H.S. Stone's Blog, page 41

Favorite reads of 2011

2011 is almost over, which means it's time for "The Best/Top/Favorite _____ of 2011" lists! Here's my contribution: the best books I read in 2011.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Feed - Mira Grant
Unwind - Neal Shusterman
MockingJay - Suzanne Collins
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
John Dies at the End - David Wong
Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski
The Scorch Trials - James DashnerGiven how much I've raved about The Hunger Games, ...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Busy with author-y stuff

If there's one lesson that I've learned in the past month, since the publication of George and the Galactic Games , it's that writing is only one part of a "real" author's job. It's still the most important part, but once you've written and published your book, you still need to put it in front of readers. In other words, authors should not rely on "build it and they will come." No one will read your book if no one knows about it.

To address that, I've been busy with non-writing tasks, such as:...

George and the Galactic Games part of YA book giveaway

You can win a copy of George and the Galactic Games along with other YA books at the BIG AWESOME YA GIVEAWAY! Three lucky winners will win a package of TEN ebooks, and a fourth winner will win a print package of NINE books. It's easy to enter, and the contest ends on Tuesday, December 20. Good luck!

George and the Galactic Games available in other formats

For those of you who don't have a Kindle or the Kindle app, I'm happy to announce that George and the Galactic Games is available in other formats!

Electronically, the book is available from these vendors:
Barnes & Noble's NookDieselKobo
Last but definitely not least, I'm also excited to say that the book is available in print format for those who prefer to read from paper instead of electronically at this Createspace link.

New cover for George and the Galactic Games

The Kindle eBook for George and the Galactic Games has a new cover now. I wasn't that pleased with the original cover, and I hope the new one will be a little better. What do you all think?

Almost 1 million eBooks in Kindle Store!

According to a Techcrunch article, Amazon has nearly 1 million eBooks in the Kindle Store now! The actual number is a little less, but it's just a matter of time before they go over the 1 million mark. According to the same article, eBook sales are expected to grow from $3.2 billion this year to $9.7 billion in 2016. I guess I should be happy when my book has a 5-digit ranking in the Kindle Store -- it means it's selling better than 90% of all eBooks!

Can't wait for The Hunger Games movie

I just saw the new trailer for The Hunger Games. It looks great! I can't wait for the movie to come out next March.

George and the Galactic Games

I'm excited to announce that my second book (and first novel) is available in the Amazon Kindle Store! It is titled George and the Galactic Games , and it is a science fiction story suitable for young readers as well as adults.


Description:
George is the new kid in school. He also recently lost his father to a heart attack. In an effort to cheer him up, George's mother takes him on a camping trip. That's when their troubles really begin. Extraterrestrials abduct both mother and son. Now George f...

Searching for the next Hunger Games

I've written before about how great I think the Hunger Games trilogy is. Since then, I've read other books in the genre, hoping to find a worthy successor. The closest I've come is Neal Shusterman's Unwind and James Dashner's Maze Runner trilogy. IMHO, Unwind was the superior book, but Maze Runner came closer to re-creating a world similar to Panem. I've also read some recommendations in the genre that were disappointing, most notably Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy. Despite its good rev...