Amanda Hocking

Okay, so I can finally reveal the cover for Tidal (Watersong #3), and it’s pretty much my favorite cover ever.

Before I show this awesome cover, I’m going to familiarize you with the Watersong series (in case you already aren’t familiar with it). The series follows sixteen-year-old Gemma Fisher and her older sister Harper as a dangerous paranormal element interrupts their quiet life in a seaside town, and as they both navigate their love lives, growing up, and being a family.

Wake features Gemma on the cover

Lullaby features Harper on the cover

And now here’s the gorgeous cover for Tidal.

This lovely cover features Daniel (rawr) and Penn

 “It felt like a tidal wave rushing over her and crushing her, destroying everything in her life. And Gemma was powerless to stop it.” 

More info coming soon, including a longer synopsis, excerpt, release date, pre-order info, and book trailer. I’m not sure of the official release date yet, but Tidal will be out in early 2013.

I’ve already made the soundtrack for Tidal, and you can check it out: here.

So what do y’all think? Is the cover for Tidal awesome or what?

I have many ideas and many plans. All the time, I get ideas about things and make plans to do things. Some of them are relatively mundane, like build my Death Star Legos, and others of them are quite large, like I hope to someday build my own home (while hire builders, since I’ll probably screw up the Lego Death Star and it comes with instructions).

Back, way back when, a whole two years, when I first started getting published and before that, I would blog about any IDEA I had. I would say all kinds of things, but if there’s one thing I like, it’s making declarative statements.

Some of my ideas were mundane – like I have a Back to the Future marathon – but sometimes my ideas included books – like how I was going to write a graphic novel about cannibal unicorns.

Before I had people reading my blog and my books, it really didn’t matter what I said. The only people who reading it were my friends, and they understand that my “What I Say” and “What I’ll Actually Do” category don’t always align.

It’s not that I’m a bad person (or at least, I’d like to think I’m not a bad person). It’s that I often don’t understand how time works or much work things require or I forget how much I enjoy sleeping. I will say things like, “I’ll finish that book by next week,” when I haven’t even started it, because I think I can. Theoretically, there is enough time do it. Realistically, my brain can’t always handle that much of a load.

The point is that in the beginning, when I was newbie writing, I frequently made the mistake of telling you what “my ideas” were. I would tell you IDEAS I had for stories, or hopes I had for novels, or plans I had for this and that.

It hadn’t yet occurred to me that people were paying attention and didn’t know that nothing’s concrete until it’s an actual THING. When it’s an IDEA, anything can happen. It also didn’t occur to me that people would be let down if I just dropped an IDEA because I had been talking for a very, very, very, very long time, and nobody had been paying attention, so even when people said they cared and were listening, I didn’t really believe them

This is just the way I’ve always worked. I’ve written about 100+ outlines in my life and started at least 50 different novels and written probably around 150 short stories. Hell, I’ve finished over a dozen novels I’ll never publish because they’re bad. 

I did not realize that when I was talking to you about my life, my process, my IDEAS that I was unintentionally setting you up to be letdown. I was just talking, sharing, having a conversation, and it did not occur to me that people would be hurt by this information. I didn’t know anyone even cared that much.

I’m sure that I’m not the only writer who has gotten ideas and started working on them and then went, “Well. No.” Neil Gaiman, in fact, began working on the idea for The Graveyard Book in 1985 but didn’t publish it until 2008. Of course, he had the good sense not to blog about in 1985 and get everyone all excited and then repeatedly let them down for the next 23 years by not releasing The Graveyard Book.

I think we can all agree that Neil Gaiman is smarter than me.

But the point is that’s just how it goes. Sometimes ideas don’t make it past the conceptual phase. Sometimes they make it to almost novels. And sometimes they make it all the way into entire novels before the writer realizes they’re terrible.

And so, without Neil Gaiman’s insight, I have made the mistake in the past of telling you all about IDEAS that have never come into fruition. Not because I intended to mislead you or betray or just fuck with you. Because I in good faith was talking about something that I believed would change from an IDEA to a THING.

Honalee was one such foible. If you don’t know what it was, that’s because I took down most of the stuff for. Honalee was intended to be the first book in a YA series about a girl named Hazel and she’s a witch. I’d finished Honalee sometime in 2010 and I was getting ready to publish it.

It was at this point, after I talked about it as being one of my next books to come out, I realized that it was really quite bad. A lot of it felt redundant of my other books and too predictable and I knew then that as the concept for a series it wouldn’t work. There were glimmers of hope and some genuinely interesting bits to it, so I tried to rework it, but eventually I realized that it was just a lost cause. It was not a good book.

I cannot emphasize that enough. The reason Honalee has never and will never be published is because it’s not a good book.

However, the good parts of Honalee – some of the interesting things that were working and even most of one of the characters (Molly) – made it into the Watersong series. I’ve done that before, and I’ll do it again, I’m sure. I try out in idea, but some of it doesn’t work. I scrap the bad parts and rework it as something else.

That brings me to the real moral of this story. Occasionally I still get questions about Honalee. Most are just curious, but sometimes I get enraged people, demanding to know where this book is that I promised them (which honestly, I find a bit weird, since all they really had was a pretty cover and a vague synopsis).

I have realized the error of my ways. I cannot discuss IDEAS with you because not all IDEAS will becomes THINGS, and if you are expecting a THING, you get sad and angry when that THINGS is not delivered. That makes sense, and I apologize for the times in the past when I have unintentionally let you down.

It is still a very strange thing to me have a readership, and I don’t always say the right things or do the right things. I’m learning as I go along, but everything I do, I honestly do with the best of intentions.

But this brings me to the point of the blog. I’m not going to tell you about IDEAS anymore – only THINGS. An IDEA becomes a THING when it’s finished and has a publication date. Anytime before that, it’s just an IDEA. I will not publish the first book in the series until all the books in the series have been written, so I can always tell you when the next one will be out.

To put it in perspective, I’ve written 7 outlines for novels in the past 8 months, but I haven’t told you about any of them. Because I know that not all IDEAS become THINGS, and I don’t want you to get excited for something that isn’t going to happen.

So, if you’re asking me about a project or a book or something, and I say “I don’t know” or don’t answer you, it’s because it’s still in the IDEA part and I don’t want to let you down. I will only talk about it when it’s a THING. So me not answering is me not being glib or a bitch or a blowing you off or something other horrible thing you think I am. It’s because I’ve learned my lesson.

So please, be patient. And the very second it’s officially a THING, I promise I will tell you about it. But yelling at me and nagging me constantly doesn’t make it become a THING any faster. In fact, it slows down the process because I get distracted.

Meanwhile, all four books in the Watersong series are officially THINGS, and I might have another smaller bonus THING to tell you about in the near future, but I can’t say more than that. I have other IDEAS in the works, but hopefully, soon they will be THINGS, and then I can tell you about them, too.

Until then, I apologize for letting you down with past IDEAS, but I promise to do my hardest to not let you down with any THINGS in the future.

Sometimes my worst fears come true. Like that time that I had a nightmare that Inception didn’t come with audio commentary by Christopher Nolan, and then when it came out, it didn’t have audio commentary. (The dream entailed me looking at the DVD, becoming enraged, putting it in, and then scrolling the Special Features menu and swearing with a Hans Zimmer playing.)

One thing I have legitimately been afraid is cleaning a fish tank. Not because it’s scary, but because one time, my friend had these goldfish named Kyle & Steve, and I liked them a lot. She had them for a couple years, and then the last time she cleaned their fish tank, they got really sick and died. And every since then, I’ve been terrified of owning fish, because they’re tricky and they can die if the water is the wrong tempature or has too much chlorine or the pH is off or just something is off and you don’t even know what it is, and then you can’t do anything.

But I got goldfish in May of last year, because I really like goldfish. Their names were Figaro & Delaney.

Here’s a video I made the day I got them:

They ended moving into a different tank shortly after that, because that one was too small. But they quickly outgrew the second tank too, and then they moved into their third tank about six months ago.

On Thursday, I cleaned their tank. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I definitely did something, because within an hour they were both acting funny. I tried many different things to save them, but they both died with 12 hours of me cleaning the tank.

So RIP Delaney & Figaro. You were very cute, and I enjoyed your company, and how excited you got when I fed you.
 

I have good news and horrible news you guys. First the good news: I updated my FAQs and the Watersong page. Now the horrible news: I saw the cover for Tidal (the third book in the Watersong series), and it’s the most amazing cover. When I showed it to my mom, this was her reaction:

My mom has never used the phrase “OMG” before.

So you may be asking yourself, if this cover is so awesome, how is this horrible news? Because I can’t show you yet. I want to show the whole world, but I still have to wait a little bit.

But if you have even tepid feelings about Wake, trust me when I say that you’ll dig this cover so hard. Tidal is also one of my favorite books ever to write (probably tied with Ascend or Torn). (Not that I didn’t enjoy Wake or Lullaby – because I did, but Tidal was just extra fun.)

When I write serieses (is that plural for series? is there a plural for series), I tend to think of them as steps. The first book in the series is the bottom level, but each book needs to progessively take a step up, amping up action, romance, and danger.

I also use the “horror movie rule” when I write. That means that the body count needs to be higher for each book. Or if not higher, then at least more powerful. (If I kill 2 minor characters in the first book, I need to kill 3 minor characters in the third book, or at least one important character.)

So Wake is setting things up, introducing characters, revealing the danger, and asking questions. Out of the four books in the Watersong quartet, Wake is definitely the slowest. A big part of that is because I had to introduce six main characters – Gemma, Harper, Alex, Daniel, Penn, and Thea – as well as several side characters, like Lexi, Marcy, Brian, Nathalie, and Bernie. I wanted to really take my time and establish who they are and what drives them, so when their motivations and integrity are challenged in later books, it makes more sense.

In the first book, I really focus on Gemma, Harper, Alex, and Daniel. I especially wanted to establish the romance between Gemma and Alex. But in the second book, since I’ve really set up the principals, I get to dive more into Penn and Thea, and deepen the relationships between all the characters, and delve further into the mythology behind the series.

With Wake, I wanted to keep the mythology as clean and simple as possible. The mythos behind Watersong is based on Greek mythology, which is so rich and epic, it’s easy to want to include too much and make things more complicated and harder to understand. So for the first book, I definitely wanted to keep it on a need-to-know basis.

I actually originally had more, with the characters really explaining their ancestry and getting into it, but when Eric (my assistant/best friend/alpha reader) read through it, he found it hard to keep straight all of the names and characters. He was right, so I cut it down and streamlined the history.

But as the series continues, I get to incorporate more aspects of the mythology and explore more of what is behind the series. Some of my favorite characters and stories from Greek mythology get to make their way into the series.

What I think made Tidal so much fun for me to write is that I got to add more layers of the mythology, but also the romance gets hotter – and more complicated. Some of the peripheral characters really come into their own, and the stakes really get high. Plus, I think it has an ending that you won’t see coming.

One thing about Wake is that it may seem like there are lot of coincidences in it – that things just happen. I don’t believe that much in coincidence, so I don’t use that much of it in Watersong.

I’m writing Elegy (the fourth book) currently, and it’s really fun to write. My favorite part about writing the final books in a series is that I get to put all the pieces together. Things from the previous three books – some that were obviously important, and others seemed insignificant – and put them all together to make a picture.

Really, that’s my favorite thing to do, and I think it’s something that I did well with all the books in the Watersong. I like showing you the picture at the end. The first 3/4 of the book are filled with things to set up a fast-paced and climactic last quarter.

I really like making collages, and I’ve always compared my writing to style that. I like taking bits and parts of the beginning of the book and putting them together to make the picture at the end.

Several people have asked for my opinion about the whole “fake review” scandals that are buzzing around lately. So I decided that I’d share my thoughts on it, and you can make of it what you will.

If you’re unfamiliar about what I’m referring to, it’s really two separate things. There’s authors paying for reviews of their books (John Locke being one of the more prominent names thrown about), and then there’s RJ Ellory and faking reviews on Amazon. (Here’s a link about paid reviews: here, and here’s a link about the Ellory scandel: here

They’re really two separate issues, so I’ll start with the paying for reviews. I have personally never paid for a review, and as far as I know, none of the authors I associate with have paid for reviews either.

I have and continue to send out Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of books for review. If you’re unfamiliar what an ARC is, it’s an uncorrected proof of a book usually sent out before it’s release so reviews and buzz will be ready at the time of a publication. (If you’re still curious, here’s a link to The Story Siren where she really breaks down what is an ARC is: here.)

When self-publishing, I pay for the production of ARCs myself, and with a publisher, they pay for them, but that kinda comes out of my royalties. Well, not literally, but ARCs are part of the reason why my royalty rate is what it is and not like 90%.

Anyway, I do send out ARCs, and most of the time, the reviewer has a disclaimer that say they did receive the book as an ARC.

There is a difference in paying a reviewer and sending out an ARC, though. When you write a review based on an ARC, you’re payment for the review was the book itself, so if you think it’s a crappy book, then it was kind of a crappy payment. So you’re more likely to be honest, because you’re not really losing anything. (And I have gotten negative reviews on ARCs, and that’s as it should be).

But when you get paid to write a review, it makes it harder. I try to think of myself as an honest person, but if I pay you $50 to write something about my book, and you give me a scathing 1-star review, I’m probably not going come back to you and have you write another review. Not out of anger, but because I don’t see the point. If you hated the first book, you’ll probably hate the second one, and why would I pay $50 for that? So then you’re out of a job.

To keep me coming back, you’d have to write at least a 3-star review, and for some authors, it’d probably have to be a 4 or 5-star review to get repeat business. So to play it safe, and keep yourself working, most of your reviews would probably have to be 4 or 5 star.

Also, as I said earlier, I’ve never paid for a review, and I know of many other authors who have never paid for reviews and are doing well. So even from an objective marketing plan, I don’t really think it’s worth it. It’s more time consuming, but I think it’s better to give out ARCs and build a relationship with readers. People who genuinely love your books will do much more for them than people who are paid to love them.

I do think that “paid review services” will be far more likely to hurt writers than readers, though. Readers are generally pretty good at figuring out what they’ll like and what they won’t, and readers usually by books based on the recommendations of friends or people they know. Readers tend to be a savvy bunch.

But newbie writers, who just want to get their foot in the door, and think they have a good book and are pulling their hair out to get noticed, they’ll see it and think, “I just need to get a few good reviews so people will take a chance on me, and I’ll get picked up by Amazon algorithms. If I can pay for 5 reviews, and get my name out just a little, then my book will pick up and it’ll take off from them there.”

The sad truth is that, sorry, probably not. It may work for some, yes, but the fact remains that only a few books become best-sellers. Every book cannot be a best-seller. That’s just a fact. And many other newbie authors out there are paying for the same paid-review service you are, becoming the same white noise you are. So you’re shelling out $50, $100, even $1000 or more for reviews that aren’t going to generate enough sales to earn back what you paid for the reviews themselves. (I’m not going to go into my suggestions for marketing, because that’s much too long for me to get into here. But maybe I will another day.)

Also, I never trust a book that only has 5-star reviews. If I see a book that has like ten 5-star reviews, and that’s it, I assume all the reviews are fake. (No matter how great a book is, somebody hates it.) So then I’m annoyed that someone is faking things, and I won’t buy the book.

So what I’m saying is that in the end, paid reviews might work for a few people, but it won’t work for most. And if you’re exposed as paying for reviews, you can turn off readers and lose fans forever. I don’t think it’s worth the cost or the risk, and I don’t think it’s honest, no matter how hard the paid-reviewers try to be honest.

That brings me to the RJ Ellory thing. While paid reviews could be construed as fraud, what RJ Ellory did and sock puppets do is malicious. From the article on the link: “Ellory writes 5-star reviews of his own work on Amazon. Long, purple tributes to his own magnificent genius,” Duns tweeted. “RJ Ellory also writes shoddy, sh***y sniping reviews of others authors’ work on Amazon, under an assumed identity.” 

Here’s my thoughts on that: NEVER EVER EVER DO THAT.

It is NEVER okay. If you hate a book, that’s fine. You can even talk about how much hate a book. Write as many reviews as you want. But write them UNDER YOUR NAME. If you are unwilling to publicly say it with your picture next to it, then don’t publicly say it at all.

And the fact that an established, critically acclaimed author would write reviews of his own book like that? It’s gross. That’s the only way I can describe it. The first thing I said when I read the article was, “Gross.”

Ellory isn’t the first person to do it. I don’t track it as closely as some of my other author friends, but I know they keep tabs and have lists compiled of various sock puppets. But what irritates me the most about Ellory is because he should know better. He’s been at this long enough that he should know what he’s doing is wrong and cruel and pointless. 

Here’s the thing, people. If you do these things, and you have any amount of notoriety to your name and books (which I assume is what your goal is when writing fake reviews), someone WILL find out. You will be exposed, and people will publicly call you a jackass and boycott you.

And it’s a total waste of time and energy. I’d rather be working on my own books than talking about how shitty I think someone else’s book is. What a waste of energy and emotion. Seriously. I have absolutely no time for bitterness or jealousy or entitlement. It’s just a total waste of life.

So in conclusion: Fake reviews aren’t good for writers or readers. If you want to sell more books, write more books and interact with readers.