H.S. Stone's Blog, page 35

Win a copy of my book (and other marketing exposure)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

The last couple of weeks have been the best by far for me in terms of getting exposure.

First of all, as the title of this blog post implies, you can win a copy of In the Hands of Children or George and the Galactic Games! The folks at Me, My Shelf, and I were nice enough to have me as part of their My Indie Monday feature this week. Their post contained a short biography, a description of In the Hands of Children, an excerpt from the book, and a giveaway. You can rea...

Working with book bloggers

Before publishing In the Hands of Children, I didn't reach out to any book bloggers. I used to think that people wrote book reviews because they bought and read the book and decided to post a review. After all, that's how the reviews on this blog come about. :-)  I didn't know that authors and publishers contacted book bloggers, I didn't know what ARCs were, and I didn't know how many book blogs were out there.

As part of my growth as an author, I learned the role of book bloggers to my w...

Free short stories this weekend

My two short story collections are free this weekend on Amazon. Numbers Plus Four is free today (October 20) and With Five You Get Fortune Cookies is free tomorrow (October 21). If you missed these free days, but you're an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow both of these books for free in October and November. Enjoy!

Dean Wesley Smith's blog

This is going to be an unusual blog post because all I'm going to talk about is another author's blog.

I don't remember how I stumbled across Dean Wesley Smith, but his blog has become a must-read for me. If you're an indie author (or any author for that matter), I recommend that you read it too. His posts are like an anchor when, as an author, you're buffeted by a million pieces of advice and feeling like you don't know what to do.

When I come across a really good article about indie publishin...

Why are some books so long?

Is it me, or has the average length of a novel gone up? I don't know if I'm reading different books than I used to, but it seems like most books I read nowadays are over 400 pages, and it's not rare to pick up a book that's over 500 pages long.

The length of a story in itself isn't that important to me. Some of my favorite books are over 400 pages. For example, my edition of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring clocks in at over 500 pages, and it's one of my all-time favorites. However, what b...

Book review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Buy from Amazon
Buy from B&N

Description:
In a world where people born with an extreme skill - called a Grace - are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of the skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him.

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to chan...

The Casual Vacancy

J.K. Rowling's first book for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy, officially releases today. I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series. I've read all the books, seen all the movies, and even read The Tales of Beedle the Bard. At first, I was excited to hear that she had another book in the works, but now, I'm not planning to rush out to read The Casual Vacancy. I'm sure Ms. Rowling wrote another fine work of fiction. I don't question the quality of her work, and I don't think Harry Potter was...

Book review: Shakespeare Undead by Lori Handeland

Buy from Amazon
Buy from B&N

Description:
Something wicked this way comes . . . and it keeps coming and coming and coming. . . .

William Shakespeare was one of history’s greatest writers, a master of words with a body of work that is truly impressive . . . some may say a little too impressive for a single man to accomplish in one lifetime. Perhaps, as many have speculated, he had assistance. Or perhaps the explanation is more . . . unusual.

Who was William Shakespeare?

Who was the Dark Lady of...

Latest KDP Select free promotion results

On Monday and Tuesday, Numbers Plus Four went free under the KDP Select program. On Wednesday and Thursday, With Five You Get Fortune Cookies went free as well.

Compared with previous times when I made Numbers Plus Four free, I had similar results. The first time that the book was free in January, Numbers Plus Four averaged over 40 downloads per day. The highest ranking for the book on the free listing was #1,800 overall and #47 within the Short Stories category. This time, there were about 30...

Trying KDP Select again

I enrolled Numbers Plus Four in the KDP Select program again and With Five You Get Fortune Cookies for the first time. That means that Amazon Prime members can borrow either book for free. Additionally, there will be days when both books are FREE to download.

I'm happy to announce that the first of the free days are coming up. On Sep. 17 and 18, Numbers Plus Four will be free. Following on its heels, With Five You Get Fortune Cookies will be free on  Sep. 19 and 20.

This is a great opportu...