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 websites. Even in author communities like KBoards, you hear a lot about the successful authors and how much they're selling, or new authors bemoaning that they only sold 100 copies of their first book in the first month.

So I felt a bit of relief when I ran across a post on KBoards last week titled "It's normal not to sell a lot." It was nice to see that others were in the same boat as me (and that boat would be the S.S. Don't-Sell-a-Lot), although I wouldn't have minded being in the boat by myself all that much. Like me, many other writers do it because they enjoy writing, and just having books published and read is an accomplishment in itself.

Then, to my surprise, none other than Hugh Howey weighed in on the topic by expressing the same sentiment as me. This is an author who's sold over a million books, and he's telling us that he derives joy from the act of making his book available to the public, regardless of whether it sells. (In his case, it most likely will.) The end of his post summarizes what I believe. Given that most books don't sell, will your reaction be to give up in frustration or to continue on with your next book because you enjoy the process of writing and publishing? You know where I stand. :-)

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.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Review: 
Beautiful Creatures is a book that I've heard lots of good things about, but from reading the description, I didn't know if it was really for me. The fact that it's over 500 pages long also made me hesitate putting in the effort to read it, so when I found a graphic novel version of the book, it sounded like a great way to try out the story without too much investment and also check off a box for my Reading Outside the Box challenge.

It's a good thing I did. If the graphic novel was a faithful adaptation of the book, I would've suffered through the 500+ pages. The story wasn't for me. The relationship between Ethan and Lena didn't make much sense to me, and too much time was spent on their relationship rather than on the world of magic that Lena came from, which was the interesting part of the book.

The graphic novel itself was OK. I got confused a few times during scene transitions, like when they first received their vision of the past. It took me a while to understand what was happening. However, I think I would've liked reading the book even less. Overall, a mediocre rating for Beautiful Creatures (The Manga).

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 picture of Keep Your Enemies Close on your Kindle, or anything else that shows you bought the book. Email your proof to me at hsstonewriting[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Happy reading!

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 discovers that several of the townspeople, including her family, were abducted. Despite Lia’s pleading, no one wants to save those taken by the aliens.

Desperate to rescue her parents and her little sister, Lia turns to the only source of help she can find… a captured alien invader. 

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 secrets. He wants them to join his group of Believers, but only if they’ll drink the baptismal water and swear allegiance.

The problem is there’s something wrong with the water. Something wrong with the people. And there’s human moaning coming from the bottom of a dark crevasse that no one wants to talk about. If they can’t figure out what’s going on, Riley and everyone she loves could become a Believer forever.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Review: 
Katie French's The Breeders was one of my top ten reads of 2013, so I eagerly awaited the release of its sequel, The Believers. The fact that it satisfied one of the boxes in my Outside the Box reading challenge was an added bonus.

The Believers picks up where The Breeders ends, and from the opening pages, you know what you're going to get with this book: an exciting, well-written story that will leave you hanging on the edge of your seat. The novel is fast-paced, and there's never a dull moment. I had a hard time putting it down to do something else because I kept wanting to see what would happen next.

Although the tone of The Believers is similar to that found in The Breeders, the plot is different and there's a new set of characters involved. Nevertheless, it was as enjoyable as the first book. I find it refreshing for an author to come up with an original story instead of rehashing the same scenes from book 1, and it is a testament to Katie French's writing skills that she can deliver a new story with new characters that is as enjoyable as its predecessor.

I recommend this series to all readers, especially fans of YA dystopians. I can't wait for book 3!

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:

• Amazon
• Smashwords

Paperback:

• Amazon
• Createspace

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 version of any of my other books from Smashwords. See here for available books. That's right, buy one book and get another for FREE! Proof of purchase may include a receipt, a picture of Keep Your Enemies Close on your Kindle, or anything else that shows you bought the book. Email your proof to me at hsstonewriting[at]yahoo[dot]com to receive your Smashwords coupon.

Happy reading!


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 discovers that several of the townspeople, including her family, were abducted. Despite Lia’s pleading, no one wants to save those taken by the aliens.

Desperate to rescue her parents and her little sister, Lia turns to the only source of help she can find… a captured alien invader. 

Reading Outside the Box 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 Reading 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'll post a review of each Reading Outside the Box book that I read.

I expect some squares will be easy to fill, like "Self Published" or "Young Adult Fiction", but others will pose a real challenge. For example, I have to read a Romance?? How about "Poetry or Novel-in-Verse"? This should be interesting.

Let the challenge begin!

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 characters so much that this became my favorite read of the year. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

2. Fire by Kristen Cashore
I read Graceling in 2012, and while it didn't make the 2012 top ten list, I gave it 5 stars. Fire was even better! If you're looking for a YA fantasy series, you should definitely check out the Graceling Realm books.

3. Outpost by Ann Aguirre
Who said that authors suffer a sophomore slump with the second book in the series? Fire didn't, and neither did Outpost. As was the case with Graceling, I read Enclave in 2012 and gave it 5 stars, although it didn't make the top ten list. I thought Outpost was better than Enclave. You can read my review here.

4. Angelfall by Susan Ee
Although I didn't count Angelfall as an indie book, I could have because it started out as such. You can read my review here.

5. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Cinder did make my top ten list of 2012 reads. Scarlet was just as good as its predecessor. Although the heroine of the first book had to share the pages with another protagonist, Marissa Meyer managed to tell both characters' stories without short changing either one. I'm looking forward to the release of Cress in 2014.

6. The Breeders by Katie French
I discovered indie author Katie French in early 2013 and was very impressed with her writing as soon as I started reading The Breeders. I've since read Nessa (a companion short story to The Breeders) and Eyes Ever to the Sky (a YA paranormal romance) and I'm just starting on the sequel to The Breeders titled The Believers. She's an awesome author whose works I recommend to everyone!

7. Die Trying by Lee Child
After YA speculative fiction, thrillers are my next favorite genre, and I'm glad I started reading Lee Child's novels. It's no surprise that Die Trying, the second installment of the Jack Reacher series, made my top ten list this year. I'm glad there are many more Reacher novels still left for me to read.

8. Mila 2.0 - Debra Driza
I came across this book because none other than Marissa Meyer spoke highly of it, so I had to give it a try. Although the story line was somewhat predictable, I found this novel to be very engaging. It was very un-put-down-able, and perhaps one of the best things I can say (especially if you know how much I dislike long books) is that Mila 2.0 felt much shorter than a book of over 400 pages.

9. Freak of Nature - Julia Crane
If I were to choose books by its cover, indie published Freak of Nature might have ended up #1 on my list. Aside from the book's beautiful cover, the story itself was totally gripping. Like Mila 2.0, this novel held my attention from the start and I couldn't put it down.

10. Breathe - Sarah Crossnan
Another YA dystopian novel that's up my alley. More formulaic and predictable than the others on my top ten list, Breathe was nevertheless an entertaining read that I had trouble putting down.