promotion & publicity

 by Jon F. Merz

What Is #wintel?

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:

1. Donna K. Fitch highlights three books she found useful for e-publishing (full disclosure: my book, “How To REALLY Sell EBooks” is one of them”)

2. India experiences a new wave of scam literary agents, which is especially important given that Amazon will be opening a storefront there later this year.

3. A lawsuit alleges that the Big 6 publishing houses have vastly under-reported ebook sales figures to their authors. The same law firm handling this case is also alleging Apple is engaging in price fixing.

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.” 🙂

in #wintel / common sense / ebooks / how I write / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

3-Book Deal

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< 🙂

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / how I write / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Ran / website / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

PREY or PRAY?

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.

in ebooks / how I write / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Uncategorized / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

Updates…

A lot of you have been asking when the next Lawson novel is coming out. As you might know, I walked away from a deal with St. Martin’s Press to publish the next Lawson because what they were offering was simply not good enough to make me want to partner with them again. That said, I’m committed to getting the next novel – THE RIPPER – out in a timely fashion for those of you wondering where Lawson is headed next. So, THE RIPPER will be out in time for the holiday season. In this next installment, we get to see a lot more of Arthur’s backstory from when he was a Fixer in London a long time ago. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to release it. It will be available first as an ebook. But I’m looking around for a publisher – preferably a publisher that “gets it,” when it comes to the new emerging business model of publishing – to sell print rights to the entire series. I want Lawson in print and even if I have to do it myself, I’m going to get him out there. (So if you know any cool publishers, please drop me a line…)

Also, OATHBREAKER is coming along nicely. Still not sure whether this will be a Lawson short story or a novella. But I expect to have that done by the start of the Autumn season.

Things are a bit slow right now because it’s summer and my sons are home, so my productivity has diminished quite a bit. Expect a LOT of stuff coming at you over the next few months, though. PREY will be out soon, DEATH MASTER will be out soon, and a bunch of other stuff. I should have news on a new series pretty soon as well as the progress on THE FIXER TV series. Trust me when I tell you this: the Autumn is going to be awesome. And busy. But that’s good stuff.

I’m out on Google+ now, so be sure to add me to your circles.

In the meantime, I’m preparing to release the next issue of my FREE newsletter and you should totally subscribe if you haven’t already. Also, make sure you’re all caught up on the Lawson series by grabbing the adventures out on Amazon for the Kindle or Barnes & Noble for the Nook.

Have a great weekend everyone & thanks for reading!

in ebooks / general / lawson / Ninja series / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / short stories / THE FIXER TV series / vampires / website / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

How To Really Sell EBooks

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

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / how I write / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Uncategorized / website / writing 0 comments