I have self-published my first six Jack Daniels thriller ebooks with new covers, introductions, and formatting.
They are priced on Amazon Kindle at $3.99 each, and as trilogy compilations for $9.99 each. They will soon be available on other ebook platforms, as well as in print.
Here are the covers and links.
Now here's a fun clip of Japanese superstar Toshiro Mifune, who often played a masterless samurai, doing his thing.
How You Like Me Now? :)
28 comments:
I like you just fine, Joe :)
Congratulations on finally getting those rights back, Joe! Are you ever going to tell us how you're doing it?
Yes, we need a full blog on how you got all your rights back etc...
I do love the new covers, but I also miss the subtle skulls on the old covers. But I see how you are trying to convey the humor in the books with the smileys instead.
I always thought of the books as thrillers more than mysteries, but now I notice the original covers also said 'a Jaqueline JD mystery', so there ya go.
The ebooks should do well at $3.99 a pop, and bundling so people can save a couple bucks by buying 3 at a time is brilliant.
Any plans to re-issue Shaken/Stirred with new covers to remove the skulls and add smileys and make them consistent with the first 6?
Yes, we need a full blog on how you got all your rights back etc...
Not gonna happen, ever. I'm sorry, but I can't go into any more detail than that.
Any plans to re-issue Shaken/Stirred with new covers to remove the skulls and add smileys and make them consistent with the first 6?
I dunno. Carl Graves did all of them, but Shaken and Stirred are pubbed by Amazon, and they'd need a good reason to swap the covers out.
Good on you for recognizing the skull/smiley issue. The JD books have always had some scary, brutal scenes in them, and I felt the old covers didn't work on two levels.
First, though they conveyed the humor in the books, they looked like Evanovich covers. So I missed out on selling to men, and to thriller fans.
Second, a lot of people bought the books expecting something light, and got some serious scares they weren't expecting.
These new covers look darker, like thrillers, and the smileys convey the sense of humor in them. I'm very pleased with Carl's work.
Great new covers! I remember reading these some time back ... fun reads!
Congrats, Joe!
I love the covers. Carl rocked them, as usual. :)
I guess this makes the old books collectible. Especially if they're signed. :)
As more of a business-end question, I've been watching your prices, and just curious -- are you finding 3.99 to be the new magic price-point, or would you still recommend beginner's stick to the 0.99-2.99 range?
Very nice covers. Wasn't Whiskey Sour your big breakout novel? I seem to recall reading an article in Novel Writing around ten years back where you got a startlingly large advance for it.
I like $3.99. Friends of mine are pricing at $4.99 and doing well.
There is an inverse relationship between profit and sales. I sell more copies at $3.99, but they make just as much at $4.99 selling fewer.
The trick is staying on the bestseller lists. That's where a lot of sales occur. So I prefer cheaper, since it sells more copies. But Amazon doesn't say how the lists are weighted, so it could be that more expensive books have a likelier chance of hitting the lists.
Bottom line: it's a crapshoot. Experiment and post your results.
Wasn't Whiskey Sour your big breakout novel?
Yep. I got $110k for a three book deal. It was very nice for a new author.
Of course, by self-pubbing I've made $110k in six weeks. So it's nice to be able to self-publish these ebooks.
Wow! I bet they felt the need to support the hell out of those three books! They can safely igonre a five grand advance, but six figures is a huge investment.
Congrats on getting your first series back!
This is great. Man, I remember when WHISKEY SOUR just came out and you came to talk to Pat Pinianski's thriller-writing class at Columbia. Seems like forever ago. You've come a long way. Congrats, buddy.
This is awesome! I remember when Whiskey Sour came out. You were the local guy with a big contract (I'm from Winfield, btw). I didn't know who you were, just that you taught at COD, where I met with my then writing group. I bought WS, and have been a fan ever since. I hope you sell a million JD copies.
Having never been tortured in this particular manner before, I can only imagine how good it must feel to have your darlings back in your roost.
Love the new covers and love the smileys. Congrats!
So, is the name of the Gingerbread-Man's sister still Janet, as in my print copy of the first book?
I just spotted them on the new Mystery releases and came over here to see if you'd announced it.
Gingerbread-Man's sister still Janet, as in my print copy of the first book?
Wow, how did you remember that? Nicely done!
No, I changed it for the paperback version.
Love the covers. :)
Yes! I own the paperbacks and have been looking forward to have the more portable Kindle format. Love the new covers!
Congratulations on your books - the covers are great! I have just self published a book, called Solitary Desire, and here's the trailer video link for it; thanks for looking at it.
http://twentyfourseveninfrance.com/2013/01/19/book-trailer-video-solitary-desire/
Congratulations, Joe.
Regarding Amazon policy on novel compilations, don't you think it would be a good think if you could have a set of all six JD books for 15 or 18 $, and still get 70% of royalty rate ?
IMHO, the 9,99 $ limit is too restrictive for its own good.
Joe, congrats on getting your rights back. I'm sure you'll sell tons of copies at the $3.99 price point. Glad to see you're also considering other ebook distributors and print.
I like the new covers, especially the consistency for the series. I think that sort of branding helps readers easily identify the books/series.
Niiice! New covers look really sharp, man.
Glad to see you got all your rights back, Joe. Congrats.
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