One Day sale! Breaking Steele! $1.99

Today Sunday the 20th I have my new thriller Breaking Steele on sale for $1.99 on Amazon. Check it out!

That is all.

To buy Breaking Steele click HERE


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Michael (Book 2 in the Airel saga) One day push!

ONE DAY BLOG TOUR! 
MAY 17th!

Michael, book two in the Airel Saga, is live on Amazon TODAY ONLY for a discounted price!!

To promote Michael I’m hosting a contest where you can win a FREE copy of Airel and win a free Kindle Fire.

To take advantage of this awesome deal, head to Amazon and check out the eBook version of MICHAEL at its promotional price, then see below to enter the contest. Also, leave me a comment on this post. The blogger with the most comments will win the Kindle Fire! If I win, I’ll also get the chance to be part of a special giveaway in the next few months.

Praise for Michael


"Move over Twilight! Here comes Aaron Patterson!" --Joshua Graham, bestselling author of Beyond Justice and Darkroom


"I was surprised by how much I really, really liked this book. I have not jumped on the whole "fallen angel" bandwagon, just as I didn't jump on all of the vampire stories that came out after Twilight. This is not your typical fallen angel story. It is one that has left me breathlessly waiting for the next one in the series. Hurry up please!!!" --Sandra Stiles

Description of Michael


Michael did the unthinkable to save Airel from death, but now he must live with the choices he has made--both good and evil. Tortured by his past and haunted by what he believes might be his future, Michael seeks redemption--but will the past prove to be too strong? How can he break free of it and be the man he longs to be for Airel? If only he had never...

Airel. Michael's one true love. He had forced her to drink in new life only to find that old wounds and deep scars do not heal overnight. Can she truly forgive Michael, can she truly love him? And can he accept that forgiveness? Or is it all for nothing, and has he gone too far already? As the darkness of past choices closes in on them, chases them, intercepts them, coming at them from everywhere at once, how can their love possibly survive?

Aaron Patterson is the author of the best-selling WJA series, as well as two Digital Shorts: 19 and The Craigslist Killer. He was home-schooled and grew up in the west. Aaron loved to read as a small child and would often be found behind a book, reading one to three a day on average. This love drove him to want to write, but he never thought he had the talent. His wife Karissa prodded him to try it, and with this encouragement, he wrote Sweet Dreams, the first book in the WJA series, in 2008. Airel is his first teen series, and plans for more to come are already in the works. He lives in Boise, Idaho with his family, Soleil, Kale and Klayton. His daughter had an imaginary friend named She.


Chris White has an award for reading 750 books in one school year — from the 3rd grade. So yes, he’s more of a nerd than Aaron. Chris loves history, Sherlock Holmes, and anything that’s not virtual, like old motorcycles and mechanical typewriters. He also doesn’t get why we have these things called “smart phones” when all they do is make people dumber. Chris recently celebrated 10 years of marriage with his wife, April, and has two boys: Noah, age 8, and Jaden, age 3, who inspired the Great Jammy Adventure series; the OK-to-color-in picture books. Chris is working on a short story called The Marsburg Diary that will further explore the prologue to Airel, and he is finishing up his first novel, entitled K: phantasmagoria, due out in 2011. Chris has a major crush on Audrey Hepburn, who is now dead. His wife is okay with all of this.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Guest Post by bestselling author, J. Carson Black. (Update)

I did a post with J. some time back and I wanted to do an update. She has been on fire and yesterday she was #1 on the Amazon Bestseller list for Kindle with her novel, "The Shop". She is a great lady and so without much more from me, here is the interview.

P.S. Here is her author page on Facebook, she has a cool app you should check out: HERE

J. Carson Black:


1. So, we all want to know and I could ask after some small talk, but what is the fun in that? What is with T&M? We want details, juicy and the behind the scenes!
How do I feel about T & M? What’s not to love? I kiss the hem of their garments.

They have been with me every step of the way, and involved me in everything. Maybe it’s because they’re new. But here’s an innovative idea: they actually listen to the author who wrote the book! For the first time in my writing life, I’m not at the bottom of the food chain.

They are responsive, organized, smart, and generous. They’d make a great husband. Here’s an example. My editor asked me to send ideas about the cover of my book, ICON. I went looking on Amazon at “Thrillers”, and saw the book cover/movie poster for ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich. And it hit me—hard—that when you’re talking about a man who is an icon, you have to put him on the cover. I could see it. I described him walking toward the camera on a desert road (a scene in the book) and he’s got to be both handsome and dirty. T-shirt, jeans, desert boots. And mad. Mad as hell. It’s got to come off him like testosterone. He’s holding a gun and he’s had enough. So they did that. And then they made it “one louder.” They made the words “ICON” huge! It looks like a movie poster.

T & M gave me a five-mile-long questionnaire, even asking me to describe my ideal reader (which I did, right down to the capri pants—middle-aged women love thrillers, they love Coben, Crais, Koontz, Child and Connelly. Which means they love the “k” sound, too). T & M asked me about my style and vernacular, so the copy editor wouldn’t try to change it.

They included me on everything, including the jacket copy and copy-editing and page proofs--a completely different experience than I’d had with a traditional publisher.

And, since they own the company, they know how to push the book.

They have been generous with me, too. We have the coolest app called Odyl on my J Carson Black author page. This allows me to incorporate a website Glenn and I built together called http://www.whokilledbriennecross. It’s the pre-story, of sorts, to the murders in the Aspen house at the beginning of the book. We can do giveaways, polls, quizzes, and provide additional “exclusive content” for the reader.


2. The Shop is making waves, again. How do you feel about the future of your books?

Honestly? I have no idea. I believe they’ll be a steady stream of income. But how much that will be? I don’t know. It’s a bit unpredictable. I’m feeling my way along like everybody else. I listen to people who have put in the time and learn from them. Vin taught me to raise the prices when the books started to go on. Smart stuff like that.

I think we’re all learning as we go.

3. Are you planning on doing some of your own books or will you do them all with T&M?

I kept my Laura Cardinal series, and plan to write a fourth when I get some time. I have one more book with T & M, tentatively titled THE SURVIVORS CLUB. I also have kept a bunch of books that were previously published to little or no acclaim, and I like them, although they won’t be burning down any barns. They’re a source of steady income. I plan to put up my two historicals next—I’m very proud of them. I think it’s good to have your own books, books you can always depend on to keep you going. I’d love to sell more books to T & M, but I think it’s good to diversify.

4. Can I publish one of your books? Hey, I had to ask!

Who knows? I may come crawling to you, and it might not even be too long from now. You’ve done a great job with your authors, that’s for sure.

5. Amazon, B&N, bookstores, what do you see in three years, is the future bright or dull?

I think Barnes & Noble is already stepping away from the Nook – as I recall, they are outsourcing that part of the business. Amazon is a monster, and right now it’s bigfooting everyone in sight. But Kobo may be the wave of the future—or not. I think it’s good to keep your ear to the ground and be flexible and willing to make judgments on the fly—and hope they’re for the best. Like this KDP Select thing. Is it good for the author or not? The jury is out. What might be great for us now could kill us later. I’m hoping that independent and specialty bookstores will start coming back. I’m seeing some growth there. For instance, Mysterious Galaxy http://www.mystgalaxy.com/ in San Diego just added a second store. And other bookstores are opening across the country as well. I read a news report that even Amazon’s opening a bookstore.

6. Freestyle, tell me something we may not know?

You probably already know this, but there are few overnight successes, even in this ebook craze. There are people who have been working on their careers for 20, 30 years. They may have been traditionally published, but some of them never had a publisher; they kept submitting and maybe they only came close. But one thing the majority of these folks have in common is mileage. They’ve put a lot of miles on their writing craft. They’ve developed themselves as writers whether they’ve actually sold books are not. (Selling books in NY is a crapshoot, and has been for some time.) Writing isn’t a static thing. You get better, but you also get worse. Sometimes you have to hit the dip before you start improving. Taking chances can really foul you up, but it can also make you better. And perhaps that actually hurts some writers, because the audience for ebooks is massive but somewhat amorphous. You can sell a lot of books, but a goodly number of those books may go to people who don’t like the kind of stuff you write. It’s great to get a huge audience, but it’s even better to reach a targeted audience who will get what they want. I try to aim my books toward the crime-fiction and thriller kind of crowd, and make “a concerted effort”, for lack of a better term, to brand my books with the covers and product descriptions. Tastes are different. The greatest urban fantasy book in the world will probably never reach me, because that’s just not my taste. Same for sci-fi. So I try to dance with them that brung me.

7. What is one thing you would say to a new writer and one thing you would say to a guy like James Patterson or Stephen King?

To a new writer I would say, find your bliss in the kinds of books you want to write, and study the best. Learn from them. Their lessons are there for anybody—all you have to do is open their books and open your mind.

I’d say to Stephen King, “Good on ya!” In my opinion, his latest book, 11/22/63, (based on the few books I managed to read this year) is the best damn book of the year. In that book, he taught me that I need to reward the reader more. It’s all about the internals of a book. He brings things full circle several times in that story-- puts the periods to the sentences--and that satisfies a reader and makes him smile. They’re gifts, pure and simple. Readers are smart, and they like to feel smart.

To James Patterson, I’d say, “congratulations on your franchise.”

8. With new stuff coming out and the potential for some green, cash, money! What is one thing you might buy or do that is kind of a splurge?

Oh, shoot. I don’t know. I would like to be a partner in a racehorse. But then if anything happened to the racehorse, I’d be a basket case.

I’d like to take a small ship tour into the Sea of Cortez. Yeah. I’d like that.

9. Biggest fear?

Being broke again. Or getting sick. One of the two. Or both at once. Ick.

10. Funniest thing that ever happened at a book signing?

I signed my first book, DARKSCOPE, at a B. Dalton in the local mall. I got my Masters Degree in vocal performance (opera singing) and the ladies of the local Opera Guild helped me out in a number of ways. I was young and thoughtless then. To be honest, they all kind of blurred together, lovely people though they were. And the signing was about five years later. So one of these ladies came up to me and I thought I knew her name, and I said, “Rita! How good to see you!” and hugged her. I signed the book to Rita and she left, smiling. (I think she was smiling.) Ten minutes later, the real Rita showed up. I’d gotten them mixed up. I still can’t believe the non-Rita let me sign the book to “Rita”. Now that’s polite!

Thanks for everything!

J. Carson Black
jcarsonblack@gmail.com
http://jcarsonblack.com
http://www.facebook.com/JCarsonBlack.authorpage

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Why Barnes and Noble Should Hire Me and Can Jim Hilt

Now now, don't get all hot, I am joking... well, not really...but sort of. I mean really? Print is not dead? eBooks are a novelty? I was wondering why B&N is so behind the curve with eBooks and now I know why...they have this guy at the helm.

“The idea that the print book is going to die some slow long death is actually a fallacy,”

I agree with this, but not in the way he means...most if not all print will go the way of POD. As Amazon and other presses upgrade printers we will be able to get high quality books at a low cost, and all POD.

"...but once the novelty has worn off they’ll probably return to stores and do a mix of shopping on devices and in stores."

=) See that? That was me trying not to bust a gut. I know...so mean.

What does this mean?

For B&N, it means they will keep shoving sand over their heads and for bookstores, it will mean Amazon will keep playing chess...ALONE.

So what would I do? I would tell you but when they offer me a job, I would have nothing to offer them that they did not already see on this blog. lol... okay fine!

First: Make millions of Nook's. Oh...and hire me.
Second: Give them all away for FREE!
Third: Model the website after Amazon with Tagging, Bestseller lists, indie lists, blog posts, forums and other things normal people do with a website designed to sell a product.
Forth: Talk to authors.
Fifth: Open up printing houses and start buying up authors like Amazon.
Sixth: Do more author signings and events, you have a bookstore, you should cream Amazon not hand them your lunch money everyday!
Seventh: Once you have some of the market with all your new Nook users, start a Nook daily deal program. i.e. do what amazon is doing! Top 100 list, top 100 free list, emails of related titles, you know...promotion 101!
Eighth: Forget the tablet market and focus on coming out with the first color touch Nook with eink.
Ninth: Team up with the Big 6 and market and sell their books at a lower price and cut amazon out, make it exclusive. Big move but if you don't do it Amazon will!
Tenth: Have a cup of coffee, because we are just getting started.

This is just a sample of the HUGE changes they will need to make, or by the end of 2013 B&N will be bought out or go under just like borders.
Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

New eBooks/Audio Books for Christmas!

Christmas is just a few days away and we (StoneHouse Ink) have a ton of new stuff that is out just in time to load your new Nook or Kindle. Some of the things we are doing have never been done before and as the leader in cutting edge eBook content we are pleased to give you all the heads up on what is coming to the eBook world!

First lets talk about what StoneHouse did before anyone else, as in EVER! About a year and a half ago we released out first "Digital Short" which is a eBook only short story. After a year on the market we had 6 or so up and Avon and some other big publishers made the news with... you you guessed it, eBook only short stories. I did not think this was such a big and cool idea, just made sense. So now that we were the first I did not want our next big breaking eBook titles to go unnoticed.

We call them UNCUT editions. These eBooks are like what in movies you get with Blu-Ray, or the Extended cut movies. We thought it would be cool to have a behind the scenes look into a novel. So with Vincent Zandri's Moonlight Falls and Aaron Patterson's Sweet Dreams we unleashed on the world the first...yes the very first of their kind, eBook only UNCUT editions!

You may cheer and scream if you like =)

You can now see some cool editing notes, deleted scenes and author interviews. This is just the start as I am sure other publishers will come out with their own, but remember this post and how you got to see the first ones!

The next cool new stuff is our new audio books from StoneHouse Audio. We have two live right now and more in production. Now we are not messing around, all the narrators are award winners and have been at the game a long time so this is not something done in some basement in Caldwell. These are top of the line audio books by some of the best voices in the business.

The first one to release is Vincent Zandri's Scream Catcher and the next one is K.C. Neal's Pyxis. If you have not downloaded these to your Kindle or fire or whatever you have...well I may have to send out my boyz to bust some kneecaps!

So you got some UNCUT eBooks, some audio action...what more is there?

Uh... how about a new genre? You up for it? Okay, we have our first offshoot from Steampunk. It is called Reeferpunk. What is that you ask? Well, this is one kick-butt-non-stop-crazy-cool-book! David Mark Brown started this genre and we are honored to have him hanging with us. Here is a brief into to Reeferpunk:

The Austin Job
With the world embroiled in the Great War, power-hungry forces threaten to tear apart the state of Texas in a secret plot to rule the resource that will fuel the future. In The Austin Job, James Starr, bronc rider turned politician, stumbles into a high stakes game of power and lies that he must master before it masters him.

Exploding with double-fisted, cheek-puckering action, including the world's fist parkour stunt horse, The Austin Job dares you to cinch your saddle to a bolt of Lone Star lightning and hold on for dear life.

In this second book of his Reeferpunk series, Author David Mark Brown invites the reader into a world illuminated by human torches and moonlight towers, an underground Austin inhabited by machine and monster alike, where what you don't know can get you killed--or just really, really messed up.

Not cool enough for ya? How about some Robin Parrish...

This book Corridor is a YA novel and the first YA for Robin. He is an amazing author that we are trying to pull away from the big boys. Here is the cover... it will be up on amazon and B&N by the end of the year so keep your keen eye out.

And if all this is not enough to make you salivate, what, you didn't get a Kindle for Christmas? #Lame. Well, here is a chance to win a free Kindle Fire hosted by Allan Leverone. Click Here to enter to win a Kindle Fire!

Okay, I am out of breath... so check out all the cool stuff and please share with your peeps and spread the love... Have a great Christmas and a happy and safe new year!












Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

So what is up with Amazon Kindle Select?

The Kindle Select mess and #lameness to follow!

Warning...this is a rant, so I may not be the nice little author you know and love... oh wait, you all know me...never mind, carry on =)

I must be getting old or something, or maybe the rantings of well meaning writers just gets under my skin. Not that normal stupid people make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but is it me or does everyone think that they are so important as to think that we really matter in the game the big boys are playing???

Yes, as you can gather, I am in a MOOD.

So here is the deal: KDP Lending program, good or bad? IMO it is good if you know how to use it.

1. Use it with your special titles. Doubles, UNCUT books and books that do not sell well on other sites.
2. Stop the madness!!! Amazon would have taken over the book market long ago if they had the stones to do it... but I talk to them once a month or so and they are like a sleeping giant that thinks they are small and are just figuring out that they are small, but that they live in a ant world. Amazon is playing a game. Putting publishing imprints in place for the future, buying up authors to one day crush the publishing world. They could do it tomorrow but they don't realize how much power they really have. So, you can be "In The Family" or fight what IS coming.

What do I mean by this?

I mean, all Amazon wants is to make money. And to do that they have to keep authors and readers happy so they walk a thin line. They are not going to shoot themselves in the foot and piss off all the indie authors as they make bank on them. BUT they will kill B&N soon just like Borders and a new book monster will have to rise up to give them a fight.

Through all this we authors can still sell and sell well building a fan-base the whole time. But to make it sound like they are a big ol mean online bully is just writers getting all fussy cuz they want to whine about something. I know... I am harsh...

The other thing that makes me hot under the ugly sweater is authors that think the Big 6 care about little kidz reading! Oh and Amazon is just a money hungry so in so. You really thing the publishers care if a poor kid gets a book for Christmas? Really?

All they want is money, to sell you a book to make a dollar... the only difference between Amazon and the Big 6 is Amazon will pay you!!! Yeah I said it! They pay their authors and know how to sell a crap load of books! The publishers do not, they are out of touch, lost in the land of print and sucking their thumbs cuz eBooks messed up all the money they were making!

So what should you do?

first, stop looking for the bad news. Look at the new whatever it is... and do your research and try something new instead of running with the masses into a wall.

Next, stop thinking of yourself beyond what you are. Do you really think that your eBook and your huge sales is going to bother Amazon or anyone else? We are all small fish, not worth most readers time, so stop making it out like you and your book sales are going to go under cuz Amazon wants you to sell only on their site. Really... so you sell so many on B&N? I don't...so what does it matter... you don't hear in the news when B&N has "Exclusive" titles... they do! did you know that? They have eBooks (James Patterson) that you can only get on B&N.

Now let us all take a breath... suck in some air and realize that all of this is about the money. Publishers want to make it, Amazon and B&N want to make it and yes you little author want to make it... if you don't call me and I will make it for you and you can just write cuz you believe in the art.

Amazon is trying new things... that is why they do so well, they are not afraid to try something new and fail. If this lending thing does not work they will try something else. I know they were talking about giving 80% to authors that wanted to just sell on Amazon and decided to try this lending thing instead. So try it, if you make more money, great. if not, oh well, it is not forever... you are not selling your soul. I look at it as advertizing, what if the one or two books I put in the program lend really good and I can use the extra promotion to boost my other sales... you never know. And you will never know if you do not try.

This is just the start, soon B&N will want you to just sell a book on their site, and new programs will hit the market. Think about how it may help or hurt you, and don't worry about the world falling around you... you may not live to see it so lighten up.

and a note to the high brow authors that think NOT selling and getting awards is a mark of success... you will die alone with 5 readers who thing you are a god... but what good will it do the world? If you do not connect with the people you missed your mark. Books are written to be read, the mark of success is to reach as many people as you can and to leave them better off. What grand thing do you do if you do nothing because you are scared to act? I could care less if I get an award... the reader who emails me and says they loved my book is my reward. If you do not sell, don't turn it around and make out like it is cuz you don't want too... or maybe it is that you have lost touch with the people... but don't look down on the author that puts his or her heart on the line and jump in the big pond.

End Rant!


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

The Kindle Fire vs. The Nook Color Tablet

The Nook Tablet kicks the Fire out of Amazon!

You may be wondering why I am even talking about this as I think both are lame, not the device but both B&N and amazon for even coming out with a half sized tablet. They are in a war with the eReader not Tablets, but we did another post on that subject.

So as Christmas looms closer I need to think about not just what I use a tablet for but what others might use them for. And if you want to use it for social media and maybe work a little, watch a movie or whatever the smaller ones will work fine.

I tend to go with Amazon just because they have the BEST eReader on the market with the Kindle, but in this case the clear winner in B&N with their new Nook Tablet.

Here is why:

Lighter
*More memory, much more! 8 vs. 16! In this case bigger IS better!
*Android platform, it is proven not buggy like this new thing Amazon is doing.
*Unlimited content both on the web and B&N. You can even root it and get Amazon stuff and just put it on the SD card.
*SD card... I mean YEAH! You can upload content to the micro SD card and you are golden.
*Longer battery life
*Word and Microsoft office, so you can work.
*Store stuff on the device. Most of the Fire stuff you have to put on the cloud, on the Nook you can use the apps and save them to the device so if you have no internet you are not dead in the water.
*Faster load times and just faster all around.


In all the Nook Tablet is way better... the only thing that is lame is the name. I mean how cool is the FIRE? So cool and hip, the Nook color? What is that? It is like color, like I can color in it? It needs a new name but if you can get past the old lady name you will be happy with your half tablet.

I know I talk in slang and am not all professional but I am real... so deal =)

Ltr


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

And the winner of the New Kindle is...

The last 30 days I ran a promotion where readers or anyone really could re-post a link and be entered to win a Free Kindle. I wanted to do something where we the public did not have to buy something. It seems that so many FREE things require buying or giving up email addresses or cutting yourself or some such nonsense.

But this was a simple contest, I did not make any money and all it took was a re-tweet or a share on Facebook. Everyone was really great about, in fact it went so well I do believe I will do more contests like this one. So if you did not win, don't have a sad face, you will get more chances in the future.

Okay, okay, enough stalling, you want to know who the winner is!

Her name is Kammie Lisonbee. And funny enough she met me at a book signing in Park City and ended up getting a copy of Airel. I asked her a few questions and she was good enough to humor me with some answers. So here in my interview with the winner of the Free Kindle Contest.

Interview:

How did you hear about Airel?

I met Aaron at Swiss Days in Utah. He talked to me for five minutes telling me all about the book. I was really hesitant about buying the book at first, but decided to go for it. I LOVED IT! I even have it signed by Aaron himself.

What was your favorite part or scene in Airel?

I loved when Michael came back for Airel and saved her. Even though it was against everything he was taught to do. When there was people there telling him to fail, he fought for the one he believed in, for the one he loved. What can I say I'm a sucker for the love in every story.

Do you like paper books or are you thinking this Kindle will replace some of them?

I love books all books, any books. I think the Kindle will totally give a new perspective of books for me; however I know I will still buy some paper books. I like to have them in my possession as weird as that sounds. I borrow books and if I like them I still go buy them, if I loved them enough. Although I’m sure it will slow down my buying some.

As a reader what do you think of bookstores closing?

I think it's super sad. Books give us knowledge. They are great sources to all ages. We learn from them, they give us imagination, teach us. I don't think that a Kindle or a Nook should ever fully replace books. There is just something about a book that won’t ever be able to be replaced.

Would you recommend Airel to your friends?

I would Definitely Recommend Airel to my friends. In fact I already have. I posted to my Facebook and Blog! I lent to my sister so we will see how she feels about it. The story outline is very close to home for me, and I loved every second of it!

End of interview.

There you have it... I want to thank everyone for posting and being so good about this contest. Gratz to Kammie and I hope you enjoy your new Kindle!



Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Amazon, a hit and a miss! The New Kindle win and the crash and burn of the Kindle Fire Tablet

So unless you live under a rock you saw Amazon has some new family members. New Kindle touch and some at a great price. This news is great, something for everyone. Granted if you get the lower priced one you may have to put up with some adds but hey... only 79 bucks!

B&N beat them to the punch on the touch screen Nook and so it was only a matter of time that Amazon jumped in. The surprise to me is the follow-the-big-bookstore-off-the-cliff move with the Amazon Fire.

This is their tablet. If you remember the Color Nook, a sub-par tablet aimed to compete with the iPad. And for anyone with said iPad it was a sorry joke. Smaller screen and so many other things that I will not list them here as I want a short post not a new book.

So after watching B&N leave the eBook race to fight in the tablet wars I was shocked that Amazon followed into this same losing war right behind B&N. Now I get they want to offer the same kind of things as B&N but why put out something lame just because your competition did?

The Kindle touch was a good move, B&N came out with one they came out with three (two but three different versions). B&N comes out with a lame tablet and you... do what? Come out with a lame one as well? Come on Amazon, I love you but get with the program. Why buy this tablet unless I get the same amount of APPs and screen size? Why would I jump the Apple ship for this? Not the price, yeah you are going to kill B&N and if that is your plan good job, but in the long run you just gave Apple more time to be the king of the table market.

Amazon should have waited and come out with this same tablet with the same screen size as the iPad and priced the same as it is now and we would all look the other way on the APP thing as the price would make it worth it. Amazon and Android will get there in that department so it would be a huge win.

As to the other thing no one will talk about is color eInk. We know it can be done and we want it. Yeah the touch is cool for our eReaders but we want a eInk screen full color. Whoever comes out with this first will own, flat out kill everyone else. Why are Amazon and B&N not putting their R&D into this instead of trying to split their forces and fight Apple. Win the eBook war and the tablet war will be a small town along the path to the celestial city.

We don't want a small tablet, we want a low cost iPad or something like it. We don't want a touch eReader, we want Color eInk on the cool non-glare screen.

You hit a double with the New Kindles but struck out with the Fire...
Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

I am giving away a FREE KINDLE!

Who wants to win a FREE KINDLE? No joke... Free. How you might be asking with your eyes full of glee!?

Step One: RE-Post this message to your blog, Facebook profile or RE-Tweet.

Step Two: Go to the Airel Facebook Fan-page, and "like" the page as well as post your link on the wall. Everyone who does this, will be automatically entered to win a free Kindle. The prize will be drawn at random and I will post the winner on the 15th of October.

If you want to say something nice about me or the book I will give you a online hug! Now that is worth almost more! Thanks everyone and I can't wait to see who wins!

Good luck all and happy posting!

Here is the link to Airel on Amazon.com

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Let's talk numbers.

Unless you have been living under a rock you know that Vincent Zandri has made some waves and is selling like crazy on Amazon. I wanted to go over the numbers with you so you can see what is going on and to get the inside information most publishers and authors will never give out.

Here is what we IE Vincent did. First, he is active on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and other social media sites. He went on a blog tour for his book "The Remains" and the numbers did good but not anything to write the New Your Times about.

Next up was "The Innocent" for a blog tour. If you do not know what a blog tour is Google it. But in short, it is a tour of bloggers that review your book and post it all in a month time frame. Maybe one every other day or every day.

In January Here is what Vincent's books did. The Remains 100, The Innocent 50, Godchild 12. Now we see the next month after tour for Remains in February. The Remains 350, The Innocent 400, Godchild 30.

Tour for Innocent is on and here is what happens: The Remains 1000, The Innocent 22,000, Godchild 2,200. See how the tour one month after built this movement? Again, this is some skill and a ton of luck. These things cannot be planned but you do what you can and see what happens. With this Vincent ended the month in the top 10 on Amazon with The Innocent and in the top 50 for Godchild and top 150 for The Remains.

Now for last month. The Remains 7,000, The Innocent 80,000, Godchild 20,000.

I will take a moment to let this all sink in.

Hmmm, I like coffee, Coconut coffee. Yum.

Okay, we good?

These are not the exact numbers but very close and rounded. This does not include the UK or other eBook sites like B&N, just Amazon US. His print sales went up as well and we find that eBook numbers will tell us how the print book will do.

Now for these titles the price of the eBook on tour is set at .99 and The Remains is as 2.99. We changed The Innocent to 4.99 for this month as Godchild is now on tour. We are going to play with the numbers and see if the wave will hold. If it does well at 4.99 Vincent will make a paycheck that will be bigger than most publisher advances.

Vincent also has a new book coming out at the end of the month called "Concrete Pearl" This will add to his list and will also give us more to work with on the pricing cycle. We hope to run some on sale, get them up in the ranking and see if we can get more out of them at a higher price. I will let you know how it works at the end of the month.

The combo, Good Cover, Good Writing, Good Description and Good Marketing. Will it work for you? I don't know, but it can't hurt.