novels

 by Jon F. Merz

Zombie Ryu: The Gathering


I’ve launched a brand new project using Kickstarter called ZOMBIE RYU: The Gathering. This is the first in a planned trilogy of books about an elite group of warriors and a 16 year old girl who must battle zombies in feudal Japan while searching for the evil monk who unleashed them. It’s got samurai, ninja, and zombies.

Can’t you just feel how awesome this is going to be? 🙂

Nonstop martial arts mayhem, outlandish battles between the living and the dead, and the struggle between good and evil played out against the backdrop of feudal Japan, an exotic landscape, and the hidden destiny of a very special girl.

If I’d pitched this to traditional publishing, it would take months to get an answer. And I don’t like waiting, so I’ve launched it on Kickstarter to see if I can drum up the necessary funds to produce the book. The incredible Greg Ruth is coming on board to design the cover if we get the funding we need and if we do better than our goal of $18,000 I’m hoping I can convince Greg to do some interior illustrations as well. The thing about Kickstarter is that it’s “all or nothing,” in other words, if I don’t reach the goal of $18,000 in the next 13 days, no one gets charged for backing the project.

So your support is crucial to the success of this entire project.

Please take a moment to visit the official page for it, check out the rewards I’ve set up for backers, and consider supporting it. I’d also appreciate you spreading the word to friends and family via social media like Facebook, Twitter, and even blog posts.

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / life thoughts / martial arts / self protection / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Uncategorized / writing 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

Elite Fans Wanted…

The first draft of THE RIPPER will be finished by Wednesday of this week, and I’m very pleased with it. Since this book is not going to be published through a major New York house (as you’ll recall, I walked away from a deal with St. Martin’s because the numbers weren’t good enough to justify publishing with them) I want to make sure that it still goes through a bit of a vetting process prior to it being released as an ebook in January.

To that end, I’m looking for a handful of elite fans to be the first to read THE RIPPER and let me know what you think. I’m looking specifically for people who have read all of the previous novels in the series, and hopefully all of the novellas and short stories as well. I’m also looking for people who aren’t afraid to let me know their honest opinion, provided they do more than say, “it sucks,” or “it rocks.” What I’m looking for is something along the lines of, “Why in chapter two does Herbie insist on a bizarre food fetish scene when El Capitan is outfitting the Sandinistas with the latest phaser technology? Wouldn’t it be more important to show Herbie using the yogurt cannon to neutralize the phaser before the food fetish scene?”

You get the idea.

I’m hoping to get about a half dozen eager folks who can read this first draft quickly and get it back to me within a matter of weeks with your notes. I need to edit this in December and get it ready for a January release. Why January? Because the ever-awesome Misty Rayburn is dedicating the entire month of January to Lawson. Throughout the month, she’ll be highlighting the entire series from start to where it’s at right now. And I want THE RIPPER ready to debut when all that publicity is churning. It’s a bit of a squeeze, but I’m sure it can be done.

Haven’t read the series yet, but want to participate? Go and get the books and start reading! 🙂

Okay, so if you’d like to be one of the elite fans who gets to read THE RIPPER first, simply drop me a line at jonfmerz AT verizon DOT net and let me know. I might ask a question or two to verify that you’ve read all the books, so watch out for a pop quiz! 😉

Thanks everyone!

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 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!

in Build a Bestseller / Ninja series / ninjutsu / novels / publishing / Ran / Shadow Warrior / writing 0 comments
 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