The Pulp Writer Show Jonathan Moeller

In this week's episode, we take a look at some ergonomics and health tips for writers and other sedentary workers.
This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: FURY OF THE BARBARIANS (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store:
SPRINGFURY
The coupon code is valid through May 25th, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we’ve got you covered!
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 199 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May the 3rd 2024 and today we are talking about ergonomics for writers. Before we get to our main topic, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on current writing projects, and then Question of the Week. First up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Fury of the Barbarians (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is SPRINGFURY. As always, that will be in the show notes with a link to the Payhip store. This coupon code will be valid through May the 25th, 2024, so if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.
Next up, updates on my current writing projects. I am almost done with Cloak of Titans. I'm currently at 98,000 words. I am hoping to wrap it up after I finish recording this episode (either this afternoon or tomorrow), and so we are well on track to having the book out before the end of May, if all goes well. I am also 8,000 words into Half-Orc Paladin, which will be the sequel to Wizard-Thief and Half-Elven Thief, and the third book in the Rivah series. That will probably be out towards the end of July because once Cloak of Titans is done, I want to go full speed ahead on Shield of Darkness (the sequel to Shield of Storms from earlier in the year and the second book in the Shield War series). If all goes well, the next couple of books I publish will be Cloak of Titans, Shield of Darkness, and Half-Orc Paladin.
In audiobook news, Brad Wills is recording the anthology of Tales of the Shield Knight for me. We’re about 1/3 of the way through it, I think and making good progress. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you all. I just got the notification that the files for the audiobook of Ghost in the Veils (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) were uploaded, so just a little more proofing and then that should hopefully be available to you as well. So lots of good things to look forward to.
00:02:07 Question of the Week
Now it's time for Question of the Week, which is designed to inspire interesting discussion of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is the board game that you've been playing the longest? Board games have many advantages in the modern age. They don't require electricity, they don't need to be charged, and they also have a pleasingly tactile feel that you just don't get from tapping a screen. Sometimes you learn a game when you're a kid and sticks with you ever since. We have some interesting answers this week.
Our first answer is from Jesse, who says: I have to say Labyrinth. Played it as a kid a lot with siblings. A year or two ago, my kids got it randomly from a relative, and now it's back. The real precursor to Mario Kart in terms of learning to hate your friends and discovering life is unfair.
For myself, I only started playing Mario Kart with my siblings when I was already well into middle age, so we thankfully avoided squabbling over that. If we had played Mario Kart when we were kids, we definitely would have squabbled. Back to Question of the Week.
Michael says: I don't really play them anymore, alas. I played chess in school but only so I didn't have to do physical education class. I used to look at the board and immediately resign and then just sit and read a book instead until the teacher wandered over. It used to annoy my opponents who took the game seriously.
So congratulations to Michael for devising

In this week's episode, we take a look at seven popular movies about writing & writers and take a look at what they got wrong.
This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: CURSE OF THE ORCS (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store:
SPRINGORCS
The coupon code is valid through May 20th, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we’ve got you covered!
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello everyone. Welcome to Episode 198 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April 26th, 2024 and today we were talking about seven of the most inaccurate movies about writers. Before we do that, we will have writing updates, Coupon of the Week, and a Question of the Week. So let's start with Coupon of the Week. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Curse of the Orc (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is SPRINGORCS and that's SPRINGORCS. As always, that coupon code will be in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through May 20th, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.
Now an update on my current writing projects and audiobook projects. I'm currently on Chapter 16 of Cloak of Titans. I'm not sure how many chapters it's going to end up being. My number keeps changing, but I think right now it's 25. I am over halfway through the book and I'm hoping to be past the 70,000 word point by the end of the day, if all goes well. I’m hoping to still have that out before the end of May. I am also 5,000 words into Half-Orc Paladin, which should come out this summer. After Cloak of Titans is out, my next main project will be Shield of Darkness, which I know many people have been asking about, so hopefully it will not be too much longer until I start on Shield of Darkness.
In audiobook news, Hollis McCarthy is almost done recording Ghost in the Veils, and we should hopefully have that available to listen to sometime in May. Brad Wills is currently recording the anthology Tales of the Shield Knight, which will contain over 15 of the Shield Knight short stories that I wrote for the Sevenfold Sword and Dragontiarna series, and that should also hopefully be out sometimes toward the end of May or possibly June. So that is where I’m at with my current writing and audiobook projects.
00:01:58 Question of the Week/Update on Starfield from Previous Question of the Week
Next up is Question of the Week, which is designed to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is the first fantasy novel you remember reading? After all, if you're hanging around the website of Jonathan Moeller, Pulp Writer, there's a non-zero chance that you enjoy fantasy books. So it seems like a reasonable question, and it was indeed a reasonable question because we got a lot of responses.
Our first response is from Justin, who says: believe it or not, the first fantasy novel I read was The Hobbit. My older sisters had pooled their money to buy the paper version of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I saw them reading it, and since my sisters were for once not being nasty to each other and reading together, it had to be good. After they finished The Hobbit, I asked to borrow it. It was allowed to read it as long as I didn't leave the room and wash my hands first. I was eight.
Our next response is from Mary, who says: I remember my first reading of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It was by no stretch of the imagination my first fantasy novel.
Our next comment is from Stuart, who says: Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. When I was younger/preteens, I loved adventure books like Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators. I didn't really read much in the coming years, until one day it was raining outside and being bored, I made a nuisance of myself when my older brother was trying to watch TV. He finally sna

In this week's episode, we take a look at direct selling for indie authors, and compare the pros and cons of Payhip and Shopify as platforms for selling direct.
This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: BLADE OF THE ELVES (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store:
00:00:00 Introduction, Writing Updates, and a Reader Question
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 197 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April the 19th, 2024, and today we are talking about the pros and cons of Payhip and Shopify for direct sales by authors. Before we do that, we will do Coupon of the Week and some updates on my current writing projects. I have some questions from readers and will discuss what I did to celebrate publishing my 150th book.
First up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is SPRINGELVES, spelled SPRINGELVES. As always, the link and the coupon code will be in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code is valid through May the 14th, 2024, so if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.
Now let's have a look at my current writing and audiobook projects. Wizard-Thief, as I mentioned in last week's episode, is done and is out on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited and is selling quite strongly. Thank you very much for that. Now that it is out, my main project is Cloak of Titans, the 11th book in the Cloak Mage series. As of this recording, I am about 34,000 words into it, which puts me on Chapter 7 of 24. I think the final book length will end up being about the length of Cloak of Embers, which was about 110,000 words. Once Cloak of Titans is finished, my next project will be Shield of Darkness, so I will finally be getting to the second book in the Shield War series, which will be a follow up to Shield of Storms from back in January.
If all goes well, I think Cloak of Titans will be out in the second half of May, maybe towards the start of June. I'm hoping to have Shield of Darkness out shortly after that, probably towards the end of June. I have also started working on the sequel to Wizard Thief, which is Half-Orc Paladin. That will come out after Shield of Darkness is done, hopefully not too long after Shield of Darkness is done. So that will probably be around the middle of July or so. So that is what I'm working on for books for the next couple of months.
In audiobook news, recording is underway for Ghosts in the Veils. That will once again be recorded by Hollis McCarthy. I have Brad Wills working on the Tales of the Shield Knight anthology, which once it’s in audiobook, I’m going to sell it as a bundle on Audible and Amazon and all the other usual audiobook stores. I will also be giving away short stories individually for free from that collection in my newsletter, so that is once again a very good reason to sign up for my new release newsletter. Leanne Woodward has agreed to narrate the second book in the Half-Elven Thief series, Wizard Thief. If all goes well, that will probably happen in June. And also in June, CJ McAllister will be narrating the second book of the Stealth and Spells Online Series, formerly known as Sevenfold Sword Online. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.
Now we have one question from a reader that is not connected with our other segments. It's from Robert who asks about the Half-Elven Thief series: is this series available in paperback? I'm pleased to say that yes, it is. Both Half-Elven Thief and Wizard-Thief are available in trade paperback. Probably the cheapest place to get them is on Amazon, but I have expanded distribution for them so you should be able to buy it online from a variety of other stores.
00:03:43 Celebrating Book #150
As I mentioned previously on the show, Ghost in the Veils was my 150th book. Thank you for r

In this week's episode, I answer a reader's question about whether or not I will use KDP's new Virtual Voice program to create AI-narrated audiobooks.
This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store:
SPRINGSHIELD
The coupon code is valid through April 30th, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we’ve got you covered!
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Update
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 196 of the Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April the 12th, 2024 and today we are talking about whether or not I will use Amazon Virtual Voice to produce audiobooks. Before we get to our main topics, we will have Coupon of the Week, some writing updates, and then a few random questions from readers. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This episode will go live on Tax Day in the US, so let's have a discount on an audiobook. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills, at my Payhip store. That code is SPRINGSHIELD and that is SPRINGSHIELD again and that of course will be available in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through April 30th, 2024, so you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.
Now let's have some updates on my current writing projects. I am very nearly almost done with Wizard-Thief. I'm hoping to finish up edits shortly and actually publish it on either April the 15th or April the 16th. So when this episode goes out, I may be publishing it literally as you are listening to this. This book, like Half-Elven Thief, will be available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
Next up, my next main project after Wizard-Thief is published, is going to be Cloak of Titans, the 11th book in the Cloak Mage series. It's not the end of the series; I'm planning that there's probably going to be about 15 books with four more after this one. But we are going to be blowing up a lot of the subplots in this book. So while this is not the end of the series, it will definitely have the feel like the end of a lot of plot arcs. I'm 22,000 words into it, and if all goes well, I'm hoping it will be out sometime toward the end of May and will be available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and Payhip.
In audiobook news, recording is underway for Ghosts in the Veils and if all goes well, that should be out sometime toward the end of May. So those are the updates on my current writing projects.
00:02:09 Reader Questions and Comments/Question of the Week
Before we get to the Question of the Week, let's have a couple of unrelated questions from readers. Cameron wrote in to ask: I'm just interested in knowing how the name Calliande came about and does it have any meaning? I originally thought up the name Calliande because I wanted a unique and distinctive sounding name for the character, and so I was looking at various French and Welsh names that started with C and were about that length. I was rearranging the letters and swapping the vowels out and I came across that name and I thought, you know, that works, we're going with that.
Amusingly, when I first wrote Frostborn, in my head it was pronounced Callian-DAY. But then when I did the first couple of Frostborn audiobooks from Podium way back at the end of the 2010s, Steven Crossley, the narrator pronounced it Calli-AND and ever since then, because that's where the direction he went, the official pronunciation has been Calliande and that's been the way it's been pronounced in all subsequent audio appearances of that character.
Our next question is from Scott, who asks about a screenshot of the PC game Pillars of Eternity I posted on Facebook the other day. Scott says: that's on my Steam Wish List, but I haven't gotten to it yet. What do you think of it? I like it. I am enjoying it. I've had it since 20

In this week's episode, we take a look at the pros and cons of some of the most popular writing software, and a share a preview of the new HALF-ELVEN THIEF audiobook narrated by Leanne Woodward.
I'm hoping to start on SHIELD OF DARKNESS soon, so let's look back at some of the DRAGONSKULL audiobooks! This coupon code will get you 25% off the audiobook of DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store:
SPRINGSQUIRE
The coupon code is valid through April 23rd, 2024. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered!
Transcript  
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 195 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is April 5th, 2024 and today we are talking about the pros and cons of different types of writing software. We also have an update on my current writing projects and as usual, Question of the Week. Before we get into that, let's do Coupon of the Week. For this week's coupon, I'm hoping to start on Shield of Darkness soon. So let's look back at some of the Dragonskull audiobooks. The following coupon code will get you 25% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire at my Payhip store and that is SPRINGSQUIRE. Again that is SPRINGSQUIRE and that will be in the show notes. This coupon code will get you 25% off Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire audiobook, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. This coupon code will be valid through April the 23rd, 2024. If you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.
Now for an update on my current writing projects. The rough draft of Wizard Thief is done. It came to about 74,000 words, which means it is about 15,000 words longer than the first book. I suspect no one will complain. I am now writing Thief’s Favor, an ebook short story set in the world of Wizard-Thief. Newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of Thief’s Favor when Wizard-Thief comes out, hopefully before April is over. I am also 19,000 words into Cloak of Titans and after Wizard-Thief is published that will be my main project and then once Cloak of Titans is done, it'll be back to Ridmark and Andomhaim with Shield of Darkness.
In audiobook news, the audiobook of Half-Elven Thief is done, as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward. You can get it at all the usual audio bookstores, Audible, and all the others except for Google Play. For some reason, they seem to be having slow uptake on audiobooks for the last couple of weeks, and hopefully that should be cleared up soon. Otherwise, you can get Half-Elven Thief, as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward at all the usual audiobook stores, and we will include a sample of the audiobook at the end of this podcast episode. So hang around for that.
00:02:13 Question of the Week
Now, for this week's question of the week, which we do have interesting discussions on my blog and Facebook page. This week's question of the week was: what was the first musical album you ever purchased with your own money? No wrong answers, obviously. The idea for this week's question arrived because over Easter weekend I helped someone set up a device for ripping LP records to MP3. This was an interesting experience because it was in fact the first time I had ever attempted to use an LP record in any form, since by the time I became interested in purchasing music (more on that at the end of the segment), the LP era was well and truly over. Or was it? I thought it was amusing that vinyl outsold CDs in 2023 because as I learned firsthand, when I was setting up this LP ripper, vinyl is so much more cumbersome and fragile than either CD or streaming. Anyway, we asked people what their first album they purchased with their own money was and here are some of the answers.
Malcolm says War of the Worlds LP vinyl.
Justin says Rush, A Farewell to Kings on cassette tape. In the mid ‘90s, my daughters found my box of cassettes, a legacy of my milita

In this week's episode, we take a look at eight pieces of writing advice from famous writers. I also discuss why I decided to change the name of my SEVENFOLD SWORD ONLINE series to STEALTH & SPELLS ONLINE.
To celebrate the release of GHOST IN THE VEILS, let's get caught up with some of Caina's older adventures in the GHOST NIGHT series. This coupon code will get you 25% off any of the GHOST NIGHT ebooks at my Payhip store:
SPRINGNIGHT
The coupon is valid through April 16th, 2024. So if you're looking for some spring reading, we've got you covered!
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 194 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March the 28th, 2024 and today we are talking about eight pieces of writing advice from famous writers and what I think of those pieces of writing advice. So it should be an interesting show. Before we get to our other topics, let's have Coupon of the Week. To celebrate the release of Ghost in the Veils, let's get caught up with some of Caina's older adventures in the Ghost Night series. This coupon code will get you 25% off any of the Ghost Night ebooks at my Payhip Store:  SPRINGNIGHT and that is SPRINGNIGHT. And of course that will be in the show notes, along the link to the Ghost Night ebooks on my Payhip store. This coupon code is valid through April 16th, 2024, so if you're looking for some spring reading, we have got you covered.
Let's have an update on my current writing projects. As we mentioned with the Coupon of the Week, Ghost in the Veils is done, it is out, and selling briskly. Thank you for that, everyone. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and Payhip. The reviews so far have been good, and it's been selling briskly. So thank you everyone for that. Now that that is done, my next main project will be Wizard-Thief, the second book in the Half-Elven Thief series, and I am in fact almost done with that. I'm on Chapter 11 of 12 though it might turn out to be 14 chapters in the edit. I would in fact be finishing it tomorrow, but I am taking the weekend off for Easter so hopefully I will get the rough draft wrapped up in the first week of April and the book out and available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited before the end of April.
After Wizard-Thief is out, my next two main projects will be Cloak of Titans (I am 17,000 words into that) and then Shield of Darkness, the sequel to of the sequel to Shield of Storms from earlier in the year. In audiobook news, the Half-Elven Thief audiobook is done and I'm pleased to report it was narrated excellently by Leanne Woodward (the first book she has narrated for me). That should be available in the next couple of weeks at all the audiobook stores. Recording will start in a few weeks for the audiobook version of Ghost in the Veils, and that will also be excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy.
00:02:20 Question of the Week/Title Change to the Sevenfold Sword Online Series
Before we get to our main topic, we will do Question the Week and then an update on my books formerly known as Sevenfold Sword Online. Our Question of the Week was: what is your all-time favorite video game, like the one you keep coming to back play at to play again and again across decades? No wrong answers obviously and we had some good comments on this.
Todd said, well, this is an easy one. Diablo and then Lands of Lore. Patrick Stewart really did give the King Richard character gravitas.
Sam says Final Fantasy 14, an MMO with an amazing story and an amazing community.
Justin says World of Warcraft, though I'm not very good at anything but the Auction House and Conquest of the New World, a DOS turn based strategy game I've played for 30 years now.
For myself, I think I might be one of the few people who have played computer games in my generation who never played World of Warcraft. I spent a lot of time supporting it and fixing computers that br