Updates…

I am extremely happy to report that my YA adventure series, The Ninja Apprentice is now out with editors at major publishing houses. This has been a project I’ve been working on for a number of years and I am thrilled to have it fully realized at long last. My agent, Joe, has been utterly fantastic in helping me improve the book and making sure it was ready to be read by editors. He has now taken the manuscript and sent it forth into the great unknown of editorial acquisitions. I am incredibly excited about this project finding a home – it’s a 9-book series that tells the story of a 14-year old orphan who discovers he is the last descendant of a ninjutsu family that has been battling an evil warlord for centuries. In order to fully realize his place as head of the family, he must recover nine sacred relics that have been stolen and endeavor to attain mastery in the teachings of his martial art as taught to him by the ghost of his great-great-grandfather. It’s going to be interesting to see how this hits!

Also, the ninjutsu training group I started in my town now has a website located HERE!. It’s a simple sort of thing, which is fine. This past Sunday we had a great time working on knife defenses in the dark, cool drizzly night.

The Tour 2011 continues to roll ever forward. I’m booked on roughly 80 blogs between January – the end of April. Exposure for THE KENSEI should be huge. I’ve also got a few other surprises lined up. More on that later on.

The Week Ahead…

Got a busy week ahead:

  • I’ll be sending out the next chapter of THE MADAGASCAR MATTER later today. This has been on-hold lately because of the other projects I’ve been involved in as well as some personal stuff that cropped up. In any event, we’ll be back on a regular schedule now, after leaving Lawson in a lurch (as I normally do, lol). So if you’ve subscribed to the ongoing serial, look for the next chapter coming your way soon!
  • Rewrites continue on the YA adventure series and I’ll be getting that back to my agent later this week. I’m excited about this one because it’s going to be big. Very big. More news when I can share it.
  • I need to rework a beat-sheet for the feature movie I’m working on.
  • Along those lines, I’m reading over a book my manager in LA wrote, so that should be fun as well.
  • I’m looking over website redesign plans for the new website for THE FIXER that will hopefully be unveiled this autumn. It will be the destination for all things Lawson. Stay tuned!
  • Got a few investor meetings lined up as well.
  • …and, of course, more training.

Seeya!

Buy 1 Get 1 FREE

New promo for ebook readers! Here’s the skinny:

Buy a copy of one of my novels (listed below) from Amazon.com, send me the receipt (proof-of-purchase) and I will send you another one of my novels (your choice) absolutely free!

PARALLAX

What happens when two professional assassins – one a Mafia hitman and the other a former German terrorist – kill at exactly the same moment in time? For Ernst Stahl and Frank Jolino the result is a psychic bond that slowly blossoms in each man’s mind, enabling them to see into the other’s world. Frank Jolino doesn’t like what he sees, especially when he realizes that Stahl is headed to his home turf of Boston to kill a scientist who may hold the key to solving the world’s deadliest diseases. But for Stahl, there’s no other option. Virtually bankrupt and with his son in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant, he’s got little choice but to take the assignment. Jolino has other ideas. On the run from his crime syndicate for refusing to kill his ex-girlfriend-turned-government-informant, Jolino sets a plan in motion that will bring the two men face-to-face and gun-to-gun…with no guarantees either will survive.

VICARIOUS

When disgraced ex-FBI agent-turned-Boston-cop Steve Curran finds a corpse with no practical explanation for its death, the nightmares start again. Convinced the serial killer that caused his expulsion from the Bureau is once again haunting him, Curran soon learns his theories are all wrong. When the sister of the latest victim, Lauren Fields, uncovers an old journal detailing the hunt for a creature known only as the Soul Eater, she and Curran must confront the very real prospect that the killer is not of this world at all – and that his motives have little to do with killing, but all to do with something far, far worse.

SHADOW CHASER

PURGE: A top secret satellite platform that delivers pinpoint assassinations via biological warfare… Gwynneviere – the beautiful and deadly assassin who wants to sell PURGE on the blackmarket and will stop at nothing to get it…Jonathan Archangel – former Delta Force turned elite Shadow Chaser…it’s his mission to hunt Gwynneviere down before she can complete her deadly assignment. A novel of international intrigue, espionage, and biological warfare played out against the backdrop of Boston and beyond, Shadow Chaser will leave you breathless.

SPECIAL BONUS! If, after reading the novels, you review them on Amazon and elsewhere and send me notification that you’ve done so, I’ll send you his brand new novella FOOL FOR GREEN: A Frank Steel Job set in 1940 Boston and filled with World War II intrigue and the supernatural.

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EBooks & How JA Konrath Makes Me Green With His Green

So, I’m selling ebooks on Amazon’s Kindle. I’m hardly the only author doing this right now – whether it’s traditionally published or “indie” – but I am experiencing far fewer sales than a lot of other folks, and frankly, I have no idea why. The short of it is my stuff simply isn’t selling as well as other authors and I’d like to figure out why. This isn’t a plea for a sympathetic sale (although if you want to grab any of them, that’s cool, too!) but more an open workshop to help me diagnose the problems I’m having moving ebooks. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure it out on my own and with a few close friends giving input as well, but nothing seems to move the books.

Over on author JA Konrath’s Blog he writes frequently about his success selling ebooks on Amazon. The guy’s on-track to make $100,000 this year from ebooks sales ALONE! Now, I don’t know about you, but I could certainly find some uses for that extra hundred grand, hence my sincere desire to see my ebooks sell into those levels that Joe does. I mean, a hundred grand from ebooks alone? Color me green with freakin’ ENVY! That’s amazing, inspiring and depressing all at the same time.

So, I’m opening the floor up here: tell me what I’m doing wrong. Tell me what you think the problem is and maybe we can workshop some stuff to see if things pick up. I’m utterly fascinated by this problem, so any and all advice/input is sincerely appreciated.

Here’s a list of links of what I’ve got for sale right now on Amazon. Please use the comments section to chime in and tell me where I’m screwing this stuff up. Honesty is very much appreciated!

NOVELS – $1.99

Parallax
Shadow Chaser
Vicarious

COLLECTION – $1.99

This Time of Night

NOVELLAS – $1.99

Fool for Green
Ninja

SHORT STORIES – $0.99

Prisoner 392
The Brank of Khosadam
Down the Street Dead
Driller
A Different Kind of Cupid
Hindsight
I, The Courier
Night of Reckoning
Hancock’s Tunnel
Repo
Rip
The Trunk of Aristhius

NON-FICTION – $1.99

Social Media for Authors: Facebook Fan Pages

All right, there it is. Fire away and tell me what I’m doing wrong. Is it my breath? Do my feet stink? What?

Thanks in advance everyone!

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Giveaway #9: The Grand Finale

First off, thanks to everyone who has swung by since Wednesday to take part in the fun. The results have far exceeded my expectations and I’m thrilled to have met a bunch of new folks this week. I hope you’ll continue to hang out – here and on my Facebook Fan Page and grab my books to enjoy!

That said, we’ve got one more giveaway to get to & it’s a big one. This runs all weekend and I’ll announce the winner on Monday, so you’ve got plenty of time. And the prize package is pretty awesome.

My good friend Dennis Mahoney of Shinobi Martial Arts in Plaistow, NH runs the best school for Ninjutsu training in northern New England. If you’re in New Hampshire or Maine, there’s simply no one better to train with. Dennis is offering a really amazing package for this giveaway: THREE months of training, a free uniform, and an introductory private lesson at his school.

Also, my old friend author Scott Nicholson is offering his graphic novel DIRT as a free ebook. Scott and I go way back to 2002, when we were both being published by Kensington Publications in New York City. Scott’s a great writer and DIRT is a wonderful read.

Finally, I will be kicking in a brand new embroidered sweatshirt with my JFM Logo on it, several cover flats from my earlier novels, and a mystery bag of goodies.

Let’s bring this celebration to a fantastic close! Here’s all you have to do to enter for your chance to win:

Try to do as many of the list above as possible and let me know in the comments section below what you’ve done. My big goal this week with the grand opening is to introduce a lot of people to my work and what I do – the more people we can introduce me to, the better, so please get out there and participate. If you can’t get involved today because you’re at work, take a few minutes this weekend to participate. It’s a pretty awesome prize package, and I might pick some extra winners so we have a lot of people getting prizes! Go forth and spread the word! have fun! 🙂

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