I’m going to preface this post by pointing out that I’m giving you all full disclosure about what’s happening and why (as I did with my 2016 health scares). I have a unique relationship with my amazing fans and I don’t like leaving people hanging. What follows will seem like bad news for some, but there is a silver lining, so read to the end for that!
Because I’m the proprietor of Breakneck Media, the small press that publishes most Jeremy Robinson, Jeremy Bishop and Jeremiah Knight novels, which I write, I have to wear multiple hats. I’m an author, first and foremost, but I also create most of the covers, art-direct the rest, design and maintain the website, create all the video trailers, create the marketing materials, and…run the business. That means, on occasion, I have to mentally sit down with myself, look at the numbers, and make some hard calls.
In that past, that’s meant leaving a publisher. Now it means shifting my focus from writing series titles to standalone novels. While a good number of fans will no doubt disagree with the outcome (I don’t like it, either) the numbers don’t lie. I’m also going to lay out a few reasons for each series’ decline, but then propose a larger, theoretical reason at the end. So if you’re interested in saving any of these series, read to the end.
THE NUMBERS
While I’m not going to reveal sales figures or revenue numbers, I am going to talk in percentages, and reveal which series are being affected, all of which have a core group of fans who are going to be disappointed. I wish it could be avoided, but continuing with these series is unsustainable for me. There are a few series for which I plan on publishing a series finale, and with those books I expect to either break even, or take a loss.
JACK SIGLER THRILLERS
Falling under this banner is the Jack Sigler Thrillers themselves, the Continuum series, and the Cerberus Group books. Does that mean you shouldn’t read Helios, the next Cerberus Group novel? Not at all. The finale for all these books will be linked together in grand fashion, bringing together characters that have been separated for many books now.
If you answered “yes” or “maybe” to these questions, you might have been exposed to the RC-714 gene released in my novel, Hunger. I’m sorry to say, the transformation you will soon endure will not be a pleasant one. Not only will you rapidly evolve, accessing long dormant genes, but you’ll be struck by a relentless hunger that will have you eating until you burst, or until those annoying neighbors eat you, and then each other and then everyone else on the block, whilst transforming into something that’s no longer identifiable as human.
HUNGER, a novel by my new pen name, Jeremiah Knight, explores the possible ramifications of this unmonitored genetic manipulation and what it would mean for the human race. Could GMO foods be the solution to world hunger? Absolutely. Despite the doom and gloom I’m presenting, I’m not anti-GMO. There are millions of people around the world that do and will benefit from modified crops. But I do understand human nature and greed. In the hands of companies concerned more about profit than people, who’s to say that there won’t be sacrifices made along the way, or that the consequences for unchecked science won’t be far reaching and tragic? Even worse, what if the true intentions of those modifying our crops are not as benevolent as their commercials would have us believe?
A couple of years ago, I introduced a new horror pen name, Jeremy Bishop, whose stories were dark, gory and not entirely appropriate for fans of the Robinson novels. But there is another reason for multiple names: oversaturation. Since I work with some amazing co-authors, who like me, are quite prolific, I release as many books per year as a small press. This many books, all with the names Robinson and Bishop can be overwhelming to readers. For people who read as slowly as I do, it could mean reading Jeremy Robinson books exclusively. Even though many of my books are as different from each other as a Jackson Pollock and a Rembrandt, there’s no way to know that simply by looking at the name. That’s why Bishop exists. You see that name and you know you’re getting horror. And that leads me to this announcement: I’m splitting personalities, err, names, again.
Jeremy Robinson is the #1 Audible.com and New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy novels and novellas spanning multiple genres, best known for Infinite, The Others, Project Nemesis, Alter and Space Force. He also writes comic books including: Project Nemesis, Island 731 and Godzilla - Rage Across Time, and several of his project have been optioned for film and TV.
