Sunday, February 19, 2012

March 14th! (Book Blog Tours Part 2: Advanced Tips and Tricks)


STONEHOUSE UNIVERSITY AUTHOR WEBINARS
Book Blog Tours Part 2: Advanced Tips and Tricks
presented by Aaron Patterson and K.C. Neal & special guest blogger, (The Book Brunette, AKA Zombie Queen!)
March 14, 2012 10:00 am to noon (Mountain Time)

Lots of tips for working with book bloggers and running a blog tour that stands out!
• Where to find blogs for your tour
• How to get bloggers to come to YOU for an ARC of your book
• How to make your blog tour stand out from all the others
• More book blogger survey results
• What makes bloggers bump a book to the top of their TBR piles
• How to build great relationships with bloggers
• Helpful tools and widgets for promoting your tour and doing giveaways
• Detailed sample timelines for planning through follow-up
• The 1 thing that will make bloggers drop everything to help you (hint: it has nothing to do with your book)
• The 2 philosophies we use that get bloggers excited to work with us (regardless of whether they love the book we're touring)

*To register click below, the cost is $50 and if you cannot make the class you can get the file and recording after for $45.
Click HERE

**If you missed Part #1 you can purchase the webinar for $45. Email StoneHousePress at Hotmail dot com for more information.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Are you lying to yourself?

Tell me lies, sweet little lies!

I think about this more now days as I write and run a publishing house. Am I lying to myself? It is a good question, one I think every writer should ask.

I used to watch American Idol, not to see the talent but to witness the train-wreaks. Come on, you do the same thing, we all want to see the poor people who think they can sing, bellow out something bordering on evil.

Why do we do this? Because someone told these people that they were good, some family member or friend lied to these people!

I see this same thing going on in the writing world. But most of it is not family or a friend that are lying to us, but we ourselves. What are the lies?

Lie #1: My book is the best book in the world.

If you believe this, most publishers will not talk to you, in fact, they may run the other way with a look of fear on their faces.

Lie #2: I deserve a book deal.

Uh.... No! What makes you so special? Oh, you sold 1 million books? You are a social media expert? You have a platform? You have...? So why would a business buy your book and spend money in the hopes that your book will sell and make them all their money back AND more? Publishers are not working for free, they want to make money and you and your book are the way they do it, so how do you add value to their business?

Lie #3: I am going to be a bestseller on Amazon and do it all on my own.
Hmmmm, so publishers do it all with one person? Nope, it takes so many people to publish a book. Editors, cover artists, and so on... A publisher is just a group of people who all have jobs, and they all do their job and the end result is a published book. How many people make it? How many authors are full time? Less than 1% of ALL people write a book, less than 1% of that 1% are full time. It is after-all, WORK.

Lie #4: My book should be made into a movie.
LOL
Ha ha!!!
Giggle...
LOL
*Holds side
HAHAHA!
Any questions?
If I had a dollar for every author I heard say this line, I would be a rich man, and make your book into a movie. Hee hee.

Lie #5: I can't do it.
Yes you can. The only thing standing between you and a book is sitting your butt down and doing the work. Do the work and you will do it.

Lie #6: I need an agent.
Nope, all you need an agent for is Sub rights. Most middle to small publishers will talk and deal directly with you.

Lie #7: I need a big publisher.
Nope again... You need to sell some books before you can expect to get even close to a good deal with a big publisher. Don't chase them, make them come after you. That way you have the power.

Lie #8: I can do the cover on my own or have a friend do it for me.

Uh... please don't. please no...not another lame cover on Amazon...have some respect for yourself. Hire a pro, or have a good publisher do it for you... if the publisher can't put out a good cover-RUN!

Lie #9: I will not pay to publish.

Yes you will. You will pay on the front end or the back end, but you will pay something. Most publishers take all the cost of blog tours, marketing, book signings out of your cut... think you will not pay? Think again.

Lie #10: All of what this post is saying is mean and cruel, I like to think positive.
I choose to tell you the truth, even if it may make you mad. That way when you see that this is right you will be glad you were not lying to yourself. Be honest and remember that writing and writing for a living is work. Anyone can sell books and do well if they work hard. This is good news, you can do well if you teach yourself and work hard.

I do hope that this helps in some small way. I just don't want to see you go up on stage and butcher a song in front of the world.

Aaron

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Stone House Goes Audio

We are very please to announce that some of Stone House Ink's most popular titles are now available in audio book. Check it out. Download for those long Christmas drives...



Download

Two worlds.... One 16-year-old girl must learn to protect them both.

The nightmares haunting Corinne and her friend, Mason, hint at a universe that exists beyond the one they know. Her destiny is to protect a weakness between the two worlds, but the person who was supposed to teach her how is dead.

As Corinne and Mason search for answers, she tries to ignore the sparks igniting between them, but can't deny she feels safe only when he's nearby.

Will they find help before their nightmares break free?



Download


This is how your life ends: Not with a whimper, but a scream!

Jude Parish is afraid. The former violent crimes cop turned best-selling true crime author has a fear-filled demon lodged inside of him. A demon so real he can only imagine a slimy reptilian beast with scaly skin, black eyes, and razor-sharp fangs having taken up residence inside the place where his once confident and fearless soul resided.

 Now, in the wake of his literary success, the ever anxious Jude is hoping to lead a quiet, peaceful life in the idyllic Adirondack vacation town of Lake George, New York with his new pregnant wife, Rosie, and Jack, his young son from a previous marriage. But when Jude becomes the accidental witness to a bizarre "kill game" in which the killer, video game designer and master of disguise, Hector "the Black Dragon" Lennox, insists on recording the screams of his victims prior to shooting them dead, the ex-cop's life is turned upside down.
When Lennox is arrested by the L.G.P.D. and Jude is asked to act as the state's star witness, he has no choice but to fight his demon-fear and take on the role. But what he doesn't realize at the time, is that the killer's arrest is actually the first level in what is a carefully designed and scripted first-person video kill game that will involve his entire family as players and victims.

How will the kill game end?

Like all violent video games, it will end in death. But it won't be Game Over until Hector Lennox catches the screams of his tortured victims.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Writer Beware! ePublishers

I am hearing more and more about ePublishers and how so many unsuspecting writers are hooking up with these people. I do not think it is smart and most of them are only out to gather as many people as they can, throw some books out there and hope one takes off. This is like a vulture circling a dead carcass and the sad part is many writers are falling for this Scam.

I say scam as these publishers, and I use that word lightly, show where their heart is by the amount of effort they are willing to put into the project. How is it doing you any favors to have someone tell you that your work is not worth putting money into?

So they do not put a ton of money, as it is a test market thing, an mud sling and so the cover suffers, the editing if there even is any and the conversion. I know of one such publisher on Facebook and they do not even pay their authors as it is about a year old and so far no one is wise to the scam. They put out a few titles a week with the worst covers on the market not to mention most are stolen artwork from movies or video games. This bomb is ticking and when it goes off the mess will hurt the indie market in a huge way as yet again one more mark is set against anyone outside of the Big 6.

What should you do?

First, look at the publisher... do they put out good work or is it a hack job? Do they help market and is there a submission process or do they just take on anyone who will pay? Even if the publisher will do it for free that is the worst kind... run my friends RUN!

There are a ton of small presses like StoneHouse that try to do a New York job and will take on the authors it believes in... look for one like that and if all you want is to go E, well, do it yourself so when these scam publishers go under you will not be among the dead.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's a Four Letter Word

Work it's a four letter word. Often times people consider four letter words to be bad. But there are many four letter words that are not so bad like love...yeah that's all I can think of right now. If you have been following the blog you noticed 1. It's not as active as before and 2. That we are working on a project called Stone House University. That's one of the main reasons we have been so silent. We are working on so many projects. Some of the things that new project is going to offer
are...

Blog Tours
Writing to Hook
Facebook Marketing
Twitter Marketing
Writing with the Snowflake Method
How to plot
Amazon, how to work the system
How to Tag
Author Platform
Bookstores and how to set up signings
eBooks 101
Social Media 101
What is Google Plus

But before you can even consider any of those things you have to nail down the four letter word that is needed. WORK.


Our fearless leader Aaron Patterson tells it how it is below. 


I get this vibe a ton from authors and other writers, that somehow by being in the same room as me or maybe by chillin with vincent Zandri the books will fly and the money will come in by the truckload. I think we all have this idea that it is the rub factor, can this person rub off on me, make me do better or by some sort of magic something will happen.


I do not say this with a mean spirit or because I think I have done anything special. in fact I wonder sometimes why and how I ever got anyone to read my books. I don't think I am that great of a writer or that I hold some power that makes me a success. That being said I will tall you one thing. I work hard.


Now I cannot claim to have great talent or to have a super brain, but I am a hard worker. And after talent and smarts give out, the hard worker will always win. We all remember the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. It is a simple story we all know about sticking with it, keep going and never give up. Now I like most never thought that story was more than just a kids story. But it is more.


Think about writing, publishing and selling books. It is not all about talent or style. Not about being the smartest person or having the highest ranking wizards review your book. It is about hard work.


What I lack in brains I make up for with stick-to-it-never-give-up-ness! What I lack in talent I make up for in Market-the-crap-out-of-my-and-others-books-ness!


I know we all want a pill, a magic list of how to make it. We want that simple thing we can all do to become a bestseller and so on. so here it is... the list the magic!


W: Work your A#% off!
O: Open up to new ideas! Don't get stuck in the mud, i.e. eBooks etc...
R: Reach out! Brand yourself and meet people. Share and support other authors.
K: keep going! Never stop. Be smart and market all the time but in a cool easy way.


There you go, the magic to the bestseller line. Want to make it big? This is it, not writing the best book, not being super hot, not paying out money to but your way up, good old hard WORK.

Cheers.

Thanks Aaron. So how about you dear reader are you a hard worker? 


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

UPDATE:

I want to let everyone know that the writing contest will be canceled due to lack of interest. This is on us and getting the word out has fallen short as we are all so busy right now. The amount of work involved is intensive and we feel that our talents will sure everyone better in other places.

That being said StoneHouse University is born.

We see that there is a great need for information and training in book marketing as well as writing for authors and writers alike. This takes a lot less time and the need is great.

So, as to the future, we will be holding local SHU classes in Boise on a monthly basis and web based classes as well. They will be free to all SH/SG authors and a low fee for anyone else. (Sorry)

If you have a topic you wish us to cover please leave a comment and we will look into putting it in the rotation. We will also have guest authors, and teachers in the classes so you can learn from the best.

Topics to some:
Blog Tours
Writing to Hook
Facebook Marketing
Twitter Marketing
Writing with the Snowflake Method
How to plot
Amazon, how to work the system
How to Tag
Author Platform
Bookstores and how to set up signings
eBooks 101
Social Media 101
What is Google Plus

And more...

We hope to see you at a SHU class in the near future.

Aaron

Monday, November 7, 2011

StoneHouse University (Blog Tour Class)


Time: 19 November · 10:00am - 4:00pm

Location: Nebula Shift Offices Suite 202 609 Main St. (Across from City Hall upstairs of the Bistro Building)


This class is 50 dollars a person and can be paid at the door or through paypal @pattersonbooks@hotmail.com

Please RSVP so we know how many people to expect. This is the first of many more classes and each one will be on a different subject to do with writing and book marketing.

The class speakers will be Michelle Carpenter of Media Guests and K.C. Neal a local author and a master blog tour crazy person! The first 2 hrs of the class Michelle will talk about tours for non-fiction as well what to do and what a tour is.

K.C. Neal will speak in the second part of the class on how to set up a tour on your own as an author. We will also cover what to do when your book is on tour and all the info you wanted and never wanted to know about blog tours.

This is a focused class and we want you leaving with a good idea of what to do and how to do it on your own or through a third party tour host.

Please RSVP here and pay through paypal or at the door. Thanks

Aaron

Nebula Shift Offices Suite 202 609 Main St. (Across from City Hall upstairs of the Bistro Building)