Book Bomb: John Brown's Dark God Saga

Today is the day. We are Book Bombing John Brown’s awesome Servant series.

I’m doing this because I’ve Book Bombed #1 before (which from the results and reviews, you guys loved) and #2 and #3 just came out.  For those of you who missed out on the last one, I’ve put a link to book 1 also. John has also put them all on sale for this also. This is a historical first because I’ve never bombed a whole trilogy before!

For those of you new to Book Bombs, this is how it works. I do them to give a deserving author a much needed boost. You can buy the books wherever makes you happy, because the important thing is that the author GETS PAID. However, I try to steer as many people as possible to Amazon because they have a sales ranking system that updates hourly. The more people who buy a book in a short period of time, the higher the book gets in those rankings. The higher it gets, the more new people see it, the more it shows up in searches, etc. Once we get a book onto a bestseller list for its genre, then lots of new people see it. Success breeds success.

To give you an example, I Book Bombed John Brown’s Bad Penny and this is what he had to say about it:

I just want you to know that your readers are not only a pleasure because of their enthusiasm, but they also set me up for the huge run Bad Penny had in July. We moved more than 12,000 books. I broke the top 30 in Amazon for a few days. In Nook, I was a best seller the whole freaking month. How did this happen? I got a BookBub promotion. How did I get that? Well, one thing they look at are the reviews. And your folks who enjoyed Bad Penny came out in spades. When you post the book bomb, you need to tell them this author loves the Monster Hunter Nation.

So please tell your friends. As the day goes on I will post the sales ranks of the various books to see if we’re making a difference. Having done a lot of these I know there is a delay in how Amazon calculates so we usually start seeing a real difference in the afternoon, and then it will climb through the evening.

##

Why did I pick John Brown for another Book Bomb? Well, John is a friend of mine. We started out about the same time. His first novel, Servant of a Dark God came out about the same time as Monster Hunter International. So being two relative nobodies we decided to go on a book tour on our own dime. We set up signings (basically whoever would have us) and then we went on a series of gigantic road trips across the western US. We went to San Diego, Phoenix, and Denver. And the Denver trip  across Wyoming was like an adventure novel. Long story, but it involved burning trucks, poached elk, car wrecks, a crazy guy on the run from the reptoids of the Hollow Earth, and a 12 hour drive through a blizzard.

So I have spent a lot of time in a Ford Focus with John Brown.

John is really talented writer. Since we started at the same time, and he works just as hard, and hustles just as much, he should be where I am, EXCEPT John got hosed. He had a contract with one of the biggest publishing houses, and then he had a professional conflict with his editor. After his first book came out, John turned in the sequel. I’m probably getting the timeline/details wrong, but this is just to give you an idea. After months of sitting on it, the editor told him to make a bunch of drastic changes. Okay, not a problem. That’s what editors do. My second book came out. John turned in his revised version. The editor sat on it for a while, and then ordered him to make a bunch of other drastic changes. My third book came out. John turned it in again. Now it was too long. Cut a third of the book. My fourth book came out. John changed everything around, now put back in the stuff you cut. My fifth book came out. Etc.

And the thing is, I read one of those drafts, and it was awesome. Steve and the guys at EBR read all of those drafts, and they loved them. And those guys know the fantasy market better than anyone. So it wasn’t like John was turning in crap books. Sometimes you just get an editor and an author who should not be working together, and in this case John got screwed.  If his second book was ever going to come out from this major publisher, the market had already forgotten about number one, and for a new author, that is the kiss of death. That is a career killer. So John asked to get his rights back and go indy.

One happy bonus to that, all of the negative reviews John got about Servant of a Dark God mentioned the same couple of issues, mostly related to the order of the chapters and the intro. Which is funny, because those changes were mandated by his editor. So when John got his rights back and published it himself, it is the “author’s cut” where he p
ut everything back the way he originally had it. Thanks to his friends and fans, the new Servant is doing well, and now the rest of the series (as he intended it to be written, and not mangled for 5 years) is out, and available to Book Bomb the hell out of today for cheap.

So please tell your friends. Let’s get John Brown some exposure! Let’s once again demonstrate that the Monster Hunter Nation and friends is more effective than a major publisher’s entire marketing department. 🙂

##

So here are the stats as of 8:00 MST

The 1st book in paperback Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,069 

In Kindle:

The 2nd Book in paperback Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #630,173 in Books

in Kindle: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,753 Paid in Kindle Store

And the 3rd Book in paperback Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,121 in Books

EDIT:  So let’s take a little break from wrapping up this fantasy novel rough draft I’m working on today and check to see how our little Book Bomb is progressing so far:

Book #1 

Book #2 

Book #3 

Way to go guys! 

EDIT 2: 

So now that it is time for bed, let’s see how we did today

Book 2

And Book 3

 

Morning Edit: The numbers continued to climb through the night, but this bit is particularly cool: We didn’t just bump up John’s books. We bumped up John. 

Amazon Author Rank

A Note on Book Reviews
SLC ComicCon 2014 After Action Report

61 thoughts on “Book Bomb: John Brown's Dark God Saga”

  1. Been waiting to pull the trigger, but got all three. I usually don’t buy an entire trilogy of an author I haven’t even read before, but since your tastes and mine tend to line up pretty well, I don’t feel bad doing it. 🙂

    Besides, I’ve read John’s blog posts over at his site. Blog posts can definitely tell you whether or not you’ll enjoy a person’s writing or not, so… 🙂

  2. So the pricing on Amazon is really smart. First book: $0.99. Eh, it’s a dollar, I’ll take a chance. Second book: $2.99. Well, since I was going to take a chance on Larry’s say-so anyway, I’ll make it real and go in for $4. Third book: $0.99. Well, screw it, I’m already in for $4, might as well make it $5. $5 for a well-recommended trilogy (other recommendations of note include Sanderson, Farland, and Drake) definitely worth it in my opinion. Hopefully I’ll enjoy this one too!

  3. FYI: Just bought the paperback versions of all three, and got the Kindle versions for free when I went to buy those too.

  4. I just want to say that Servant of a Dark God was one of the best fantasy books I have read in the past 10 years. It really is excellent. And Larry is right the only thing I did not like about it were things (that I found out later from John himself) his editor at TOR made him change. This trilogy has so much promise.

      1. Herding cats is actually pretty easy: just make a noise like a cat food bag opening up and then run in the direction you want them to go. Works every time with my six.

  5. Question: why do these books have a tag as Historical Fantasy in Amazon? As far as I can tell, the story isn’t in a historical setting of any kind.

  6. Bought all three and picked up Bad Penny as well. I have a week out of town on a business trip. Sounds like I will now have something to keep me entertained on the flight/in my hotel room/on the flight back.

  7. I just bought all three in ebook, the wife said I could spend the $5.00 🙂 That is pretty cool though if you buy the paperback they give you the ebook.

  8. Picked up all three. This is one of the reasons why I don’t take seriously traditional publishing’s fear of “no gatekeeper for indies–readers will be swamped with dreck!” I find people of like minds and find out what they recommend.

  9. Well I couldn’t wait for the bomb for the second as I was really bored and needed something to read. But I was glad I waited for the third till today cause it’s on sale. What can I say, I’m cheap.

  10. Got squirrely and bought them from Amazon and Nook. I couldn’t resist at that good a price. And can have on my phone and nook.

    Huzzzah for messing with the numbers on the big sellers!

  11. Sneaky I tells ya! I got book 1 for a buck, saw book 2 was $3 so I thought, “Well, let’s see how much book 3 is.” Only a buck! Well I can’t get just books 1 and 3! Brilliant pricing but $5 for 3 Larry Correia endorsed books is a steal no matter how you slice it. Better for my waist line than 3 for $5 Oreos too. 😀

  12. I purchased Monster Hunter when you were at the Layton B & N on that tour and I told John I would buy his book but had sworn off buying a series before it was finished (my knee jerk reaction to Robert Jordan’s death). I should have held off on yours as well but who can resist a man who uses his knitting skills to kill time. Now that his series is finished I have followed through with my promise and purchased the series. A little late for the bomb but I feel the need to support local authors.

  13. Done and done and done. “Bad Penny” was excellent; I’m looking forward to see what Brown does with heroic fantasy.

    (“Book bub.” Heh. I’ve now got this mental image of Hugh Jackman poking delicately at his Kindle with an adamantium claw, trying to order “Bad Penny…”)

    1. …And what do you know: After I ordered it, my mom took a look at the plotline for “Servant” and downloaded the whole trilogy for her own Kindle. (As with me; Larry’s recommendation was a factor in her decision to buy; Mom’s a big fan of the MHI books herself. 😛 )

  14. Kinda nice cover art. I’m a big fan of art that sets the tone and feel of a novel and draws you in. I never had much of an imagination and some of the visions the new digital fantasy and SF artists create are out of this world.

    Sometimes I go to this site called Coolvibe which specializes in showcasing digital SF and fantasy art. I think most of its for video gaming stuff cuz I never see the art on books. I can’t even imagine the tools they use, but I think most of it’s grounded in Photoshop.

    1. I can’t tell you how often people I don’t know sing to me (grin) My body’s a’mouldering, or I’ve got a baby with cold upon his chest, or a little Indian. One of these days, someone’s going to come up with another John Brown song. And there will be more singing.

      1. There’s a Japanese horror light novel with a John Brown who is an Australian Catholic priest.

        “Gonna hang Jeff Davis from sour apple tree…”

  15. This is the first time I’ve accepted the order of the International Lord of Hate (that is the correct title, right?) and I picked up all three. I mean, why buy book two without book one and while I’m there I might as well get the third.

    Now there are in a queue that has gotten longer in terms of SF/F for the first time in probably a decade thanks to finding MHN, Sarah Hoyt, and Mad Genius Club.

    Now if we can just get it done for detective fiction.

  16. Here’s what you awesome folks have done to this point.

    SERVANT
    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #626 Paid in Kindle Store
    o #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
    o #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
    o #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

    CURSE
    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #804 Paid in Kindle Store
    o #6 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
    o #15 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
    o #19 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

    RAVELER
    Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #689 Paid in Kindle Store
    o #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age
    o #13 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical
    o #15 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

  17. It’s a little late to mention this now, but the kindle books don’t have any DRM – meaning you don’t have to use the kindle app to read them. That’s nice.

      1. This needs to happen. I buy physical copies to get signed, but do most of my “reading” via Audible audiobooks.

        What about a Kickstarter to fund them?

  18. Crap! I just wenot on Amazon to order this and I just realized MH Nemesis came out and I missed it! Looks like I have some catching up to do.

Leave a Reply to David Ferguson (@dferg) Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *