It will be coming out December 18th, so that’s when we’re book bombing him.
Many of you already know my friend John Brown. We’ve done a couple of book tours together. (including almost dying in a white out blizzard crossing all of Wyoming in a Ford Focus). So I’ve spent a lot of time talking about writing with John. When it comes to pure writing knowledge/skill, I think John is a better writer than I am.
Bad Penny is a thriller. I already Book Bombed his excellent fantasy novel, Servant of a Dark God a few years ago.
This is his newly released independant version of SoaDG:
Why is there a newly released independant version of a book that was released by a major publishing house? Well, because John got totally screwed by his publisher so now he’s gone indy.
Basically, you know there is something seriously wrong when our first books came out about the same time, and fast forward a couple of years and my 5th book was coming out while his editior was still making him do pointless rewrites of his second. When you’re trying to launch a career, you need to be prolfic, otherwise people forget you and move on.
Rewrites, rewrites, rewrites. This just got kind of silly, since he’d do what they asked, then they’d send it back several months later, and make him do a bunch of other stuff. Then send it back many months later again to change other stuff, on and on and on. Oh, add all this stuff. Now it is too long. Cut half the book. But leave all the stuff we made you put in. Nevermind. Take that out. Put this in instead. Now this. No. This other thing. Now it is too long again. Cut a hundred thousand words. Now add all this. For years.
Keep in mind that this wasn’t a bad book. John passed the manuscripts on to a bunch of his author friends. We read them and liked them. He made every version solid. He even sent one version to Elitist Book Reviews and they really liked it.
By the time my 7th book came out his editor was still making him do even more rewrites of his contractually obligated second book–at a point in time where most people had forgot book 1. So John negotiated and broke his contract, and got his rights back so he could finally release the sequel to the book he published 5 YEARS before… Yeah… That is a kick to your career’s nuts.
I don’t know all the details of what went on, and it isn’t my story to tell anyway. But I do know that the highest Servant ever ranked was when I Book Bombed it on the blog, beating the marketing department of John’s publishing house. 🙂
So John went through a contract dispute, got his rights back, and walked away from his major publishing house deal. Now he’s going it alone. I believe he also changed his first book back to the way it was before his editor changed it. (and most of the review complaints I saw about Servant were specifically about the things his editor made him do).
So now John is trying to relaunch his career, and because I think he is a talented author (and super nice guy) I want to help.
Bad Penny is a modern thriller. It is about an Special Forces soldier who screwed up and went to prison. Now he is an ex-con trying to find a regular job. Unfortunatly, some of the “friends” he made in prison come looking for a favor. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is a pretty badass chase across Wyoming and Colorado. I read the early manuscript of Bad Penny and really liked it. Since it was about a former SF guy, I referred John to my friend Marcus (LtCol Army SF turned fed, me and Mike’s technical advisor on Dead Six) so Marcus helped John with a bunch of tecnical and law enforcement stuff for accuracy.
John is releasing Bad Penny on the 18th. I’m going to Book Bomb the hell out of this thing and I’m going to ask everyone for their help.
I’ve been wondering for years where the sequel is. Unfortunate to hear about his publishing troubles but I’ll be sure to back him up with Bad Penny and any new release he’s got.
Yah, me too. I’ll jump right on this on Book Bomb day, not just because it’s John but also because the book sounds right up my alley. 🙂
Just to be clear, Bad Penny is NOT a part of his Dark God Series, is it?
Nope. It’s a modern thriller.
Nope. It is a modern day thriller.
and Servant was awesome- was wondering what happened with the expected sequel. I’m in!
I’m in. I liked SoaDG, but it’s been so long I’ve forgotten much of it. Glad to see a new, improved version out.
And I’ve been waiting for Bad Penny for years now, ever since John mentioned it at the How to Write a Story that Rocks lecture at LTUE a few years back. The sequel also sounds great.
I’m happy John is going indy. I hope he does really well.
I’m glad he is going to go it on his own. I was searching yesterday to see if I could find out what happened to the sequel to Servant, I’ve been waiting forever. Can’t wait, and good luck John!
Those pakhtash at Tor were his publisher? No wonder it’s screwed up. BTW, I jumped over and grabbed SoaDG. Thank you for the recommendation.
John here. I do need to add that it was an amicable parting. I’m a half full glass kind of guy (most of the time). I did learn a lot from the good folks at Tor. And I appreciate how they worked with me when we all realized that we just had different visions for the series and it wasn’t going to work. So there are no hard feelings on my part. The past is the past.
But what I’m excited about is the future. We’ve got the rocket out of the swamp and are ready to blast off again. I’m totally stoked about BAD PENNY (the modern thriller). Totally stoked about my author’s cut of SERVANT (the fantasy). Totally stoked about CURSE, book 2 of the fantasy, that will come out in about a month. And cannot wait to release AWFUL INTENT, book 2 of the thriller, that will come out next spring.
Boom, baby. The man is back.
I kept hearing about a “John Brown” but there are a LOT of John Browns around.
The first four chapters of Servant on JohnDBrown.com (clicked the ‘Novels’ tab) are really, really good. And it’s your first freaking book. Damn.
Mr. John D. Brown, you’re now on my “Just buy it” list.
I’ve been thinking for a while of the possiblity of an author selling a e-book with all future revisions available at no more charge. You could get funding early on, and for those like me who re-read and re-read again, we could get the polished version as it comes available.
Kind of like software upgrades. I’ve never heard of doing it. As long as I’m getting in requests, I’d also love to buy ebook and paper together for one price, so I can tablet it and also curl up in front of the fire with a good paperback and hot chocolate.
In fact, I wish I could send suggestions for corrections to the authors of books I read, and with ebooks, that should be a lot easier.
In Soviet Russia: Proofreaders pay YOU.
Expendable,
There’s a flag with Amazon to get updates automatically. My understanding is that is free. And there will be an update coming here in the next day or two. And there’s a match program as well that the book is enrolled in. You buy the paper version (out later this week) and get the ebook for 99 cents.
You can’t help your name, but geez when I try to find you on Amazon, all I see are books about a certain detestable terrorist.
(grin) That was before. I’ve really tried to clean up my act.
I just picked up Servant and plan to play along with the book bomb. I think it’s terrific that you’re making it happen foryourself, inspiring to see people that don’t give up. But I’m not doing this for you (I don’t know you!) I’m doing it for me, because Larry promotes the *best* books, and it’s hard to find good authors these days!
Thanks to both of you!
Tor let John Brown escape, and Baen had better hurry before John gets comfortable.
Both Servant and Bad Penny are right up my alley. So, I just bought Servant, and looking forward to getting the new one – I should be done with Servant by the 18th, and will be ready for a new one.