More New Lawson!

Yesterday saw the release of the next Lawson novel, THE RIPPER, which puts Lawson back in Boston trying to uncover the identity of a serial killer while dodging a Chinese assassin, dealing with Marty’s advances, counseling Niles, and dealing with Arthur’s past. It’s a chaotic mix of non-stop action and mayhem. And sales have been very good indeed!

You can grab your copy of THE RIPPER for the Kindle here and for the Nook here.

But THE RIPPER isn’t the only new adventure out…

Earlier today, I released SIX TIMES DEADLY, the first Lawson story collection featuring six short stories: The Price of a Good Drink, Interlude, Red Tide, Enemy Mine, Rudolf The Red Nosed Rogue, and Oathbreaker. Along with those six stories, I also included some cool bonuses: the script for the first part of the Lawson graphic novel and the first two chapters from the Talya spin-off novel series CODENAME: BELLADONNA. Yep, you heard right: there’s going to be a Talya spin-off novel series. It’s been in the works for a while now and with the advent of ebooks, I can actually write what I want without having to appeal to the whims of New York City publishing. I have three Talya novels sketched out and expect to complete the first one this year. I’m excited about it; Talya’s a great character and well-deserving of her own series. Hopefully, the fans will enjoy it.

You can grab SIX TIMES DEADLY for the Kindle here and >for the Nook here.

And finally, FROSTY THE HITMAN is now available for sale. This is the freebie short story I gave away on Christmas Day, but that window has now closed so if you want it, it’ll cost you 99 cents. You can grab that for the Kindle here and for the Nook here.

Next week, I’ll be releasing OATHBREAKER on its own, but if you want this new story now, you’ll have the get SIX TIMES DEADLY.

I’d like to thank all of you who have bought THE RIPPER. I’m very pleased with it’s rapid sales and success. And I’m especially thrilled to be finding so many new Lawson fans out there! Enjoy the new adventures – more are coming!

Frosty The Hitman A Blazing Success!

So, at midnight on Christmas Day, as the 24th ticked over into the 25th, I launched the annual Christmas freebie that I write for friends and fans. This year’s entry was FROSTY THE HITMAN, a 5600-word story. Along with the story itself, the ebook contained 3-chapter excerpts from both THE FIXER and THE INVOKER, an author’s note from me, an invitation to subscribe to my free newsletter, and a list of all the current Lawson adventures as of December 2011.

I put the blog post out and wondered what sort of reception it would get, how many people would download it, etc. etc. My hope was that I’d get about 200 downloads of the story, especially considering it was Christmas Day and a lot of people would be otherwise preoccupied. In addition to my blog post, I set up automatic tweets announcing it on Twitter. I also asked for a small group of my fans to Tweet, Retweet, and post things on their blogs and Facebook to help spread the word. Then I sat back and waited to see what would happen.

Today’s the 29th and as of this writing, here are the results:

Total number of downloads: 1836
Kindle file downloads: 966
Epub file downloads: 444
.pdf file downloads: 426

Christmas Day and yesterday saw the most traffic. Yesterday is not surprising since I sent out a bulletin to my newsletter subscribers about Frosty and they certainly responded. Plus, I got a mention over on Books On The Knob about Frosty being free. That exposure definitely helped!

In addition, I picked up roughly 50 new subscribers to my newsletter. My Christmas Day post also received a large number of Facebook “likes,” which then show up in the person’s timeline (thereby potentially leading more people to the post). It was also +1’d out on Google+ by twelve more people, earning me some penetration on that social media website as well. As far as tweets and retweets go, the bit.ly tracking showed that 1,159 people clicked the link, 25 people shared it on Facebook, and it was retweeted well over 100 times.

Then there were the comments and tweets from people who hadn’t read Lawson yet. Of the nearly 2,000 downloads, I’m hoping that at least 25% are new to the series. 500 potential new readers is a pretty great gift to get for giving something back to my already-awesome fans.

So, to everyone who helped spread the word about Frosty, my sincere thanks. This year’s freebie gift was an fantastic success and I couldn’t have done it without you all helping and downloading away. As 2012 comes roaring in, Lawson is going to have an even bigger year than 2011. Tons of new adventures, big movement ahead on the TV production, and more news besides. Keep talking Lawson up to your friends and family – we’re going to be doing some amazing things together and I want everyone of you along for the fun-filled ride!

Happy New Year & thanks!
-Jon

Frosty The Hitman Free Ebook for Kindle & Nook!

Merry Christmas everyone! As I like to do each year, my gift to my fans and friends – and especially NEW readers – is to write a free Lawson short story that you can all enjoy absolutely FREE. Frosty The Hitman is this year’s selection and I hope you all enjoy it.

It’s the day before Christmas and Lawson’s spending it with his least favorite person in the world: Ava, a wealthy Council member who has always hated him. But Ava’s in trouble and Lawson is the only person standing between her and a deadly assassin named Frost.

To get the story, simply click on the download links below (depending on your e-reader) and you’ll have the story immediately! I hope you’ll share this with your friends and family – help spread the word about the fun that is the entire Lawson series!

And once again, Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all of you out there. Have a wonderful and safe celebration! And thanks for being such wonderfully awesome fans and friends.

Download for Kindle | Download for Nook | Download .pdf file