Benjamin Jones's Blog - Posts Tagged "hub"

Hello everyone and welcome back. Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day started off a little "off" for me. I had gotten my wife a box of Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue perfume (or what I thought was perfume) but, as her happy and lovely face began spraying it on, it was quickly realized that I had actually gotten the MENS fragrance by mistake. But, I was able to return the bottle and my wife ended up getting the correct thing by the time we went out for dinner that night so all's well that ends well.

Another great thing that happened on Valentine's Day was that I PICKED UP MY FIRST PRINTED UP COPIES OF H.U.B. VOLUME 1 AND 2! I wish you all could've seen the look on my face and felt how I felt when I looked at those books, seeing my picture on the back of them, and realizing that these books are MY books - I wrote them! I'm sure some of you who have books available in paperback have felt that feeling before - man, it sure is glorious! When I picked them up I was given a tour of the printing facility and it was really cool to actually see how they put the books together and all that good stuff.


Autographed paperback copies of H.U.B. Volume 1 and 2 are available for purchase at http://www.whatishub.net/hub-online-s... for only $10.00 which INCLUDES shipping. You can also enter the contest on the site to win yourself a FREE autographed copy (visit http://www.whatishub.net/contests.html to enter). Tell all your friends. Contest ends at 11:59 PM on March 14th!

Tonight I plan to continue work on H.U.B. Volume 3 so that I can keep hitting you guys with the dope vampire fiction.

More later. Back to looking at myself on the back cover of my book....

Afternoon everyone.

Let's see, what's going on with me? Sold my first paperback book the other day (granted, it was to my boss but $10 is $10) so that made me feel good. In the meantime I'm still promoting/plugging the books heavy on Facebook and Twitter and I'm getting a lot of hits to my site (www.whatishub.net) but hasn't translated into any sales yet. No worries, though - I know they're coming.

The main thing I'm concerned with right now is getting everything together for the Underground Horror Fest 2 on March 12th in Tulsa, OK. Should be upwards of 1000 horror fans there and, since that's my fan base, I should (hopefully) be able to move all the books I have and make a lot of new fans. I just put in an order for 100 bookmarks to give away as well as a table top stand (thinking about getting some posters as well to give away) so things should be very nice. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures while I'm there so be sure to check back here for those when they're posted.

Reminder that you can win an autographed copy of HUB Volume 1 & 2 on www.whatishub.net. Getting a lot of entries so make sure you enter today for your chance to win. Also, just added something new to my site where visitors can ask me questions and I will pick a few each week and answer them on my site. So, if you have a question for me, run to www.whatishub.net and ask away.

HUB Volume 3 is coming along. For all you fans of Michael out there, expect some really exciting and unexpected things featuring him in Volume 3. I'll let you know this, volume 3 is called the Tipping Point for a reason and will lead up to a very excitng (and probably longer) volume 4 next year.

Okay - more later.....

Guess who's back....

I write this post with a mixture of frustration and excitement in me and I don't know which one I have more of. I'm beginning to get very frustrated with the progress (or seeming lack of) that I've tended to be making recently. I know and completely understand that it takes the average writer a LONG time to make it (assuming they even do) so I'm all prepared for that but, at the same time, I look at my book sales which have been sluggish (at best) lately and I'm thinking "Damn, why isn't anyone taking a chance on this series?" I've put so much effort and energy and time into making it the best thing I can but I can't get ANYONE to take a chance on it.

I think more of my frustration comes from my family, friends and co-workers than anything. I can count on one hand how many people out of those three groups have actually put their money where their mouth is and actually purchased the book. When I send out an email to everyone letting them know that the paperback book was now available for HUB Volumes 1 and 2 I got one response back - ONE measly response. So I'm like what the f**k?!?!

*exhales*

Transitioning from frustration to excitement, I KNOW that my time is coming, be it with or without the support of family, friends and co-workers. My work continues on making volume 3 better than volumes 1 and 2 and I still have the drive/hunger to keep doing this - it's never going to change. I have the Underground Horror Fest 2 coming up (moved from March 5th to March 12th) and that is going to be a KEY date for me and this series this year. There I will be able to connect with my core audience and hopefully sell all the books that I have available in paperback and be able to make some new fans and connections with people.

In the meantime, my plans after HUB Volume 3 is complete and before starting on HUB Volume 4, I'm going to work on getting my romance novel, Head Above Water, completed and out there. I know that the romance genre is a much bigger market with a wider audience than horror so I'm going to attempt to get myself out as a brand through that avenue as well. This summer I will be putting out both the ebook and paperback versions of Head Above Water so be on the look out for that.

I'm excited about the prospects for Head Above Water and also about the HUB series. I know in my heart that both are good (and the reviews for HUB dictate that others think it was worthwhile instead) and that's the fuel that keeps me going. I try to look at it like baseball - even the best baseball players in the world fail 7 times out of 10.

HUB Volume 1 and 2 available in ebook and now in PAPERBACK at www.whatishub.net

Morning/afternoon my lovely readers.

March is here and, as winter begins to give way to spring, I come into this month with a newfound excitement. Why you ask? Let me tell ya. This morning I received word that my bookmarks and table top stand that I will be taking to the HUB booth at the Underground Horror Fest 2 in Tulsa, OK next Saturday (3.12.11) will be in at the end of this week. My designer, Chris Leepow (email him at chrislee1(at)yahoo.com for everything from book printing to cover design to posters, bookmarks, etc.. all at a very reasonable price) sent me the proofs and they look f**king awesome! Thanks, Chris!

Really looking forward to the festival next Saturday. It will be my first festival showcasing my work and I'm hoping that I will be able to move all the copies of HUB Volume 1 and 2 that I have and will be able to make a lot of new fans/friends in the process. I feel this festival will open up a LOT of doors for me and my writing. I'm glad that my wife will be there to assist me at the booth - thanks, honey! If you happen to be/live in the Tulsa area please show up. The event is at the Rose Bowl in Tulsa, OK (can find information on the festival at http://www.undergroundhorrorfest.webs... ).

I did have another book sale over the last few days and I appreciate every single sale that I have. One sale means another person has taken a chance on me. There are a billion books out there to read and to think that someone is reading MY book is a great feeling. Thanks to all of you that have bought/supported what I'm doing. I appreciate it immensely.

Work on the second draft of HUB Volume 3: The Tipping Point is almost done. I put in a LOT of work on it over the last few days and it has really felt great to see how it's progressing. Fans of HUB Volume 1 and 2 will be really surprised with where Volume 3 takes you. One non-HUB development is that, once I complete work on Volume 3 I will be finishing up and putting out my romance novel "Head Above Water" which is a traditional romance novel that has been gestating for the last decade or so. So, be on the lookout this summer for that in both ebook and paperback format. You can find more info on it at www.whatishub.net.

One final thing, big THANK YOU to my writer friends/peers on Facebook and Twitter. I love all you guys and am inspired by all of you.

Become a fan of HUB on Facebook by visiting http://on.fb.me/gDMhmz

One more final thing, any authors out there looking to do some cross promotion or some business/writing together then let me know. I'm always looking to link up with writers who are serious about their craft. Holla at me. You can contact me at ben(at)whatishub.net.

Morning/afternoon/night y'all (yes I can be country - I do live in Texas).

Got a lot of good things to talk about today. First of all, I found two nice little stands to put my book on at the Underground Horror Fest 2 this Saturday in Tulsa, OK. I was able to find two small easels that were only $2.97 each so I scooped those bad boys up. I was expecting to pay a lot more but caught a break when I spotted them.

I had my daughter over the weekend so I wasn't able to get much writing done on HUB Volume 3 but I did manage to get a little bit done. I should be able to finish this latest draft tonight at which point I can type it up and give it one more edit and be done with it. After that I will be focusing on Head Above Water.

There's a new contest at hellnotes.com for an autographed copy of the paperback version of HUB Volume 1 and 2. Visit http://hellnotes.com/win-a-signed-cop... and leave a comment explaining what your favorite and worst vampire books or movies is and why to win! Best two responses win. Thanks to Dave at Hellnotes for allowing me to put the contest together on his site - much appreciated, Dave!

Leaving in about 45 minutes to go pick up my bookmarks and table top stand for the festival on Saturday. I also printed out a TON of little forms to sign up people for the HUB Monthly Newsletter that I'm going to begin sending out. If you want to be a part of that then visit http://www.whatishub.net/newsletter.html and fill out the form!

Currently reading The Reunion by Jeff Bennington and it's pretty good. I should have a review posted for it at the end of March to coincide with it's release on ereaders on 4.1.11 and in print on 5.1.11. Here's all the info on the book:

Title: REUNION
Release Date: May 1, 2011
Author: Jeff Bennington
Published by: nexGate Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-45086-5
Pages: 334
Genre: Suspense/Paranormal
Cost: $12.95 (print) $2.99 (digital formats)

Availability: Available to bookstores everywhere, and most online book retailers.

Okay, will be updating more later. Stay tuned.....
Jeff Bennington

Hello all and welcome!

A lot has been going on with me over the 96 hours so I'll get right to it....



Today I knocked one of my things to do off of my "21 Month Writing Plan" and that was the acquisition of my ISBN number for the paperback version of H.U.B. 1 & 2. It felt really good to get that and knock that off my list.



Big shout out to Melissa (@mizzezmellymel on Twitter)! She is an up and coming author you need to look out for! I felt honored that she asked me for advice on publishing; it always makes me feel good to share my experiences with others. Follow her on Twitter - she's awesome: www.twitter.com/mizzezmellymel !



H.U.B. Volume 3: The Tipping Point is coming along nicely. Work continues on this latest round of editing and I'm hoping that, since I'm on my annual March Madness vacation from work, I will be able to get more work done it. We'll see how that goes. Once the editing is FINALLY done I will then pass it off to be critiqued and go from there.



Last Saturday (3.12.11) I was able to attend, with my lovely wife, the Underground Horror Fest 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (pics of which are posted on the "pics" page (where else would they be?)) and there were things that I liked and didn't like about it.



I felt that the promoter overstated the amount of people they were expecting to receive. I was told 1000 people so I was look "cool!" but it turned out being closer to 100 (probably closer to 60). But, out of that small number of people I did manage to sell 6 books and, probably more important than that, I gave out a LOT of business cards and bookmarks with my site and book information on it. I met a ton of nice people and got the chance to speak with a representative from Soonercon (which takes place June 3rd - 5th in Oklahoma City, OK - www.soonercon.com ) and he gave me his card and everything and, after emailing him and checking out the soonercon site, it looks like I will be attending that as well.



All in all, it was a positive experience (it was my first festival/convention/book signing) so it served as a good jumping off point to get my feet wet. In hindsight the venue was probably not the best for HUB (probably needed something more geared towards writers) but it served it's purpose. I sold enough books to cover the cost of the table I had so it's all good. As for whether or not I attend the Underground Horror Fest 3 next year, that I'm not so sure about. This has nothing to do with the festival in general as the host, Art Sunday, is a real cool and nice guy, I just don't know if it's for me.



Moving on, working with a translator to get the ebook version of HUB Volume 1 & 2 translated into different languages which will be a HUGE stepping point to get the HUB brand globally recognized. Gonna try and get it out there in as many languages as possible (Spanish, Portugese, French, Klingon, whatever) to get the book in front of as many eyes as possible.



In closing, reminder to visit www.whatishub.net to pick up your paperback copy of H.U.B. Volume 1 & 2 for the low price of $10.00 + tax (free shipping + it's autographed). Also, visit the new site for Benjamin Jones at www.benjaminjoneswrites.weebly.com .



More later....

March Madness has totally consumed my life and will continue to do so for the next two weeks, no matter that my brackets are totally screwed and I have NO chance of winning the pool we have going on at work (never mind the fact that my 10 year old daughter's bracket looks better than mine), the point of it all is that I love the tournament and all the screaming at the TV and headaches that it brings me.

Moving along.

Over the weekend while I was out with my daughter I happened to stop by a bookstore in my neck of the woods (it's actually the only bookstore around for a good 10-15 miles) that I had seen but had never stepped foot into. If you happen to be in the Little Elm, TX area it's called Camelot. Anyhoo, the store is owned by a kind fellow named Kelly McQueary and I asked him what were the chances of my book (H.U.B. Volume 1 & 2) *cough* www.whatishub.net *cough* could be placed in his shop to sell. I was pleasantly surprised when he took me up on the offer and, not only that, said that he would let me even do a signing there when I was ready. Also, he took five copies of my book and has placed them in his store and I'm going to check back with him in a couple of days to see if he had managed to move them or not. Let's hope that he did (for his sake - I would hate to go all Jack Bauer on him). I kid, I kid.

I am booked for the National Black Book Festival in Houston in June (by booked I mean that I have placed my non-refundable deposit down) but, with the way my funds are and the way gas prices are, I may end up eating that deposit and instead attending Soonercon which is June 3rd through the 5th. A table for those 3 days is only $85 compared to the $250 for the NBBF, not counting the gas prices, hotel room costs, etc... I met a man by the name of Ryan Baker who does Marketing & Publications work for soonercon when he stopped by my booth at the Underground Horror Fest 2 in Tulsa and he was very nice and gave me all the information so I'm 99.99987% sure that Soonercon will be my next festival. What do you guys think?

I'm in the process of getting my new site (www.benjaminjoneswrites.weebly.com) up and running correctly and also in the process of updating the HUB site (www.whatishub.net) to make them look better.

Work continues on H.U.B. Volume 3. I should be done typing it up shortly. At the same time I'm working on Head Above Water to try and keep myself busy and away from the Playstation 3. I have a lot of big plans and the only way I can make them happen is to keep the pen moving on the paper. I told my wife I was going to spoil her one day and I plan on doing that.

In the coming days I should be receiving the contract from the translator I'm working with to get the e-book version of H.U.B. Volume 1 & 2 translated into other languages so I'm very excited about that. Any opportunity to reach more people is a good thing.

More later... big things are on deck. Stay tuned boys and girls.

As the days in the calendar turn so do the pages in my notebook.

H.U.B. Volume 3 has been completed and I have sent it off to my good friend Benjamin Rogers (check him and his work out at http://benjaminrogers.wordpress.com/ - he's a fellow author/writer that you need to check out) to criticque. So, I'm hoping that he enjoys it *crosses fingers* I feel very good about it; Volume 3 raises the ante some more from volumes 1 and 2, bringing back old friends and saying goodbye to others (but I'll never tell who - you'll have to wait until 9.10.11 to figure that out). Keep checking www.whatishub.net to get the latest and greatest info on the HUB series.

Going back to my good friend Benjamin Rogers for a moment, I was fortunate enough that he let me preview his upcoming novel entitled Azrael and I must say that it is definitely going to be something that you want to read. I was hooked from the second paragraph of the prologue and I know you will be too. So, be sure to check out his upcoming novel when it's released and also check out his book Faith & The Undead which is available now (you can find my review of it on the REVIEWS page of this site). Not only is he a great writer but he's also a great person.

Also, my friend Elizabeth Lafond has a new book of poetry out entitled Poetry From Beyond The Mist. Check her and her work out at http://elizabethlafond.wordpress.com/ Her and Ben are really great people.

Okay, back to me.... Signed a contract today to get H.U.B. Volume 1 and 2 (the e-book) translated into Portuguese to help try and get the HUB brand out to the world. Hoping that I can get the book also translated into other languages, specifically Spanish and French. There's a LOT of people out in the world and that's the potential for a lot of new fans/consumers.

Confirmed to be at Soonercon in Oklahoma City, OK on June 3rd thru the 5th so, if you're in the area, stop by and check out the HUB table. I'm really looking forward to this convention and feel that it will be another great stepping stone to make 2011 much better than 2010. Get more info on the convention by visiting www.soonercon.com

Now that H.U.B. Volume 3 is completed (for the time being) work commences again on Head Above Water, my romance novel. While working on it the other day I realized that it's probably going to take a little bit longer to edit it than I thought but, regardless, it'll be ready when it's ready - can't rush greatness. I'm looking forward to getting this book out to see the reaction. It's not everyday that an author that makes his debut on the writing world with tales of vampires and killing makes his next work to be that of romance - go figure. I am truly a complicated but simple man. I never want to be locked into a Horror (or any) genre; I am a writer, period.

There's a lot of good stuff cooking (can you smell it?) and I'll be posting more about it as it comes down the pipe. Stay tuned.

Morning/afternoon/evening/night everyone (depending on when you're reading this). As the title of this blog post suggests I am one tired brotha, more so mentally but that's trickling down and making me physically exhausted as well. I've been doing SO MUCH lately in regards to H.U.B. and trying to get it going and I just need to take a nice LOOONNNNGGG deep rest.

H.U.B. Volume 1 and 2 paperback is now on Ebay. You can get your copy by visiting http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?....

Set myself up with an Amazon Advantage account and I just got back from sending the first copy of H.U.B. Volume 1 & 2 to their warehouse in Pennsylvania. Also just completed sending the ASN (advanced shipment notice for those that don't know) so they know that it's on the way.

I have sent about a bajillion emails the last few days to independent bookstores scattered across the country in the hopes that one of them will take a chance and let me put my book in their stores. So far only a couple have responded but it's only been a day so I'm going to work on being patent. I will keep you posted on what happens with that. Wish me luck.

Booked my room at the Sheraton for Soonercon 20 in Oklahoma City, OK for June 3rd thru 5th. If you're in the area stop by and say hi at the HUB table!

I visited the bookstore by my house that my book is in and he hadn't sold any copies over the last week. Sales of the Kindle and Nook have hit a decline as well but I KNOW that those things are temporary.

There is a contest going on for a signed copy of H.U.B. Volume 1 and 2 via Goodreads.com. There are two copies that I'm giving away so, if you want to enter, and you know that you do, visit the Contests portion of my page and click the link!

Let's see, what else is going on?!?! Work continues on Head Above Water (writing at home then typing up the results at work during lunch). Also, waiting to get feedback on H.U.B. Volume 3: The Tipping Point from my good friend Benjamin Rogers.

I think that's it for the time being. More later....

On a side note, what the f**k is going on with my Red Sox?!?! 0-4. Really? I know it's a long season but DAMN!

I accomplished absolutely nothing that I had planned to do over the weekend other than finishing Duma Key by Stephen King (good book by the way). Having said that, today I did some things that I intended to do over the weekend which was mail two copies of my book off, one to a reviewer in Maine and one to an independent bookstore in Alaska in the hopes that she will like it and will carry it on consignment in her store. Keep your fingers crossed for me on both of those. I've sent out a TON of email across the United States and even to Canada to help get the HUB brand and my name out and I know that with much effort and hard work good things HAVE to emerge from it. I still have a few more states to work through.

I feel like a rapper/MC sometimes because the roads traveled are pretty much the same. At first no one knows you so you're independent and you're trying to get your name out (selling records out of your trunk for rappers, putting books out on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc... for writers) in the hopes that people will eventually take notice and then a major will come sign you (a label for the rapper, an agent/publisher for us writing types). So we continue to hustle, building a buzz, not really making a lot of money but we don't do it for the money - we do it for the love. The money is great - don't get me wrong - but there are plenty of other things to get money than write.

It takes a LOT of self confidence to be a writer and it's a "slow burn". I would even say it takes a bit of arrogance as well. I have to believe that I have something so good to say that, when I write it down, people will pay to read it (same thing with music). So we put ourselves out there, never knowing how it's going to be taken - will people love it? Hate it? Consider it blah?? Who's to say but we do it anyway because we believe in ourselves - all we have is our faith in ourselves to get us through because if we don't believe then how can we expect others to?

A lot of it is the spirit of competition. As a hip-hop head I'm all about the battle. When I hear that one of my friends on Twitter or Facebook sold xxx amount of books I'm 1) happy for them but 2) thinking in my mind that I can do better than that. I hope that makes sense. It's not that I'm hating on what they have done, I just want to be better. I love all my writing peers and wish them all success - anything I can do to help them get the word out about their project or even sell one book, I'm all for it - but I still want to out do them. I want to win at anything I do. I want to be bigger than Stephen King one day because, to me, he's the man at the top of the mountain.

Got back to work on Head Above Water today at work during my lunch hour and I plan on doing more work on it tonight while I'm watching the Red Sox game. Last night we had heavy winds that damaged my fence and sent my trampoline that was in the back yard flying OVER the fence to the other side (true story) so I have to work on that when I get home so that the dogs can be able to go back in the backyard.

I try to not think about H.U.B. Volume 4 much but I can't seem to help it. I keep having these ideas in my head and I may have to start work on it sooner than I thought because I would hate to lose these ideas that I have in my head. I think that I think about it so much because writing this series has been SO FUN for me. Never have I had this many ideas floating around in my head and had something SO EASY to write. I can only hope that people enjoy this series 1/10th of the amount that I've enjoyed writing it.

I feel like I'm rambling and bouncing all over the place so I'm going to wrap this up. One final note, on April 14th be on the lookout for a special GUEST BLOG post from my good friend and fellow writer Reena Jacobs on why she decided to go indie. I'm looking forward to it and you should as well.

More later. Peace! Go Red Sox!!