Larry Correia & The Monster Hunter Nation

ByJohn Brown

Gotta love this. I just got back from the dermatologist’s. Yesterday it was determined that the thing growing on the side of my nose was not an alien (darn it!) but a squamous cell carcinoma. So the Doc had his rat chew the thing off my face today. He showed me my nose in a mirror so he could explain how he couldn’t just sew up the hole because that would create a pucker. Instead, he needed to cut all the way up the bridge of my nose and then all the way down along the edge of my nostril to make an L-shaped skin flap that he could then stitch up so it would heal all nice and pretty. As he was explaining, I got a good look at the gaping bloody hole–it was the size of your pinky nail, folks. He also told me stories of his time in Russia. His medical assistant told me one of her husband’s run-in with the mafia in Milan. A good time was had all around. Then 30 or so stitches later I came home and found that Larry Correia was up to no good again: Let’s Book Bomb the Hell out of John Brown

So the paperback of SERVANT OF A DARK GOD, which releases in two weeks on November 2nd, started off ranked #220,997 on Amazon. I just checked the rank. As of 2:22 pm we’re at #5,686. Can’t wait to see where this goes today.

Whatever happens, I think I’m going to end up owing Larry and the Monster Hunters some ballistic tip bullets and hand grenades.

EDIT: it’s 3:29 am on Wednesday, October 20th. Just dragged my sleepy hiney back from doing recordings with the Writing Excuses team in American Fork (they’ll publish in November). And lo, the Monster Hunter Nation did bomb the book, and it did rise in rank until it did verily hit an Amazon bestseller list.

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #3,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#65 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

It reached this point sometime while I was on the road. As of right now Servant is:

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #3,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#88 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

And so it was written that the Monster Hunter Nation was awesome to behold. It’s hand grenades for sure.

EDIT: Here we go. Day 2 9:50 am.

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #3,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#85 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

EDIT: end of day 2.

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #4,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  • Bad Penny Update – 2 Chapters to Go

    ByJohn Brown

    I just typed the last words of the climax!  The last 15,000 words have been a blast to write.  Heck, the whole thing has been fun. 

    If you look at the progress meter, you’ll see I’m at 83,384 words.  It’s weird writing something this “short.” I figure I’ll end up around 90,000 words.  I did some analysis of the size of some other thrillers.  You can see it below. It’s not super rigorous, but BAD PENNY falls well within the range.

    AUTHOR AVERAGE WORDS BOOKS
    Dean Koontz 93,500 2
    Harlen Coben 130,500 2
    JA Konrath 77,667 3
    James Lee Burke 153,000 1
    John Grisham 148,000 1
    Ken Follett 140,000 1
    Lee Child 149,000 4
    Michael Connelly 145,000 1
    Ridley Pearson 114,000 1
    Robert Crais 80,667 3

    The average of all those books is 117,000.

    So I have about two more chapters to go.  I’d finish them next week, but we’re taking some vacation for the 4th.  This means I expect to type “The End” in the second week of July. Then I’ll set it aside for a few weeks, revise it, and send it out to first readers, including my agent.  Here are the characters:

    • Frank Shaw – Ex-con trying to go straight
    • Sam Cartwright – Friendly neighborhood Mormon who’s trying to make Frank feel welcome
    • Dan Meese – A man with snakes in his soul, Frank’s former cellmate
    • Tony Shaw – Frank’s nephew and hacker
    • Carmen Escobar – The woman found tied up in the trunk of Dan’s car
    • Pinto Correia – Bearded gun nut and Sam’s go-to guy
    • Jesus Goroza – Zombie for a drug cartel & Dan’s employer

    I really think folks are going to enjoy this one.

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  • NEWS: The Man is going all indie for the next little while

    ByJohn Brown

    After discussions with my agent and a few others, I’ve decided NOT to shop BAD PENNY to New York publishers. In fact, I’ve decided I’m not going to be shopping anything to NY for the next 12 – 18 months.

    My agent was certainly willing to take the property out, but given the average expected advance for thrillers ($15-20k per book; maybe up to $100k for three books) and the terms that NY currently wants, I thought that it might be worth it to try to build something on my own.

    I do not hold the illusions some do about indie publishing (I probably hold others). For example, I know quite a few authors who have published indie and are selling very low numbers each month–single digits and teens. Of course, I know others, a smaller portion, who are selling just fine.

    But then what’s the bar? How many copies do I have to sell on my own over a three to five year period to match what NY can do for me via brick and mortar?

    Let’s look at that from a revenue and a unit perspective.

    The average advance for a fantasy, according to Tobias Buckell’s survey, is about $7,000 for a new author. $12,000 for an established author. We saw the numbers I gathered for thrillers above.

    So lets see how many copies I’d have to sell indie style to earn as much as I’d get in an advance from New York.  Why not select a higher number? Well, my understanding is that most books don’t earn out their advance. That doesn’t mean the publisher doesn’t make money; just that a publisher’s profit isn’t dependent on an author earning out.

    So what are the numbers? Well, here are the numbers for NY. Down the first column you’ll see the different formats. Across the rows you’ll see how many units I’d have to sell to make the advance specified at the top. And how many units I’d have to sell if I wanted to spread the total over three years.

    IndieNYComparisonNYNumbers

    Okay, and here’s what I’d have to sell if I went indie to make the same numbers. I put in the trade paperback format for both 600 and 400 pages because that’s about how big SERVANT and BAD PENNY are going to be.

    IndieNYComparisonIndieNumbers

     

    What does this tell me?

    It tells me I have to sell a heck of a lot more units with NY at a much higher price than I do indie.  It tells me that a $5,000 advance is not even close to being worth the control I lose with NY.  And if it’s true that most books don’t earn out, then it tells me the units that are being sold by NY on the average book.

    Back in 2009 I shared this: How Many Copies Do Average Authors Sell? This was from an editor at Tor Books. Seems like my numbers are in the ball park.

    It’s true that NY could get me into brick and mortar stores. But if the book gets shelved spine out in the back, how many people will discover it?

    It’s true that NY produces some spectacular hits. I looked at the USA Today bestseller list yesterday and it appears only about 10% of the books there this week are indies. But I can’t bank on becoming a NY wonder. The vast majority of NY published books DON’T make the bestseller lists.

    Finally, even if I sold BAD PENNY today, it still wouldn’t hit shelves for probably 12-18 months from now. And then it would only stay on the shelves for 12-18 weeks. Going indie, I will have it up by September. And it will stay. For years and years and years.

    There’s no guarantee of success either way. But the indie numbers look good to me. We’ll see how it goes.

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  • It has begun

    ByJohn Brown

    The very observant will note that the progress bar for draf 4 of CURSE OF A DARK GOD has moved. Here’s the opening, although I’m sure it will change. We’re on our way, folks.

    It was well past midnight, and they were deep in enemy Fir-Noy territory.  There were eight of them: Talen, Sugar, River, and five of Shim’s soldiers, all of them staying back in the deep moon shadows at the edge of the wood, crouching low in the dry autumn weeds that had not yet been eaten down by the village livestock.  They had to be careful.  Talen, Sugar, and River all had sizeable Fir-Noy bounties on their heads.  And even though they wore weaves of might, being multiplied didn’t make their flesh impervious to arrows and blades. 

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    Talen followed her finger.  The Fir-Noy here had begun to build a wall around their village.  A wooden palisade atop a mound of dirt.  But she wasn’t pointing at the half-finished wall with its timber supports still showing like bones.  She was pointing at a tall pole that had been erected at the gate of the village.  Something had been fastened to the top of the pole.  Talen peered closer and saw a skull shining pale in the moonlight. 

    “That’s your father’s, isn’t it?”

    “You’re going to help me,” she said.  “He deserves better than that.”

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  • Advance Praise for Servant of a Dark God

    ByJohn Brown

    My editor just emailed me another endorsement from one of the folks we sent the manuscript to. I’m so excited! This one’s from Kage Baker.

    I’m a total stranger to three of the four that have responded so far. It continually amazes me how generous the pros in this genre are with both their time and praise.

    Here’s the last one.

    “A classic heroic saga, dealing with the bedrock issues of good and evil and identity. These are classic themes because they matter; and Brown makes them matter both to his young protagonist and the reader. It promises to continue for quite a distance, and I hope it does.”

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    Wow. I think I want to read this book!

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  • Have the Proof of Servant

    ByJohn Brown

    I received the proof of SERVANT from CreateSpace today. Folks, it is georgeous. Inside and out. The cover, title page, Isaac Stewart’s map, headers, front and back matter, chapter titles, the poems. I’m so pleased.

    Most readers will look at it and say, hey, looks like another book. But that’s the point. The interior is designed to give a great reading experience and fade into the background, letting the story come to the fore. The cover is meant to grab and give the feel. I think both do their job splendidly.

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  • Sura cover reveal

    ByJohn Brown

    Behold the cover. A big thanks to Dixon Leavitt for the art.

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