Ran

 by Jon F. Merz

2012/2013 Publication Schedule (partial)

By Jon F. Merz

Since we’re heading into the end of the year, I thought I’d draw up a list of coming attractions of SOME of the stuff I’ll be publishing soon. So here ya go!

DECEMBER 2012

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 3
  • Untitled Lawson Christmas Story

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013

  • THE CRUCIBLE: A Lawson Vampire Novel
  • Zombie Ryu Episode 4

MARCH 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 5

APRIL 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 6

MAY 2013

  • THE NINJA APPRENTICE: The Tsuba of Kotogawa (book 2)
  • Zombie Ryu Episode 7

JUNE/JULY 2013

  • Lawson Novella
  • Zombie Ryu Episode 8

AUGUST 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 9

SEPTEMBER 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 10

OCTOBER 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 11

NOVEMBER 2013

  • Zombie Ryu Episode 12 (season finale)

ALSO IN FALL 2013

SHADOW WARRIOR: Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul (this is book 1 in my new fantasy series from Baen Books)

There’s more than this, but this is enough to make my head explode (in a good way!) I hope you’re as excited as I am! And by the way, my awesome offer still stands for those of you who want to give my ebooks as gifts this holiday season. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of it since you get something as well. And please share this with your friends and family. There’s nothing like the gift of some adrenalized mayhem courtesy of your crazy author pal to make the holidays into a thing of beauty!

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / lawson / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Ran / Shadow Warrior / short stories / the ninja apprentice / Uncategorized / writing / zombie ryu 0 comments
 by Jon F. Merz

Coming Soon…

With March drawing to a close, I thought it would be a good time to update you all on what will be coming out for the rest of the year, what I’m working on, and assorted tidbits like that. So here goes…

Current Works-in-Progress

  1. Mission: Malta – this special novella for newsletter subscribers is running each month, but I’m going to be finishing it shortly and putting it out for sale so those fans who want to read ahead can do so. It will still be free to newsletter subscribers, but if the chapter-per-month thing is too slow, you’ll be able to grab it ahead of time.
  2. CODENAME: Belladonna – Talya’s first spin-off novel from the Lawson series. Hoping to have this finished sooner than you think 😉
  3. Shadow Warrior: The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul – this is the first book in the alternative Earth sword & sorcery series I’m writing for Baen Books. The first book is due to my editor by June for a Spring 2013 debut in bookstores everywhere.
  4. The Next Lawson Novel – yep, it’s in the works. And no, I’m not revealing the title yet because I want to surprise all of you. Because, y’know, I’m a devious tease…
  5. Lawson: Ten Year Retrospective – a special ebook of the past ten years of Lawson Awesome.
  6. YA Series Proposal – Lots of research going into this, so stay tuned.
  7. Adult Thriller Series Proposal – no supernatural craziness in this one. Just straight up violence, mayhem, and assorted chaos.

With that list in mind, be on the look out for new releases from me around the following months:

May 2012
July 2012
October 2012
December 2012
January 2013

And maybe one or two extra surprises…I know, a lot of teasing here, but good things are definitely ahead. So stay tuned and alert to my Facebook Fan Page for all the latest. And be sure you sign up for my FREE newsletter to get even more tidbits.

in Build a Bestseller / ebooks / how I write / lawson / novels / promotion & publicity / publishing / Ran / Shadow Warrior / short stories / Uncategorized / writing 0 comments
 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

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