H.S. Stone's Blog, page 27

On not selling much

I don't sell many books, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Sure, I'd love to become the next Amanda Hocking, Joe Konrath, or Hugh Howey, but I realize that just because you publish a book doesn't mean readers will snap it up. What surprised me, however, was learning just how many other authors see the same meager sales figures as I do. It's natural for the stories that you read about indie authors to only focus on the successful ones. Stories like mine don't sell newspapers get eyeballs to webs...

Book review: Beautiful Creatures (The Manga) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

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Description:
In crisp black and white manga pictures, Ethan Wate narrates his dreams, haunted an unreachable raven-haired beauty. When she moves into the small Southern town Blackwood mansion of her protective Uncle Macon, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her. As her 16th birthday nears, Lena must choose - or will the family curse choose for her?

There were no surprises in Gatlin County .. the middle of nowhere.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse....

Keep Your Enemies Close promotion extended

As part of the release of Keep Your Enemies Close , I mentioned a promotion where anyone who buys a copy of Keep Your Enemies Close (in either e-book or paperback) and shows proof of purchase will receive a Smashwords coupon good for any one of my other books. I'm happy to say that I've extended that promotion to the end of this month. It's not too late to buy Keep Your Enemies Close and get a second book for free! (See here for my other books.) Proof of purchase may include a receipt, a pictu...

Book review: The Believers by Katie French

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Description:
They’ve escaped the Breeders, yet their journey has just begun.

Riley and Clay are once again on the run from the Breeders. The group may have escaped the deranged experiments at the hospital, but as one of the world's last free women, Riley can never be safe. On the road back home, Riley and her crew are captured by a band of savage men. Their destination: the Citadel, run by a bizarre religious prophet named the Messiah. Somehow he knows their secre...

Release announcement - Keep Your Enemies Close

Today is the official launch date for my latest novel, Keep Your Enemies Close!

You can now buy the digital version for $2.99 or paperback for $8.99 at the retailers below. Keep Your Enemies Close will also be available for the Nook and other platforms soon.

E-book:
AmazonSmashwords Paperback:
AmazonCreatespace
Special limited time promotion:
For the next two weeks, if you buy a copy of Keep Your Enemies Close (in either e-book or paperback) and show proof of purchase, I'll send you a free digital...

Outside the Box Reading Challenge

Last year, I undertook the Authors A to Z reading challenge, and it was a fun exercise. I discovered some good books that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise.

This year, I'm starting a new reading challenge called Outside the Box. Thanks to Alison of The Cheap Reader blog for introducing me to it. You can read her blog to find out more details about the challenge, but in a nutshell, I'm going to try to read a book for each square in the grid below. As with the Authors A to Z challenge, I'l...

Favorite reads of 2013

As I mentioned in my last post, out of the 102 books I read in 2013, 26 of them attained a 5 star ranking, including 9 indie titles. Of those twenty-six, here are my top ten reads of 2013:


1. Legend by Marie Lu
This is one of those books that I heard a lot about from book bloggers but didn't get around to reading until 2013. Boy, am I glad I did. At first, I thought Legend was going to be another typical YA dystopian story, but the writing was so good and Marie Lu drew me into her world and her...

What I read in 2013

2013 was a record year for me in terms of number of books read. I wound up reading 102 books since January 1st! I'm sure that this is the first time in my life that I've read over 100 books in a year.

The ratings for the books I read broke down as follows:
5 stars - 26 books4 stars - 44 books3 stars - 30 books2 stars - 2 booksThis comes out to an average rating of 3.92 stars per book read in 2013.

When I counted the number of indie books I read this year, I was astounded to find that HALF of the...

Cover reveal - Keep Your Enemies Close

I'm putting the finishing touches on my latest novel, titled Keep Your Enemies Close, and here's the  cover for the book! It will be released in early January 2014. Stay tuned!

First, the probes arrived. Then the mother ship landed. Then Lia’s world changed forever.

With the alien invaders’ arrival, Lia and her best friend, Bryn, sign up for military duty to protect their town. When the aliens attack, however, Lia and her comrades are helpless to stop them. Worse, after the attack, she di...

100 books in 2013

It's hard for me to believe, but I finished reading my 100th book of 2013! I don't think I've ever read that many books in one year, even when I was in school and had required reading assignments. At the beginning of the year, I didn't have a goal to read 100 books, and things started off slowly. I averaged six or seven books a month for the first four months. Then summer hit and I started reading at least ten books a month through most of the summer and fall. Things have tapered off again si...