H.M. Ward's Blog, page 22

STRIPPED Made the NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller List!

Wahoo! STRIPPED made the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller’s list at #8. Thank you so much to everyone who read the book! You guys are amazing! I can’t wait to share more of the Ferro family with you!

The next book out will be ARRANGEMENT 10. Then you guys will get an introduction to the guy that’s the black sheep of the entire Ferro clan – Bryan. You get a glimpse of him in STRIPPED. Get ready to see more in THE PROPOSITION coming this fall. Sqeeee!

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Cover Reveal for ARRANGEMENT 10

Here is the cover for ARRANGEMENT 10. I have tons of people asking about the release date. I’m aiming for sometime next week. I’ll post the links as soon as the book is live.

No, this isn’t the final book in the series. If you have no idea what a serial is or if you’ll like it, please check out this post before jumping in. When will 11 come out? Soon! These are released about every 4 weeks.

Someone asked if my novels go on forever too. No, they don’t. Each novel series has 2 books. That’s it. The rest of the serials are complete at 5 books each (SECRETS and TRYSTAN SCOTT). THE ARRANGEMENT serials tangle in and out of the Ferro family novels. Each series is stand alone, meaning you don’t have to read the others to know what’s going on.

Thank you so much for all the emails, messages, and posts about continuing this series. For those of you that love Sean and Avery, another serial THE PROPOSITION will begin this fall and features Bryan Ferro. I can’t wait to share it with you!

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STRIPPED Hits The USA Today Bestsellers List

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! STRIPPED made the USA Today bestsellers list at #17!

I won’t post a bazillion happy faces, but it’s still super awesome to release a book and have it hit a list. Thank you so much to all the readers who ran out and bought a copy of Jon Ferro’s story!!!

STRIPPED has the best review rating out of anything I’ve written so far – it’s 4.7 stars from over 300 reviews! I did some different things with this book and wondered what you guys would think. I’m so glad I didn’t suck it up! Wahoo! High fives all around!

If you haven’t picked it up yet, here are the links.

Kindle: http://www.amzn.to/168d7oO

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780985547387

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stripped-hm-ward/1116812694?ean=2940148780458

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/stripped/id697351736?ls=1

Thank you so much! I have the most amazing readers ever! Boo yah!

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Major Indie Milestones: 2 Million Books Sold, 7 New York Times Bestsellers, Plus More Cool Stuff

This year has been an amazing experience. Some of you know that I’m an indie author, which means that I’m completely self-published. Lots of people think that a writer can’t get anywhere going it alone, and I’d like to say otherwise.

Being an Indie Author rocks! Here are some of the amazing things that have happened so far this year, and the year isn’t over yet!

Currently, I’m the #1 bestselling new adult author in the world. Thank you to Bella Andre for pointing that out. I don’t stop and look at the numbers often, and since they exploded this year I’ve climbed more lists than I can count. The majority of my titles are new adult, and they took off like a rocket early this year after sleeping for months.

I’ve sold 2 million books. On my own. Without a publisher. How many? Can you even fathom that number, most of which were sold since this January? I can’t. What does that even look like? 2 freakin million books. Sold. As in people paid for them. (No, that doesn’t include free. I suck at free. While others have gotten free to work, I didn’t). It’s amazing!

My books have been in the New York Times 7 times since January, as well as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal. One of my titles also hit #1 on Digital Book World and I was the 1st strictly Indie author to do so.

I hit the #1 bestselling author on Amazon several times and have been in the top 100 since January this year. The authors surrounding me are mega blockbuster bestselling authors like Nora Roberts, Lee Child, and Dan Brown.

I’ve had multiple books hit the lists on the same week! I had 2 New York Times bestsellers at once, multiple times! Having 7 so far this year is overwhelming, but when you add that some of those books were in there twice in one week and wow. Just wow.

One of my titles was in the Amazon top 100 books for over 100 days. That was amazing!

I was in FORBES, The Washington Post, and a bunch of other cool places.

We’re well into record breaking territory for an indie author. Self publishing is a roller coaster ride and it’s been frantic since the start of this year.

Hell, publishing is a wild ride in general. It’s hard enough to write a book, but when you add in the factors it takes to get it in front of people, and all this stuff that happened is mind-blowing.

I’ve turned down multiple six-figure offers from traditional publishers this year and I am a so glad that I did. For those thinking about self publishing, take a good hard look. I’m having a fun time and currently at the top of the charts, and while my experience may not be the norm, there are many Indies earning an excellent living–some, for the first time in their lives–and they’re doing what they love.

I just wanted to share this since the connotation that self-publishing isn’t a good plan. People told me I was crazy when I turned down those offers. Trust your gut.

It turns out that self publishing is awesome.

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THE ARRANGEMENT 8 & 9 Are (Finally) on iTunes

ARRANGEMENT Vol 8 and Vol 9 are finally up on iTunes. Shut up! I know, right? Anyway, they’re finally there. Wahoo! Happy dance!

Trystan Scott 4 and 5 are being added and should show up any time now, too. Sorry it’s taken so long to get my entire list over there, but it’s finally done.

I will do my best to get ARRANGEMENT 10 ASAP, however, since these are live launches (meaning they go live as fast as the vendor can do it) it will take at least a week for them to show on Apple. For the die-hard fans, grab the kindle copy with the kindle app.

Here is the link to ARRANGEMENT 8 on iTunes

Here is the link to ARRANGEMENT 9 on iTunes

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Is THE ARRANGEMENT a Series?

I’ve been getting emails from awesome fans who are curious about THE ARRANGEMENT series. Many of you already noticed, but some haven’t so I wanted to make it clear.

Yes, THE ARRANGEMENT is a series.

There’s some confusion over what that means. My serials are not one book slashed into pieces. I know some writers do that, but I don’t. I’ve actually been asked to speak about the construction of my serials at several writer’s conferences next year, because the way they’re written is unique. Quite frankly, if I took CURSED there and slashed it into pieces, it would suck. But, that’s another topic, so I won’t go into that right now.

Pictures help make it more obvious that THE ARRANGEMENT isn’t one book broken into volumes. For one, it’s too big. eBooks are amazing, but the tactile sense of reading is lost. If a book holds my attention and I love the story, the time taken to read it flies by and I have no idea how many pages I read. That doesn’t happen with paper. It’s easy to see how much I read and where the end is, so I took a few pics for the ereader fans.

The stack of books on the left is the Arrangement series 1-9. Cursed is on the right, and is one of my full length novels. It’s the 2nd book in the Demon Kisses series and is about the same size as Damaged and Stripped (both are novels). Some of my novels are a bit longer, some are shorter, but it’s average novel length for me (and most romances.)

So, if THE ARRANGEMENT series were presented in novel format, they’d be onto their 4th novel at this point in time. Every 2-2.5 volumes is about novel length. The Arrangement is a series the same way DEMON KISSED is a series. Multiple books tell the story, but these come out way faster.

Why was this story written as a serial? Because there are readers who like this format, a lot. It has perks that novels don’t have.

Here are the main serial novella perks:

They come out faster and the reader only has to wait 4 weeks instead of 4 months. Waiting 4 months for the next title from my favorite author sucks. Most of my fav authors put out 1 novel a year. I hate that. I want more. Now. Series like THE ARRANGEMENT offer that desire for new titles.
Serials are less risky for the reader. If I like it, I keep reading and one book didn’t eat up a ton of time.
They give the reader the option to read something new between novel releases.
Serials are less daunting. If someone hands you a huge ass book, it can be intimidating. Novella length books don’t typically present that apprehension.
They’re fast and fun. This kind of book is supposed to be fun, and not take a lot of effort, which is why lots of people love them.

THE ARRANGEMENT series was originally written for fans to have something to read between novels. Then it became a fan-driven series where the fans’ comments are actually affecting the story line. It’s become an organic story, and is way cooler than anything I dreamed up when I started.

People ask if these will be bundled at some point. Right now there are no plans to bundle, but there are plans for the series to go on sale like the rest of my titles. The entire Trystan Scott series was on sale recently. All the titles go on sale at some point, so keep your eyes glued to the facebook page to make sure you don’t miss it. Massive sale alerts also go out via email, so make sure you’re on that list. (Text AWESOMEBOOKS – 1 word – to 22828 or click here to get on the list).

And, I know you’re all going to ask, so here it is: THE ARRANGEMENT Vol. 10 will be out in the next couple of weeks. No, it’s not the final book in the series. I’ll make a huge post when the final volume comes out. This volume came out a little slower than usual because of Trystan Scott 5 and Stripped. Releasing 3 titles is one month is crazy, but I don’t want to make you guys wait any longer. So BAM! 10 is coming too!

Oh, and people are asking if they HAVE to read each series to know what’s going on in the novels. NO, you don’t. Each series is stand alone. That means you can read DAMAGED and skip STRIPPED and you won’t be lost if you pick up THE PROPOSITION (Bryan Ferro’s story) later this fall. It’s totally okay to know one brother better than the rest. If you hate cliffhangers, stay away from serials in progress like THE ARRANGEMENT.

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Last Chance! Get a SIGNED Copy of STRIPPED by H.M. Ward

LAST CHANCE! Get a *SIGNED* copy of STRIPPED!

Get a copy of STRIPPED that’s signed by the author! Wahoo! There are only a limited number, so grab them while you can.

They’ll be shipped out around the end of September and each one will be signed by the author.

A SOLD OUT sign will appear before you buy when there aren’t any more.

US ONLY! Sorry, I’m an international mail idiot. These will be shipped via Priority Mail in late Sept. I’ll post on Facebook when they go out.

Purchase by clicking here.

All orders are processed securely via PayPal.

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STRIPPED by HM Ward Was Released Today

It’s been months since pre-order went up for STRIPPED on Amazon. I cannot wait to share this novel with you guys!

In case you missed it, here’s the description:

“The V Card. Virgin. Most of us want to punch that sucker ASAP, and hide the fact until then, but not Cassie Hale. Three years ago she frickin’ covered hers in glitter and laminated the thing, proudly telling me that she’s waiting for the perfect guy.

So when I see her half naked, tangled together, rolling around on the floor with another stripper, I’m kind of shocked. Okay, that’s an understatement. I’m enthralled. I have to know what cracked her picture perfect world and landed her here, and I hope it’s something horrible-an event that broke her the way she broke me. Because, that’s who Cassie Hale is–the woman who stole my heart and crushed it in her hand.”

Type: Novel (approx 330 pgs), 1 of 2

Related Works: DAMAGED & THE ARRANGEMENT

Here’s what fans are saying! Eeep!

“Quite possibly her best work! I couldn’t put it down!!” -Joanna

“Just finished Stripped and LOVE is not strong enough of a word for how much I was sucked into Jon’s story!” -Michelle

“Stripped is a jewel that will have you turning pages, laughing, blushing and hoping.” -April W.

“I thought Sean was the bomb, but now I’m liking young Jonny even more.” -Roxanne K.

“Holy smokes the Ferro brothers are hot!” -Shannon

“Jonathan Ferro is just as riveting, suspenseful, exciting and heartbreaking as Sean and Peter.” -Michele A.

GET STRIPPED NOW AT THESE RETAILERS:

   

iTunes and Nook will be posted ASAP, hopefully later today.

Happy reading! I can’t wait to hear what you think! All the people saying they love Jon better than Sean is making my head spin. Totally can’t wait to see which brother makes you swoon the most.

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STRIPPED Kindle Fire Giveaway of Awesomeness!

Want to win $270 worth of H.M. Ward books, plus a shiny new Kindle Fire? Yes, international fans can enter, too. Well, what are you waiting for? Go enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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SIGNED Copies of STRIPPED by HM Ward

SIGNED books! Yippie! I’ve had a ton of people asking if there would be signed copies of STRIPPED for sale. Here they are! Each one is signed by the author, me!

These will be shipped via Priority Mail toward the end of Sept. US only. I’m sorry, but I’m an international mail idiot.

You’ll get a tracking number and email when it ships. All payments are processed security via PayPal. You can use a credit card or your PayPal account.

There are a limited number of signed books, so grab them before they’re all gone. When they sell out, you’ll be rerouted to a SOLD OUT page before you buy.

 SIGNED COPY OF STRIPPED:

 

Thank you so much!

PS – Okay, I have several International people begging me to try it, so I’ll try it. Click here if you’re international to get a SIGNED copy of STRIPPED.

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