of its attack. Irene gave you plenty of time to plan a cohesive strategy for dealing with its impact. While other utility companies scrambled to draft thousands of out-of-state line workers to help handle the anticipated work flow, you brought in a measly 45 teams of 1-2 workers each. Sure there were problems getting more workers because of other states affected by Irene, but what about bringing in workers from states NOT affected? It would have undoubtedly cost more, which I’m sure is the principal reason behind your lackadaisical approach to emergency response.
Up-to-date intelligence on the battlefield is prized for a reason: it enables leaders to rapidly make decisions about the changing face of battle. And yet NStar’s communication with its customers – arguably the most important aspect of your business – could be bested by children using empty soup cans and string. Not only are your updates lacking detail and timeliness, but you have utterly failed to embrace the usefulness of social media sites. And here’s a hint: having two Twitter feeds that provide one or two useless updates per day is NOT using social media nor does it enhance your business profile. Twitter is about interaction; it is NOT about mere regurgitation of the company’s talking points while ignoring the comments directed at you.
We are in the midst of one of the worst economic periods in US history. Families everywhere are struggling to get by. So imagine the frustration felt by hundreds of thousands of people when – like I did this morning – they were forced to throw away hundreds of dollars worth of groceries because of food spoilage from not having working refrigerators and freezers. Compound that again by the added cost of taking an average family of four out to eat three times a day while we await restoration of power. What’s the potential cost per family affected by poor decision-making at the top levels within NStar – perhaps $1000 or more?
So here’s a little suggestion list for NStar Board of Directors to help make sure this doesn’t happen again:
1. Terminate Tom May. Fire him. Show him the door. As leader of the company, he is ultimately responsible for the severely disappointing lack of leadership and foresight when it came to dealing with Irene. A good leader leads from the front. Tom May sat back and let the task of restoring power fall to the thousands of line workers and teams that have done an amazing job despite suffering from such poor leadership.
2. Terminate your Director of Contingency planning. It’s the job of a contingency planner to plan for the worst and then have backup plans in place for backup plan failure. Clearly, despite 5-days warning that Irene was coming, NStar’s contingency planning department failed to properly maneuver assets into position that would have rapidly mitigated Irene’s effects. Put someone in charge of your contingency planning who actually understands the role.
3. Improve your communication. Really. Because frankly, it stinks. Putting out a crummy .pdf file of towns affected once per day is not communication in the 21st century. Using Twitter to throw out the same useless info is not communication in the 21st century, either. In the future, you ought to have full maps of affected areas showing real-time restoration efforts, deployment of teams, and anticipated recovery times. It’s not hard. It just takes a little effort. Try it some time.
4. Invest in infrastructure. In my neighborhood, we lose power a few times a year and when I call up, the machine tells me it’s due to “damage to high voltage equipment.” All the time? Look, our energy infrastructure is a key part of our national security. We’ve already seen the effects of cyber attacks on our energy grids. Until utility companies like you make a concerted effort to invest in the infrastructure and security of your systems, we’re vulnerable – not just to storms but to foreign enemies looking to disrupt our nation. Take some of the money you earn every quarter and actually invest it in technology that will improve the security of your infrastructure and update it so it is as technologically relevant as it can be. Some of the aspects of your network are decades out-of-date and basically obsolete. Fix it.
5. Give an immediate $200 credit to all of your affected customers. Many have spent far more than that amount on groceries and food and basic survival items as a result of your glaring failures. Do the right thing and give your customers some of that money back.
In short, Tropical Storm Irene showed the world the glaring mismanagement affecting most of our nations’ utility companies. Like so many other corporations, you have all grown fat and lazy due to your greed. You no longer care about excellence. You are willing to settle for “good enough.” But how many more people would be suffering if Irene had been a Category 2 storm, or worse? How much longer would your customers be without power because of your incompetence? How much more money would those without power be forced to spend just on basic survival items like food and water because you failed to properly plan despite days of advance notice? Your actions are completely and totally unacceptable to hundreds of thousands of people that rely on you – in some cases with their very lives. And all you’ve shown is that you are incapable of handling much of anything beyond kite-flying season, let alone some of the more impressive storms that routinely affect the northeast.
You should be embarrassed and ashamed of your failures as a company. But let’s hope you’re not too arrogant and ignorant that you can’t learn from those mistakes so this doesn’t happen again.
Sincerely,
Jon F. Merz
On August 24, 2011,
in Build a Bestseller, ebooks, how I write, lawson, Ninja series, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, Ran, short stories, THE FIXER TV series, vampires, website, writing,
by admin
Today marks a nice milestone: since February of this year, I’ve sold 30,000 ebooks. When I started putting up my backlist in late-January, I had no idea what I was in for. Would everything flop? Would it take off? The results are pretty damned awesome, actually. 30,000 is a great number (although I’m obviously shooting [...]
Today marks a nice milestone: since February of this year, I’ve sold 30,000 ebooks. When I started putting up my backlist in late-January, I had no idea what I was in for. Would everything flop? Would it take off?
The results are pretty damned awesome, actually. 30,000 is a great number (although I’m obviously shooting for 100,000 by the end of the year) and knowing that I’m finding an audience for my work is truly a blessing. The majority of my sales are for my Lawson Vampire series and that’s good news as well. Given everything (hint, hint) that will be happening soon around THAT, it’s good to know that more people are discovering Lawson every month. In fact, out of the 30,000 ebooks I’ve sold, I’d say roughly 25,000 are sales of my various Lawson adventures, more on the Kindle than on the Nook, but strong everywhere. Lawson has proven his worth as an enduring and endearing character. He’s not for everyone (only the sexy people, lol) but those who know him seem to enjoy him.
Even with the summer slowdown, my ebooks have continued to sell consistently across the board. I’ve got new releases coming soon, plus plans to offer pretty much everything in print. And audio as well. Big things are afoot for the Autumn months. But you’ll hear more on that in the coming weeks. Plus, I hope to finally be able to reveal who my publisher is for my new Fantasy series. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I’d like to add one final thought: thank you. Thank you for being a supporter of my work. Thank you for talking it up to friends and family. Thank you for hopping on-board the adventures I create and allowing me to whisk you away into the crazy chaos that is my fiction. With your permission, I’ll gladly be doing it for many, many years to come.
Have a great day and thanks again!
On August 10, 2011,
in #wintel, common sense, ebooks, how I write, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, writing,
by admin
So this morning, I started a little something new out on Twitter. I read a lot of material relating (sometimes directly and often indirectly) to the world of writing and publishing. After all, I consider this a business and as such, I need to constantly monitor information that may help me grow my business or [...]
So this morning, I started a little something new out on Twitter. I read a lot of material relating (sometimes directly and often indirectly) to the world of writing and publishing. After all, I consider this a business and as such, I need to constantly monitor information that may help me grow my business or otherwise avoid certain pitfalls.
Some of this material is pretty good stuff. And so, this morning, I started tweeting about some of it, using the hashtag #wintel after my tweets. What is #wintel? It’s “writer’s intelligence,” in other words, intelligence/information that I think writers should know about.
We started today with three articles (although I may post a few more) and it’s my hope that you all find these things interesting, especially if you’re in the biz. Here’s what we looked at:
Each day I will try to contribute some good stuff I think writers should know. If you like the articles, please retweet or repost them with the hashtag #wintel at the end. It’s writer’s intelligence, but it’s also a “win.” 
On August 8, 2011,
in Build a Bestseller, ebooks, how I write, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, Ran, website, writing,
by admin
So, last Friday on my way to Canobie Lake Park, I got a nice call from my agent who told me that we had a nice offer from a new publisher for a 3-book deal. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited. I’ve wanted to work with this particular editor for a while and I’m really [...]
So, last Friday on my way to Canobie Lake Park, I got a nice call from my agent who told me that we had a nice offer from a new publisher for a 3-book deal. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited. I’ve wanted to work with this particular editor for a while and I’m really looking forward to his tutelage and being able to expand my writing skills. This is a new genre for me: specifically, sword & sorcery, but I’ve always wanted to do a series in it since I grew up devouring Fantasy series as fast as I could read ‘em.
I can’t reveal the publishing house just yet, nor can I tell you the editor’s name, or the actual working title of any of the books (although I will be able to hopefully soon), but let’s just say it’s good to know that I’ll have three new books coming out into bookstores – and I’ll be reaching a whole new audience for my writing.
I’ll still be doing my indie publishing of ebooks and the various projects I have going on there will continue. But I don’t like putting all of my eggs into one basket; I like knowing that I’ll have print books out in stores, ebooks for the ever-growing global community that loves them, and TV/film projects as well. I’m an entertainer – so I’ll make sure my work gets out into whatever format it needs to be in in order to make sure it reaches its audience.
In the meantime, if you haven’t read my ebook NINJA yet, which is available for the Kindle, perhaps you should.
Just sayin’
>wink< >wink<
On August 5, 2011,
in ebooks, how I write, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, Uncategorized, writing,
by admin
There comes a point every summer when we start longing for the cooler temperatures of the fall. It’s August and by now, the sun’s rays have baked the earth around us. Humidity makes it feel like every step you take is in the deepest, darkest jungle where breathing is hot, wet, and just painful. We [...]
There comes a point every summer when we start longing for the cooler temperatures of the fall. It’s August and by now, the sun’s rays have baked the earth around us. Humidity makes it feel like every step you take is in the deepest, darkest jungle where breathing is hot, wet, and just painful. We drink, but it never seems to be enough to stave off the blistering solar assault above us.
So, our thoughts naturally turn to those days when cool breezes wash over us, bringing relief. When the dancing leaves are harbingers of the first flakes of snow, drifting down in a delicate ballet reflective of nature’s own ethereal rhythm. At this time of year, we look forward to those days, with the bite of promised snow in the air, the gathering clouds of some far off storm bloating the heavens, and the eventual crackle of wood upon a blazing hearth.
With that in mind, I hereby present my offer of solace from the August heat. PREY will transport you the bottom of the world to the snowy mountains of Antarctica, where the frigid winds carry the promise of something sinister and hidden, locked away in an icy tomb until a group of scientists discovers it.
Now, they’re being hunted.
And as darkness falls at the bottom of the world, the real terror begins.
Prey is available for both the Kindle and the Nook. It’s a ticket to adventure in the frozen reaches of the Antarctic wilderness.
And the horrors that await.
On July 5, 2011,
in Build a Bestseller, ebooks, how I write, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, Uncategorized, website, writing,
by admin
I’ve been getting a lot of email lately asking me how I sell as many ebooks as I do. Since starting to seriously sell ebooks in Late-January 2011, I’ve sold over 20,000 of them and June was my best month to-date. I haven’t sold a million ebooks yet, but I’m making a very nice income [...]
I’ve been getting a lot of email lately asking me how I sell as many ebooks as I do. Since starting to seriously sell ebooks in Late-January 2011, I’ve sold over 20,000 of them and June was my best month to-date. I haven’t sold a million ebooks yet, but I’m making a very nice income right now and people who follow me on Twitter and Facebook have been asking if I’d share some of what works for me. So I decided to put together a real quick, down-and-dirty ebook of what I do to make my sales. Having recently read another ebook purporting to tell how the author sold gobs and gobs of ebooks and been sorely disappointed at the stunning lack of concrete steps, I made sure my ebook is full of actual tactics and steps anyone can do right now that will help add sales to their bottom line. These are the actual steps I use myself.
Thus “How To REALLY Sell EBooks” was born. It’s quick. Just 7200 words, but it’s jammed with the stuff I use to sell my ebooks. And it all starts with Twitter. My basic premise has always been: if I have more followers on Twitter, then proportionally, I ought to be able to find more readers among all of those followers. That’s just common sense. And by far the biggest and best tool I use to develop and expand my follower numbers is Tweet Adder. This incredible piece of software is the single best investment I’ve made in my ebook selling. It fully automates everything, and that means you spend a LOT less time on twitter and more time writing ebooks. I can’t recommend it highly enough. In full disclosure, I recently became an affiliate for them because I happen to believe in the product so much. So If you do choose to buy the software, I make a few bucks.
In any event, “How To REALLY Sell EBooks” is now available for both the Kindle and the Nook. It’s priced at $4.99, which is the same price that other ebook selling guides are currently selling for. The steps I outline in my book will give you a lot more bang for your buck than the other guides. And there’s no worthless anecdotal padding of the book. It’s lean and mean and designed to get you moving ebooks. After all, you’ve got other books to write! I hope you check it out and find it useful!
Buy it for the KINDLE | Buy it for the NOOK
On June 29, 2011,
in Build a Bestseller, common sense, ebooks, how I write, lawson, novels, promotion & publicity, publishing, short stories, THE FIXER TV series, Uncategorized, writing,
by admin
I’ve seen a great many blog posts lately that argue the merits of indie publishing vs. traditional publishing. Most of the time, these blogs mention the astounding sales numbers that folks like John Locke and Amanda Hocking have done for their indie ebooks. (For those who don’t know, John Locke recently became the first indie [...]
I’ve seen a great many blog posts lately that argue the merits of indie publishing vs. traditional publishing. Most of the time, these blogs mention the astounding sales numbers that folks like John Locke and Amanda Hocking have done for their indie ebooks. (For those who don’t know, John Locke recently became the first indie author to sell one million ebooks and he did so in five months. Amanda Hocking had a very successful indie career and recently signed a $2 million traditional deal with St. Martin’s Press) And each post usually has a long line of comments that debate the pros and cons of the various ways authors make money.
And yet, by and large, most fail to address the very simple root of what it is that earns a writer his or her money: the idea.
IP, or intellectual property, is by far the most valuable aspect of any book. It doesn’t really matter what form that IP takes; without the idea itself, it’s worthless. Now this may seem painfully obvious, yet judging by the content of comments and blog posts, very few people seem to realize how to maximize their return on it, or even how certain IPs are more valuable than others.
Speaking for myself, my Lawson Vampire universe is probably the most valuable IP I have in my stable right now. It’s an established series, with a dedicated fan base. My good friend Jaime Hassett and I are bringing it to TV through THE FIXER series and we have plans on expanding it across various entertainment platforms. The combined 6 novels, 3 novellas, and 6 short stories sell roughly 1,000 copies each week and have done so consistently since they went live in late-January of this year. As the audience grows and we explore various other platforms, the value of this IP will grow exponentially. That’s useful for a number of reasons, but the most important reason may be that it gives me an idea of how much its value is when it comes to licensing or selling certain rights. In other words, if a traditional (or legacy) publisher came along at this moment and offered me a contract for certain rights, it would need to be a very good one. I place tremendous value on the Lawson Vampire IP – especially since I know where the franchise is headed and what the potential earnings are.
But what about IPs that aren’t worth as much? Are there some that are, potentially, worth far less? I’ve seen arguments on both sides of the publishing fence about going only one way or the other. But I disagree with this approach. Is there a way to embrace both the indie route and the traditional/legacy route that works?
Let’s go back to Lawson for a moment. As of right now, you can probably still locate copies of THE KENSEI in bookstores. St. Martin’s Press brought the book out January 18th, 2011, so there’s a fair chance it’s still on the shelves in your local store. But otherwise, I currently have no real print presence aside from the Rogue Angel novels that I’ve written under the pseudonym Alex Archer. You won’t find books by “Jon F. Merz” in the store. And frankly, a lot of people still want their books the old fashioned way. So the question I need to ask myself is this: am I losing out on potential income by *not* having a print presence in stores? The answer is almost certainly yes.
Not only am I losing out on potential income from the sale of printed works of whatever IP I sell to a traditional publisher, but I’m also losing out on income that my printed book(s) might send to my ebook products. In other words, if a person buys one of my books in a store, then visits my website and sees that I have a whole lot of other books for sale as ebooks, they might be inclined to buy them. But without that initial trigger – the print book – sending more audience my way, I’m losing out.
So what to do? Do I compromise and settle for a crappy deal – one that pays me a junk royalty rate and a crummy advance? Or do I eschew traditional publishing altogether and keep my audience and earnings growing at a slower pace with ebooks?
Or is there a third alternative that allows me to keep my ebook “empire” intact, still pursue traditional deals, and reap the benefits of both? I think there is. But it requires you to be honest in your assessment of your various IPs. You need to think about how much they might potentially be worth and be prepared to discover they might not be worth all that much.
After all, it’s probably fair to assume that not every middle grade adventure series is going to turn out to be the next Harry Potter. In fact, it’s almost guaranteed that it won’t be. Likewise for the next two thousand paranormal heroine series that get churned out. Not all are going to be popular. So, which among your IPs could you stand to have not become incredibly popular?
Note: I realize that asking you to imagine your work being unsuccessful may be asking a lot. None of us want to believe that our stuff isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread. But change your perspective and take your ego out of the equation for a moment – it might be quite valuable.
And once you know which IP that is, then perhaps it might be worth it to take a less-than-stellar deal in order to get a print presence in bookstores, one that would then drive more traffic to your other IPs, further enhancing your bottom line in a number of ways.
Now, I can already hear the outrage over this post: “You’re telling us to give our junk to publishers?” No, that’s not what I’m advocating. I’m simply saying that if you have an idea for a 3-book series that you know you only want to do 3 books of, then perhaps it’s worth selling that to a traditional publisher while you keep the gold mine stuff in your hip pocket. If your story arc only works as 3 books or 1 book or whatever, then there’s no way you’d blow that out to 27 books unless the series actually *did* turn out to be insanely popular. And if that did happen, you could then negotiate for better terms, refuse the deal outright and turn indie for the next books, or come up with some sort of happy medium.
The point here is that there doesn’t have to be an either/or route for writers any longer. Going back to my Lawson series for a moment, my 5th book in the series is what I’ve affectionately called my “loss leader.” In other words, I signed a fairly crummy deal to get a Lawson print presence back in stores. And I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the e-rights to the particular book might not be back in my hands for a very long time. But I was willing to settle for that deal because it meant I had a reestablished presence in bookstores (something I hadn’t had for my fiction since 2003) that I could then use to drive people to my ebooks. And the equation has worked incredibly well. As I detailed above, the combined works in the Lawson universe sell roughly 1,000 units each week. And that’s some pretty good money. But I doubt I would have had the opportunity to expose as many people to the ebooks if it hadn’t been for the print version being available. Now granted, there are a lot of other steps I took around the print release to further expand that notice (appearing on blogs, doing interviews, etc.) but the point is, I recognized the fact that I felt I needed a print presence – even temporarily.
Some may argue that there’s no way to tell what the long term earning potential of an IP would be given such unpredictable factors as public appeal, lightning in a bottle, that sort of thing. And I’d agree – to a point. I think authors know better than most what their ideas are worth and not all ideas are created equally. Likewise, not all IPs are going to earn you millions. If you’re savvy enough to study the business world and the technology that is coming, smart authors will understand how to position themselves to take fullest advantage of the future. And some may well find that selling a less-valuable IP to a traditional publisher not only works well for the publisher, but also for the author.
Thoughts?
