Guest Post by Silas Payton

The F-word Authors Should Learn from Rap Music

Hip hop, or rap, has done extremely well in the past twenty years and I would argue it is largely because of the F-word. Fans want the F-word, plain and simple, and I'm willing to bet this holds true with writing just as much as with rap music. The F-word I'm referring to is featuring. It's seen after the title of many, many hip hop songs, used to highlight a guest performer. Many music artists have worked together in the past, but no other music genre has done it so effectively. Writers would do well to learn from this strategy. In this post I highlight some rap examples of this success and discuss ways we can apply this technique to writing.

When someone starts listening to a particular rapper, it's not long before they have a list of other rappers they also want to check out. Fans quickly become aware of other artists similar to, or liked by, their new star. When they are looking for something else to listen to, guess where they are going to turn.


Rappers seem to enjoy promoting each other. Not only do rappers collaborate on songs and show up to each other's concerts, but often other performers will be mentioned in a song without even being featured in it. The only benefit is to raise awareness. Perhaps it's from the roots or history of rap, I'm not sure. What I do know is rappers take cross-promotion to a whole new level.

Take for example, Eminem. Arguably one of the most successful rappers of all time. A quick scan of singers he has featured, or has been featured with, reveals an extensive list, including: Skylar Grey, Obie Trice, Pink, Rhianna, Sia, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Busta Rhyme, Cashis, Yelawolf, Dr. Dre, D12, Lloyd Banks, and Akon, Jay-z, and The Game, to name just a few. I stopped counting at sixty collaborators.

As a second example, I looked up Snoop Dogg. I stopped counting at ninety collaborators. Here's a quick scan of a few other big names: Jay-z, over sixty; Lil Wayne, over fifty; Kendrick Lamar, new to the scene has over twenty... eleven on one album.

This "featuring" in rap music, is simply cross-promotion done right. A fan of one is introduced to another through collaboration. Just as in the book world, rap fans are always on the lookout for more. As an author, there are a number of ways we can cross-promote as well. A few come to mind and I'll briefly mention each: anthologies, multi-author book collections or boxed sets, Kindle Worlds, co-writing a book with someone else, and a few other ideas.


Anthologies

An anthology is a collection of stories... quite often short stories, from different authors. An anthology often has a common genre or theme, which introduces fans to authors they may not heard of. It may be be a collection put together and sold for shared profits, for charity, or it may even be put out as a free collection. Either way it gets your name out in front of new readers.


Multi-Author Boxed Sets

This is a collection of books put out by a number of authors, usually at a discount price. Similar to an anthology, this may be a collection of books of similar genres. This is often a collection of previously released books bundled together. It could be a permanent option or and possibly only be available for a short time for a promotion. A huge benefit to anthologies and boxed sets are the collective marketing. If all authors are pushing the book or collection, more readers can be introduced to the other authors.


Kindle Worlds

Anyone who follows Joe's blog should know about Kindle Worlds. Amazon has a series of Worlds that anyone can write in. These include a number of popular series from authors, comic books, and even television series. The idea here is the same... if you write in the 'world' of an established author, you may be able to entice some of their existing fans to cross over into your books.

I've been in J.A. Konrath's Jack Daniels and Associates Kindle World for roughly six months now, and sales have been steady since. Not only am I currently selling books to Konrath fans, but I have no doubt this will also bring new readers to my other books over time.

I have two in Joe's Jack Daniels Kindle World, White Lady, and Paralyzer. Please check them out.


Co-Writing a Book

If you are very lucky, you may be able to co-write with a more established author. There are many examples of new authors being given an opportunity. Self-published Jude Hardin writing with Lee Child, Russell Blake writing with Clive Cussler, and Joe Konrath writing with F. Paul Wilson, are a few that come to mind. Even if you collaborate with other new authors, it will still benefit both of you. This isn't something I've tried yet, but it's on my list.

Author Mentions

In my first book, Going Under, I name drop as a character (my psychotic antagonist) reads a J.A. Konrath book. In my new book, 14 Gable Lane, due out in February, I've worked in a similar scene where I have a character reading a book by another author friend of mine.


Back Material: Recommended Reading Lists, and Bonus Material

I've also seen cross-promoting using a Recommended Reading List in your back pages. This has been used by traditional publishing for years. If you can get a group of writers together who you recommend, you can list each other. With ebooks, you can even add hyperlinks to the author's Amazon page. You can also pair up and have an introduction to a friend's book as an extra at the back... maybe a few chapters, or a blurb, maybe even a short story.

Cross-promotion is an easy way to get your work in front of new eyes, but the take home message here is not just how to gain readers. The real message is, there are many ways in which you can help others by cross-promoting their work. We all gain far more from trying to help others than from trying to help ourselves. Take a lesson from the rappers on this one...prolific use of the F-word will help.

Silas Payton

Guest Post by Dale T. Phillips and Vlad V.

Giving Our Way to Success- by Dale T. Phillips and Vlad V.

Giving comes back around. Tess Gerritsen sparked the giving circle with so much of her time, energy, and money to aid Alzheimer's research – so it's nice that I got to thank her in person at Bouchercon, the world mystery conference.

On this site, Joe upped the ante with his guest post offer, raising even more funds – while helping writers at the same time – so we’d like to say “thank you” for this opportunity. We've been reading this blog and others like it for years, and a big part of our going Indie is due to pioneers like Joe – many of which you'll see mentioned on this blog from time to time. People like Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, David Gaughran, Laura Resnick, Bob Mayer, Joanna Penn, Vincent Zandri, Jude Hardin and Russell Blake have shared their journeys and experiences, and it's helped us to find our own paths in the new world of publishing. These folks and others, like Jane Friedman and The Passive Guy, offer incredibly useful advice to Indies for free. It's a lovely cooperative world.

Vlad V. and I are serious about our long-term writing careers, and we’ve found outstanding value in cooperation. For us, giving is the new way to achieve success.

As writers, we all give our stories to the world. We have to – without the sharing, we're nothing. Sure, we hope for some sort of return, some acknowledgment that what we present has value to others, and though we aspire to take care of our families while writing full-time, many of us would keep telling and sharing stories if we never saw another dime from it.

But the Indie writing life can be isolating and sometimes depressing, especially when you’re struggling with sales, or when your manuscript just isn’t turning out the way you’d like it to. Collaborating can be the solution to keeping your Indie fire stoked and white-hot. By working together for mutual advantage, we’ve made more traction in the last two years than we did in all the time of going solo and through traditional avenues. We had heard time and again about the value of collaboration, but it wasn’t until a few of us began our own informal group that the advantages really started to emerge.

Sharing With Others Can Save You Money

Indies should be frugal, and many (like us) are striving for success on shoestring budgets. Collaborating can help you avoid financial mistakes, such as overpaying for cover design. One author at a show was brandishing his “great” book cover that he'd paid “only” $2000 for (think Barry Eisler’s infamous “Green Garage Door” cover). Had he used one of our cover artists, he'd have got his cover – or a better one – at a quarter of the price.

Another big expense is editing. Working with other writers allows us to reduce the number of for-pay editing rounds we go through before a manuscript is publication-ready. While we still use professional editors in the final stages, we weed out many of the weaknesses in our early drafts, and thus minimize our financial outlay later on.

There are caveats here, however. First, be willing to give. When a collaborator sends you a manuscript, do your absolute best to find ways to improve it, because when another writer sees how much you care about theirsuccess, they care more about your success. It’s a two-way street.

Second, work with writers who are equal or more advanced than you are in some aspect(s) of the craft, because that’s how you get better. For example, Vlad is great at writing dialogue, while Dale’s pacing is meteoric, and we’ve both learned from one another in a variety of other ways. Your local writing group might be a good place to start, but only if they're up to par. That’s a subjective decision you’ll have to make for yourself – but you can always start your own group and be picky about who you choose to work with. Maybe only the cream of the crop in your local (or online) writer’s group would be interested in joining a more serious collaborative. There is often a correlation between a writer’s knowledge of the craft and how seriously you should take their opinion, so surround yourself with the best writers you can find who want it just as badly as you do, and who are passionate about their work. Their skills are likely to rub off on you, and vice-versa.

Third, be honest. Many writing groups are too soft, and mere flattery doesn’t help a professionally-oriented writer. This is a tough business that requires a thick skin, so don’t be afraid to take off the gloves, provided your insights are constructive and will improve the work. In our group, we tend to give short summations of what we like about a piece in 2-3 sentences, followed by an in-depth analysis of its weaknesses, which may go on for many pages. Blunt honesty is abundant, and while it might be hard to accept, we try not to take it too personally, because the feedback invariably improves the work.

Diversification helps, too, so collaborate with a variety of writers. Don’t limit your group to one genre. Vlad has a pair of horror publications out, and his latest, The Button, is Science Fiction. Later this year, he'll release his books for kids. Dale has a mystery series, a horror thriller, and story collections in a number of different genres. Exposure to other genres expands the skill sets and techniques available to you as an artist. For example, can your Action-Thriller featuring John Q. Mightystrong be given more depth with an intricate backstory, not unlike what you found in My Lesbian Breasts, Jane’s character-based women’s novel about two lovers suffocated by the social stigmas of the Deep South in the 1820s? Perhaps John Q. Mightystrong will be strengthened as a character.

Hemingway once said, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master,” so it behooves all writers to expose themselves to as many skill sets as they can, as often as they can.

Cross-promotion

We’ve found that cross-promotion can help build more buzz for author events. Are readers going to flock to a local bookstore to meet a single author they might not have heard of? Probably not, but they may come for half a dozen or more. Collaboration can extend your reach to readers and other industry players that you might not have had access to when you’re doing all this solo.

When we find a new opportunity, we let the others know about it, too. Many have scored new interviews, bookstore appearances, reviewers, and signing opportunities we may not have heard about otherwise.

Want to work with groups of people who will help get the word out about your works? Use libraries, who are having a tough time in the modern book world. Joe's developing a program to get quality self-pub and Indie e-books into more libraries, a great thing. Dale connected with librarians while signing books at the Boston Book Fair, and was told how big publishers are screwing libraries with higher fees and more restrictions. So he offered his e-books to them for free, and 8 of his releases are now in a statewide pilot program, available in over 50 libraries. That's over 400 more chances for someone to find his work! And because of a comment on this blog, Dale contacted the Douglas County Library System, part of Joe's program, and has been accepted there as well. And where he gets in, he helps others of quality to do the same…

A great way to cross-promote is to write for charity. Dale gave a story to Nightfalls, a charity anthology edited by Katherine Tomlinson, which got him more connections and exposure. Using that idea, we're working with a local charity to produce a book of stories from a handful of local writers, of which all proceeds will benefit the charity. They'll promote us through a mailing list of 10,000+, as well as through their website and at live fundraising events, and we'll get people checking out our work, while supporting a great cause. Win-win, through collaboration!

We'll try anything to see if it helps. Giveaway bags are something we've done at a couple of big signings. Instead of simple flyers and business cards that end up in the recycling bin, we up the ante. Interested readers who stop by and chat get a bag of various goodies: candy, a free book or two, an inexpensive booklight, whatever. Hey, they do it at trade shows. We've had a number of delighted recipients, who tell others, and since our marketing info is built right in, it’s led to repeat readers. Get a few writers each tossing in a treat, and you can get folks at a big show buzzing about your table. Not something you'll want to do every time, but a fun way of getting people to know your name and check you out.

Big publishers pay a lot of money to distribute ARCs in the hope of reviews, but as Indies, we do giveaways of e-books. The small press that published Dale's first mystery novel put it up as a giveaway e-book for a few months, long after its debut. With almost no promotion, over 3400 new people downloaded it, and even though many are Kindle-stuffing, he’s bound to get some new readers from those, who will go on to buy his other works... But imagine the horror from a big publisher if you were to give away thousands of copies!

Even print can cost so little now for short works that it can be used for giveaways as well. By combining efforts with other authors, you can extend your promotional reach to a wider variety of readers.

Cross-selling

We’ve also found that cross-promotion naturally leads to cross-selling, which has been a boon for us at live events. When a reader approaches us, and we don’t have what they’re looking for, we send them on to someone who does. We’ve seen more than one author push their book on a customer based on what the customer said they liked … even though that book had nothing to do with the customer's preference. It makes us cringe, because at the end of the day, it’s better to give readers what they want, rather than deceiving them into a sale. At best, they’ll never come back to your brand, and at worst, they’ll bad-mouth your work to others.

Our host Joe does few public events anymore, but we’ve found that these live events have been more productive for us than online ventures, at least so far, because our fan base is still growing. We prefer the personal connections and have enjoyed the book shows and signings, where we can talk to new readers and get more people interested in our work. We’ve been building our fan base and list of email contacts one person at a time.

Forced Improvement

There are few things as satisfying to a writer as seeing his or her book in print after working so hard to bring a story from idea to publication, and the urge to hit the ‘publish’ button can be overwhelming. Collaboration can keep you from pulling the trigger too early.

After you’ve found your circle of collaborators and have begun to trust their judgment, hear them out. Both A Shadow on the Wall by Dale and The Button by Vlad were delayed by several months, because they needed concentrated work to make them much more than just good enough. But try telling a major publishing house you're not delivering on schedule, because you've got to kick the quality up a few more notches. They'd rather have the next-quarter profits, not the long-term book quality.

Baby Steps

Self-publishing isn’t a sprint, or even a marathon. It’s a long, lonely, cross-country journey (think Lord of the Rings) with fifty pounds of gear on your back, and perils all around. Collaboration makes the highs and lows of such a long journey bearable, and yes, even enjoyable. Writing is, after all, a manic endeavor, so when you can see the mountaintop, but all you’re able to do is go another few feet up the slope, know that it's okay, because you’re making progress.

Collaboration helps us understand what works and what doesn’t work for other writers, so we can refine our own methods. Some writers can write 2,000 words a day, every day, 365 days a year. The rest of us have busy lives with day jobs, family, school, and whatever else might pop up. There’s a ton of writing advice out there, the Do’s and Don'ts from the greats, right down to your dear Aunt Betty. Writing every day is a big one. Can you write every day? Maybe not, but what you can do is further your career right now by taking baby steps that will help you eventually reach the mountaintop. Instead of berating yourself for missing a deadline, or feeling overwhelmed because you’re falling behind on your blog, focus on what you can do to further your career at this very moment.

Reading, keeping tabs on the industry, writing, tweeting your brand, scribbling notes, editing – they are all necessary to get you where you want to go. Yes, by all means, familiarize yourself with the “rules” of writing, but don’t be afraid to tailor them to your lifestyle, and discard the ones that are impractical for you.

Wrapup and Pitch

We're the pilots, not the passengers, in this new world of publishing, and we get to say where the plane is going. By continuing to write, publish and collaborate, someday we'll move up to Abundant Airlines. Joe has talked about mastering your fate in his collaboration with Barry Eisler, Be the Monkey. We're following their lead. Work with others, folks. Big publishing is about competition, but self-publishing is about cooperation and collaboration.

So you want to know what we're offering to share with you, right?

Check out Dale's horror thriller, Shadow of the Wendigo,

or the story collections listed on his website: www.daletphillips.com.

Drop him an email (daletphillips@comcast.net), tell him which book you want, and he'll send you a code for a free copy on any e-book platform (via Smashwords.com).

Or if you'd rather have a good action mystery, try his first one, A Memory of Grief, dropped to 1.99 on Kindle.

Vlad is offering The Button, his brand-new Sci-fi/Thriller, free to readers here for the entire month of April on any e-book platform.

Visit this Smashwords page: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/425039

and purchase The Button using coupon code: GS83H

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

Dale T. Phillips – www.daletphillips.com

Vlad V. - www.TheVlad.net

More On Kindle Worlds

Ann Voss Peterson says:  Almost exactly two months ago, Joe and Amazon launched the Jack Daniels and Associates Kindle World. There are currently 43 stories, and it's been fun to watch that list grow and see all the great reviews piling up.

Watching Joe's project unfold has been especially exciting for me, since Joe and I have also been working with Amazon on a second Kindle World. And now Joe has been nice enough to let me announce that this week is the official launch for the new Codename: Chandler Kindle World!

When Joe first approached me about collaborating on this crazy, over-the-top, action-packed spy thriller series, I was a little intimidated. I'd written romantic thrillers previously and loved writing and reading fast-paced stories. But Codename: Chandler isn't your usual thriller. It's what I like to call an action movie in book form. It is non-stop and bigger-than-life in every way imaginable.

And let me tell you, writing Chandler is a blast!

Just as with the Jack Daniels and Associates World, The Codename: Chandler World is a little different from other Kindle Worlds (as of this writing), because authors who write Codename: Chandler can keep the rights to characters they create. This means is your character can team up with Chandler (or one of the other CC characters) or fight her, or have sex with her, anything you want to imagine!

Joe explains in more depth in this blog post. But here's the TL;DL version:

Joe sez: The takeaway here is that writers can do cross-overs and mash-ups, which is a fun way to cross-pollinate fans, and could never be done before in KW.

I encourage everyone reading this to check out the Codename: Chandler launch stories. Simply click on the title under the cover art below.

In the upcoming weeks, many of these authors will share their experience on this blog. As far as experiments go, this one is pretty big. It has never been done before, and we're in uncharted waters. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

And if you're interested in writing in the Jack Daniels and Associates Kindle World, or the Codename: Chandler Kindle World, you can. You don't need my or Ann's permission or help. You don't even need to tell us. You can do it entirely on your own. It's easy, and you keep half the royalties. All you have to do is follow the Codename:Chandler guidelines. So check those out, check these out, and mix your characters with ours.

Looking forward to seeing some cool stories!

Here's the list of titles so far:

FIX by F. Paul Wilson, J.A. Konrath, and Ann Voss Peterson

Her codename is Chandler. She's a spy for a secret government agency. Trained to be the best of the best, no man is her equal. 

That is, until she meets Repairman Jack. 

Travelling to the Big Apple, Chandler isn't told what her mission is. Only that it's a big one. Forced to scavenge for weapons, she meets up with New York's #1 vigilante, and sparks fly. 

But Jack and Chandler have more to deal with than each other. When a blackmail scheme turns into a terrorist plot, it will take their combined efforts to save the city. 

Or die trying. 

AN UNFORSEEN AFTERNOON by Felipe Adan Lerma

Iconic Codename Chandler meets Texas transplant Samantha (Sam) Lacroix at a high school under siege in Chicago. 

Action and interaction boil and overflow over each other in this fast paced, witty encounter between two experienced crime fighters. 

Having to deal with four kids (teens and younger) caught in the cross-fire, is just a bonus.

DEADLY by Tracy Sharp

She's an elite spy, working for an agency so secret only three people know it exists. Trained by the best of the best, she has honed her body, her instincts, and her intellect to become the perfect weapon. 

A deadly parasite has infected several people in the city of Chicago. But they were only the test subjects; a psychopath's experiment before unveiling his real plan. 

Chandler's mission is simple: execute the CDC researcher who released the parasite before he unleashes it upon the entire city, and possibly the world. 

But things are not as they seem, and the mission does not go as planned. 

Hang on tight. Things are about to get deadly.

FATE by Nicholas Steven

Rick Ryker is a courier. He will deliver anything, anywhere, no questions asked. He has never failed to deliver his package. Until now. 

Chandler is a government assassin. She will kill anyone, anywhere, no questions asked. She has never failed to take out her target. Until now. 

Ryker isn’t supposed to open the package. Chandler is supposed to destroy the package. They both go against orders…and their decisions set in motion a game they have no choice but to play. A game where the world is the playing board and the stakes are everyone on it. Ryker and Chandler don’t like to play by the rules, but if they get caught cheating, the consequences will be disastrous. 

FATE is a Codename: Chandler novella that takes place between EXPOSED and NAUGHTY.

RUN LIKE MAD by Bryan Higby

What happens when Chandler is sent to the grim city of DenMark in Upstate New York to kill a man? She winds up running for her life from a secret society named The Mannerbund Group. Like Hydra Mannerbund is an ultra secret group that creates atrocities throughout the world. Unfortunately for Chandler Mannerbund has one small snag - OzValt Grant. 

OzValt Grant, former Sniper, former homicide detective of the Fifth Precinct for the city of DenMark is one of a kind. He has one foot in stopping all the evil at work in DenMark created by the sinister covert Mannerbund Group/ They want him dead. When Chandler gets shot wandering down an alley in Grant's vicinity what happens? THEY RUN LIKE MAD. 

This is the first story in a trilogy following the evolution of the relationship between assassin Chandler and jack of all traits, OzValt Grant.

SCARY INTEL by Kaysee Renee Robichaud

Unstoppable Agent

An ultra-covert organization has taken up a contract for a nigh-unkillable madman who masquerades as a philanthropist. When elite spy Chandler has the target in her sights, success lays just one squeeze of the trigger away . . . or so she believes. Instead of her mission ending, things are about to take a weird twist.

Unsuspecting Bookworm

Venkat has been dreaming of becoming a field agent for the Malleus Librum Society, a secretive organization dedicated to recovering ancient grimoires. That dream has just come true, but at a sanity-threatening price. Shadowed by a fast talking mentor with a supernatural secret, Venkat must retrieve De Vermis Mysteriis, a five-hundred-year old black magic spell book penned by a necromancer.

Unspeakable Evil

In addition to vast wealth and unsavory criminal resources, the megalomaniacal Jeeves Peabody has access to otherworldly allegiances and horrifying allies. He is a formidable opponent, one neither Chandler nor Venkat can succeed against alone.

Unlikely Allies

Two women from wildly different worlds must band together against this common foe. Their chances are slim. Even working together, how can an elite superspy and a magically-minded librarian triumph over a villain aligned with the forces of soul-crushing doom?

Unknown Threats

In a world teeming with mystic and mundane dangers, ignorance is no defense, but even a little knowledge can be deadly . . . The only way to survive is to amass enough

Scary Intel

STAY by Steve DeWinter

Chandler, one of three surviving identical septuplets all trained as government assassins, is determined to leave her old life far behind. Finally feeling at home in the country of Panama as a grade school English teacher, her sisters find her and she is forced to choose between running or staying to fight for her new life. 

STAY takes place after the events in THREE by J.A. Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson and continues the thrilling adventures of Chandler in an exciting new Kindle Worlds story. STAY also introduces Melissa Stone into the Codename: Chandler world. To see more electrifying adventures with Melissa, be sure to check out Steve DeWinter’s Peacekeepers X-Alpha series.

STREET by Linda Style

His codename is Heathcliff. He's an assassin for a secret government agency. Trained to be the best of the best, Heath has only two flaws; his insatiable thirst for revenge, and the inability to resist a beautiful woman. 

Crusading lawyer Charlize Street is determined to be one of the good guys. In a city like Detroit, justice is hard to come by, especially in the halls of power. So when a senator known for doing good deeds is smeared with criminal allegations, Charlie is determined to clear his name. But she isn't prepared to handle the senator's sexy bodyguard, a man who exudes both charm... and danger. 

Once Charlie starts looking into the case, she finds herself with a target on her back. But she's not alone. Heath insists on helping her, although she can sense he has his own agenda. Soon the heat is coming from more than just the people who want to stop her. And she wonders if there is anyone in the Motor City she can truly trust. 

STREET is the prequel to DETROIT RULES, book one in Linda Style's new STREET LAW series.

TARGET by Tim Tresslar

She's an elite assassin and spy. The ultimate weapon. Her mind, body and instincts have been trained to perfection. 

Codename: Chandler 

A mercenary is preying on Chicago’s citizens – and he has help from one of Chandler’s fellow assassins. 

Chandler teams with David Garrett, an MMA fighter and spy, to track down and terminate these killers even as another mortal enemy watches from the shadows. 

RESCUE by J.A. Konrath (coming soon)

Her codename is Hammett. She assassinates targets for a secret government agency.

But sometimes work becomes personal.

His name is Tequila. He's a leg breaker for the mob, currently retired. 

But sometimes retirement doesn't stick.

They say that no one knows what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. 

They also say that bad attracts bad.

Hammett and Tequila are about to find out if those old sayings are true.

Four more stories have also been added to the Jack Daniels & Associates Kindle World:

SLEEPER TOWERS FALL by Bryan Higby

Someone is killing random people in New York and Chicago. 

The blood of innocence have been spilled, or are they innocent... 

When a serial killer case comes to Chicago Detective Herb Benedict is stumped. Several dead but with no correlation except that the ballistic tests have come back positive for the same suppressor used with different calibers in Chicago and New York. Damn! It is a serial case. Herb contacts his old friend and former partner Jack Daniels for her professional opinion, but Jack is up to her eye balls in baby duty - literally. 

Checking the NCIC database Jack finds out that the serial killer has left several dead in New York State, most recently in a small city named DenMark. Jack knows DenMark well, especially one of it's former boys in blue, OzValt Grant. Against her better judgment Jack contacts the DenMark Fifth Precinct inquiring about the serial killer connection as well as Grants current whereabouts. 

It doesn't take long for the bullets and blood to fly once Jack and OzValt Grant hook up. 

Sleeper Towers Fall is the first volume of another explosive Jack Daniels/OzValt Grant trilogy. 

LUCHA DOOM by Paul Seiple

Lately, private detective, Harry McGlade has had a lot of free time on his hands since a few questionable photos of him in bondage ended up on social media. Things change when a woman with a problem and a last resort knocks on McGlade's door. 

Abby Leray is out of options. Her sister disappeared six months ago after signing a contract to wrestle in Mexico for the wrestling organization Lucha Doom. Fearing that Francis was sold into sex slavery, Abby turns to McGlade to bring her sister home. To do so, McGlade must infiltrate the underbelly of Lucha Doom where wrestling may just be a front for something much bigger. 

Harry McGlade is a character who appears in J.A. Konrath's Jack Daniels's series. Jack makes a cameo in LUCHA DOOM. 

LUCHA DOOM is an 11,000 word novella filled with humor, violence, mystery, and several scenes that will make you say, "That's just wrong." 

You've been warned. 

PARALYZER by Silas Payton

Toronto police Inspector Bill Roberts is called to the scene when mutilated remains of a body are found in a dumpster. He soon discovers a connection between the body and a series of unsolved reports of missing people in the City of Toronto. 

Six months after Lt. Jack Daniels of the Chicago police is almost blown up in Toronto, she returns to get an award for her help in catching a hit man. While she is there, she begins to suspect her partner Herb may have joined the ranks of Toronto's growing list of the missing, and insists on taking part in the investigation. Jack joins forces with Inspector Bill Roberts in a race to discover the disturbing cause of the disappearances before Herb becomes the next victim. 

With guest appearances by Jack's former partner, Harry McGlade, and by Jack's cat, Mr. Friskers, this story will keep you flipping pages non-stop until the end. 

This novel is approximately 240 pages, and ties in the Jack Daniels characters of author J.A. Konrath, and the Bill Roberts characters of author Silas Payton. If you like either of these authors on their own, you'll love this story bringing their two worlds together. 

THE JAPANESE SLIPPER MURDERS by Gordon Hopkins

Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack Daniels" of Chicago's Violent Crime Unit has faced serial killers, terrorists and assassins. With a quarter of Chicago's police force sidelined with the flu, Jack finds herself doing double duty arresting drunks. That is, until she gets that phone call no one wants to get. 

Gil DiMauro was a friend of Jack's. When Gil’s beaten, bloody corpse is pulled from the river, she vows to find the killer. 

Only, things aren't what they seem. 

Murder, blackmail, revenge and insurance fraud all figure into a conspiracy with a dirty cop at the center and Jack Daniels hates dirty cops. 

The Japanese Slipper Murders is a 12,000 word story (about 40 pages long) written by Gordon Hopkins, a professional fraud investigator and author of the novel, FRAUDSTERS. 

POOLED BLOOD by H.L. Leroy

After barely surviving the horror of the Parkside Strangler, Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels and her friend, P.I. Jillian Varela, decide to head to Cancun for a little well-deserved R&R. 

But instead of a relaxing two weeks at a five star, luxury resort, a grisly death lands at their feet, and a young girl is arrested. 

It should be simple, but in Mexico, you are guilty until proven innocent. And if the Policia Federal find out what Jack and Jillian are up to, they'll be spending a long time in less than luxury accommodations. 

And finally, a book that I've been meaning to mention, and one that will be featured in an upcoming blog post:

A TOUCH OF TEQUILA by Gary Ponzo

FBI Agent Nick Bracco arrives with a team of agents along with his mafia-connected cousin Tommy to help search the underground for the terrorist. 

When the teenager kills a Chicago cop, a vicious manhunt engulfs the city. Bracco reaches out to Lieutenant Jack Daniels for her help with local connections like longtime bookie, Tequila Abernathy, and she agrees to join the task force. 

What Bracco doesn’t realize, however, is that Jack knows of the kid and believes he is trying to escape from the terrorist organization that trained him for the job. A belief based solely on her intuition. 

The problem: There’s powerful intelligence verifying the existence of a terrorist cell with an explosive device set to go off in downtown Chicago on Black Friday. 

With just hours to go, Jack finds herself chasing the teenager alone and unarmed, ready to test her instincts. 

Bracco believes the teenager is there to detonate the bomb. 

Jack believes she can save the kid and find the bomb before the terrorists push the button. 

Someone is wrong. 

Dead wrong. 

And the citizens of Chicago will have to pay the price. 

It's Your Universe

After debuting my self-pubbed ebooks on Kindle in April of 2009, I've sold over 100,000 of them.

One of the reasons I've sold so many is because I currently have 29 Ebooks on Amazon. Just like a brick and mortar bookstore, the more shelf space you take up, the more likely you are to be discovered by browsers. You can't be read if you aren't seen, so try to be seen in as many places and as often as possible.

When you're an author, you're a brand. A certain percentage of readers who like one of your books will seek out other books written by you. My goal, from the beginning, was to make the Konrath brand instantly identifiable. I did this in three ways.

First, I wrote a series. Mystery readers are loyal to characters, and I knew if I hooked a reader with one book, she would be likely to read everything featuring the same character. In this case, it was a female cop named Jack Daniels.

Second, I made the books stand out from the crowd by making them both suspenseful and funny. There are scares, and there are laughs, often on the same page. I knew this would turn some folks off (the early reviews for my first JD thriller said I had no idea if I wanted to be Thomas Harris or Carl Hiaasen) but that some would get it.

Third, I made these books easy to find, by naming them all after drinks. That way, a reader could go into a bookstore and not remember my name, or the title, but could still find my novels by asking the bookseller "Who does those books with drink titles?"

The seventh Jack Daniels book, SHAKEN, was just released yesterday. It's currently the #14 Kindle Paid Bestseller.

Now, as expected, a lot of the folks buying SHAKEN are fans of my previous books. But there are also some newcomers who are meeting Jack Daniels for the first time with SHAKEN. And what are those folks doing?

You guessed it. They're going back and buying the other six books in the Jack Daniels series.

WHISKEY SOUR, the first JD book, is currently #173 on the Kindle Bestseller List. That's the highest it has ever been.

BLOODY MARY is at 681.

RUSTY NAIL is at 1214.

DIRTY MARTINI is at 735.

FUZZY NAVEL is at 739.

CHERRY BOMB is at 728.

Why is RUSTY NAIL the only ebook not in the Top 1000? Because my publisher is charging $5.70 for it, and is charging $4.80 or less for the others. But then, I've told them many times they should all be $2.99 or less, and my pleas fall on deaf ears.

These books are all part of the same series, and the same universe. But rather than stop there, I realized I could expand this universe even more.

JACK DANIELS STORIES gathers fifteen shorts featuring Jack and her supporting cast.

THE LIST, though a technothriller, has a Jack Daniels cameo (and the hero from THE LIST, Tom Mankowski, is in both CHERRY BOMB and SHAKEN.)

One of the characters from DISTURB also has a cameo in CHERRY BOMB.

SHOT OF TEQUILA features Jack as one of the supporting characters, and it is referenced in SHAKEN.

More on Jack Daniels in a moment, because I want to switch gears and talk about another brand I'm building. I write horror under the name JACK KILBORN.

Kilborn came about when I sold my horror novel AFRAID. Because this was a different genre, and style, from the Jack Daniels series, we went with a different name. This allowed me a fresh start with new fans (and the potentially bigger pre-order numbers from booksellers), while also allowing me to write stuff that some of my JD fans might not like.

So Kilborn became my horror alter ego. He wrote the novels TRAPPED and ENDURANCE, which have become two of my biggest bestsellers.

Even though Kilborn fans might not be Konrath fans, and vice versa, I knew that some would. So I never hid that I was Kilborn, and have always encouraged the Jack Daniels readers who liked the scary parts to check my pen name out.

Since Kilborn has been outselling Konrath lately, I also wanted Kilborn's fans to know that the Jack Daniels series had some real horror chops to them as well.

How best to do this?

Have them write a story together, obviously.

TRUCK STOP featured Jack Daniels, and the serial killer Taylor (from AFRAID and TRAPPED.)

Here's where things get interesting.

TRUCK STOP also featured a serial killer named Donaldson, who was in a novella called SERIAL that Jack Kilborn wrote with Blake Crouch.

Blake and I expanded SERIAL into SERIAL UNCUT, which encompassed SERIAL, TRUCK STOP, and his novella BAD GIRL. SERIAL UNCUT also featured Mr. K, the serial killer from SHAKEN.

Confused yet? It gets more convoluted.

SERIAL UNCUT also features the serial killer Luther Kite, who appeared in Blake's thrillers DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS. SERIAL UNCUT ended with Luther thinking about seeking out Jack Daniels. Which he did, in SHAKEN.

Blake and I are now writing STIRRED, which will be the conclusion to the Jack Daniels series and his Luther Kite trilogy.

So what have I done here?

I've not only tied the J.A. Konrath and Jack Kilborn universes together, I've also brought Blake Crouch's universe into the mix. So Blake's fans (he's also written many short stories, plus the excellent thrillers SNOWBOUND and ABANDON) can discover me through him.

So let's get back to Jack Daniels. Seeing the advantage of cross-pollination with other authors, Konrath wrote a Jack Daniels novella with Henry Perez called FLOATERS, featuring Jack and Henry's main mystery character, Alex Chapa, from his novels KILLING RED and MOURN THE LIVING.

Konrath also wrote PLANTER'S PUNCH, where Jack Daniels teamed up with Duffy Dombrowski, from Tom Schreck's series (ON THE ROPES, TKO, OUT COLD.)

Konrath also penned a Harry McGlade novella called SUCKERS with Jeff Strand, teaming Harry up with Jeff's character Andrew Mayhem: GRAVEROBBERS WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY), CASKET FOR SALE (ONLY USED ONCE), and SINGLE WHITE PSYCHOPATH SEEKS SAME.

So now Blake's fans, Henry's fans, Jeff's fans, and Tom's fans, can all be fans of Konrath and Kilborn as well.

My universe has gotten a lot bigger.

Recently, Kilborn, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson wrote the horror novel DRACULAS (with an introduction by J.A. Konrath.) Paul is a NYT Bestseller and the other of more than 40 thrillers. More cross-pollination.

Leaving no stone unturned, I wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure-type novel featuring Harry McGlade called BANANA HAMMOCK. During the course of the narrative, the reader can have Harry appear in some of my other books, in scenes where he shouldn't. So Harry gets to wreck ORIGIN, ENDURANCE, DRACULAS, SUCKERS, WHISKEY SOUR, and many other books in my oeuvre. It not only makes fun of my writing, it also introduces readers to some of my other novels, albeit in a skewed way.

Finally, I'll be unveiling my new persona, Joe Kimball, next year. Kimball writes sci-fi thrillers with some humor. New genre, new audience. But, of course, I want my old audience to be aware of it as well, and I want to make sure it's tied in with my other books.

The main character of TIMECASTER is Jack Daniels's grandson. Harry McGlade III is a supporting character. An elderly Phineas Troutt makes an appearance in TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY.

So what's the point of all this?

The point is, I've currently got ten ebooks in the Kindle Top 1000, and the rest aren't ranked much higher than that.

Writing good books, with good covers, good product descriptions, and low prices, will help you sell. Writing a bunch of them will help you sell even more. But you should also consider biggering your brand by having cross-overs with your characters, and cross-pollinating with other writers.

BTW, I'm dedicating TIMECASTER SUPERSYMMETRY to J.A. Konrath. He works hard, and I think he deserves it.