Build a Bestseller

 by Jon F. Merz

3-Book Deal with Baen Books

From Publishers Marketplace:  “Jon F. Merz’s THE SHADOW WARRIOR: The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul, which imagines a trained assassin in a world where rival factions and dark sorcery are churning a land which is on the cusp of invasion, and the assassins may hold the keys to power, for both sides; SLAVERS OF THE SILK ROAD and THE TEMPLE OF DEMONS, to Jim Minz at Baen Books, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2013, by Joe Monti at Barry Goldblatt Literary (World English).”

So that’s one of the big things coming down the road: my first foray into Fantasy. For those who have been following along closely, the SHADOW WARRIOR series is based on my currently on-sale ebook novella NINJA, with the same character Ran taking center stage as a newly-minted operative for an intelligence organization. Additionally, the first book will feature zombies – or rather, my take on them. So for those of you who love all things zombie, you’ll have some fun for sure. The books will be a mix of martial arts, sorcery, brash heroes and heroines, and the political landscape of a world about to be embroiled in the chaos of invasion from an unknown power.

In other words, nonstop crazy fun.

To say I’m excited about writing this trilogy is a vast understatement. Fantasy was the first genre I ever read seriously in and to be able to paint on such a broad canvas is pretty thrilling. Equally exciting is that I get to work with Jim Minz, one of the foremost editors in the genre – and I fully expect that I will learn a tremendous amount from him, which will only help improve my writing even more.

I’ll be posting more news as I receive it. Jim and I are slated to schedule a meeting in November sometime so we can flesh out the series a bit more. And then, of course, there will be the cover art – oh, man I can’t wait to see that!

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 by Jon F. Merz

October is Fan Month!

So as we draw to a close on September (huh? what? where did that month go, eh?) I thought I’d let you in on just ONE of the cool things that will be happening in October. I happen to love October. It’s my birthday month, it was my late father’s birthday month (we usually celebrated together, which was always nice) and Halloween happens to be at the end. So I thought it would be fun to turn this October into “Fan Month.” Everyday throughout the month, I will be calling one fan each day, thanking them for their support, and having a quick chat with them. It’s completely unscripted stuff and it’s your chance to ask me pretty much anything you want (within reason). I’ll be doing these video calls over Skype and recording them for everyone to watch. They’ll last about 10 minutes and it’s my way of saying thank you to a select group of folks who have been kind enough to buy my work and stand behind me as I travel this crazy path of being a writer.

All you need to do to throw your name into the hat and possibly get picked is be a fan of my work: and by that I mean you should be up-to-date on all of my writing, whether it’s Lawson or some of the standalone work I’ve done. Ideally, you’ve read most of my stuff and have questions about my writing process, my venture into indie ebooks, traditional publishing, TV production, etc. etc. etc.

Now, you’ve got to be okay with the fact that I’m recording these calls and using them as I see fit (which means I’ll make them public, cross-post them on Youtube and Facebook, and generally make them available for anyone to see and comment on) as well as be available on the day of the call (winners will be notified beforehand in order to schedule things properly.) But I think this will be a ton of fun. Each day Monday-Friday, we’ll do a fan call and then post them. I’m sure they’ll be amusing, entertaining, and will lead many people to the spiritual enlightenment they seek.

Well, maybe not that last one.

But they will be fun!

HOW TO ENTER: Okay, so let’s get to it. Want to chat with me? All you have to do is send your name, email, and your favorite line from one of my works (something a character said or something written in the narrative) to jonfmerz AT verizon DOT net. That’s it. I’ll start picking the winners immediately and scheduling the calls. Not up to speed on my work and want to get caught up? For Kindle users, you can find my work here. And for Nook users, the list of available work is here.

Get going! 🙂

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / general / how I write / lawson / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / short stories / THE FIXER TV series / Uncategorized / vampires / website / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

30,000 EBooks

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!

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 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

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