more SILENT ORDER?
Reader SZ has nice things to say about SILENT ORDER, and a question:
“Just wanted to say that I am really enjoying this series! I was wondering if you have an idea of how many books long it will be? I’m on the more the merrier side, but I know you like to close out extended story arcs.”
Thanks! I honestly haven’t decided – I think ARK HAND might be the last one for a while.
I am always grateful for any book sale, but I have to admit that SILENT ORDER never sold particularly well. Thanks to the excellent Trackerbox program, I can keep track of how many books I’ve sold with a few clicks of a mouse.
With Trackerbox’s convenient data handling capabilities, I can tell you that from January 2018 to the end of August 2018, the CLOAK GAMES series sold three times as many copies as SILENT ORDER did. (GHOSTS sold two and a half times as many copies as SILENT ORDER in the same time span, and I haven’t published anything new with Caina or done anything to promote the series since December 2017.) More specifically, CLOAK GAMES: MAGE FALL sold twice as many copies in its first month as SILENT ORDER: IMAGE HAND did in its first month. In fact, CLOAK & GHOST: BLOOD RING sold more copies in its first month than IMAGE HAND did in its first TWO months, and that is even considering 1.) I gave BLOOD RING away for free with my newsletter, and 2.) BLOOD RING was a Caina/Nadia crossover, and a lot of people don’t care for crossovers.
I did have a feeling when I was writing ARK HAND that it might be the last one, so I tried to leave things in a satisfactory place at the end.
It’s been a year since IRON HAND came out, and I’ve come to suspect SILENT ORDER isn’t exactly what science fiction readers are looking for, and I know it definitely isn’t what the readers of my fantasy books are looking for. (I’ve had SEVENFOLD SWORD/GHOSTS/CLOAK GAMES readers flat-out tell me they don’t like stuff with spaceships.) I suspect what the SF market really wants right now is strongly military-themed action SF in Kindle Unlimited, since that market segment was seriously under-served for so long in the Bad Old Days of traditional publishing. (Books like DUEL IN THE DARK, STARSHIP LIBERATOR, and GALAXY’S EDGE, all of which I read and liked.) And while I definitely enjoy strongly military-themed action SF, that isn’t exactly SILENT ORDER, which is more of a spy thriller set in space.
But we’ll see how ARK HAND does over September and October. If it sells more copies in that time period than CLOAK & GHOST: BLOOD RING did in its first month, I’ll revisit it. Maybe the recent Bookbub will perk up the series. Or maybe I’ll put SILENT ORDER back in Kindle Unlimited and try some marketing that way.
If not, that’s probably a sign it’s time to focus more on fantasy instead of science fiction!
-JM
It does say at the end “JACK MARCH WILL RETURN”. We might have to hold you to that…
We’ll see! I haven’t 100% made up my mind one way or another.
A neat thing about Silent Order was that it was told from the point of view of a solitary protagonist who moved from one adventure to another between the novels, with only the Machinists and their agents as a recurring foe, kind of like classic fantasy short fiction like Conan or Elric (or classic science-fantasy short fiction like Northwest Smith). The difference between that kind of story and a continuous, party-based adventure like Frostborn struck me while reading The Bone Quest, and it’s nice to have a bit of both. You do write great short fiction as well. If you do free up a slot in your schedule by taking a break from Jack March, maybe it would be time for a series of short standalone adventures featuring, say, a barbarian warrior or a doomed swordsman?
Thanks! Glad you liked SILENT ORDER.
“Doomed swordsman…”
You know, it’s funny you should mention that. I have an interesting bonus coming up when SEVENFOLD SWORD: TOWER comes out later this year.
Gutted. I’ve loved silent order (and hyperspace demons)
Thanks! It’s been a fun series.
But we’ll see how ARK HAND does over September and October, and I’ll make a decision then.
Thank you. I’ve enjoyed every series you’ve done though so I won’t be too sad if Silent Order is on semi-indefinite hiatus.
I’m just blaming everyone out there who doesn’t have the exact same taste as me