Amanda Hocking

As I was self-publishing, I was always very transparent about what was happening, and I’ve tried to maintain that even with going with traditional publishing. I don’t want to talk about more industry stuff all the time, because I think it can get boring and redundant and readers don’t necessarily care about sales.

But it’s been awhile since I talked about things, and I’ve had time to work with my publisher and see how things are and get an idea of how things are going. So I thought I’d give you an update.

Before I say that, I want to clarify one thing that some people still get confused on: I have two separate deals with St. Martin’s. The one that happened first was for a brand new four-book deal (the Watersong series), and the deal that came a little bit later was a three-book deal to re-publish the previously self-published Trylle Trilogy. (To read older blogs about the Watersong deal: read here, and the Trylle deal, please read: here and here.)

As part of the deal with St. Martin’s, I unpublished all three Trylle books last summer. That gave them time to be edited and build up proper steam for the re-release starting in January 2012. But by the time I un-published them, I’d already sold nearly a million copies of the trilogy.

So, when going forward with the deal, both my publisher and I knew that we’d already sold to a large part of our readers. Many people who would want to read the books already had, and while some of them might re-buy, a lot of them wouldn’t. We both know that, and we both understood.

Still, we geared up for the release like they would any other books. In terms of the actual book, I’ve had input on every aspect of design – from the cover to editing to pricing to marketing. I’ve loved working with my editor, publicists, and every member of the team I’ve been in contact with St. Martin’s. I’ve never accepted part of the process that I didn’t like. I’ve still been able to be hands-on when I want to and need to, but without all the stress I’ve had before.

My publisher sent out an insane of amount ARCs to create early buzz. They worked with major retailers, like Wal-mart and Barnes & Noble to get placement, including many adds in important trade and book buying publications. There were also more ads aimed at readers, like a full page in the Hunger Games special edition of People magazine and commercials on MTV. They also set up a website for me and added some cool content there (www.worldofamandahocking.com)

Those were just things happening in the US. Overseas, Pan Macmillan has been doing a tremendous push with the English versions of my books as well. In the UK, they had posters for Switched set up in train stations all over. I know that in particular, Australia has run a very large campaign for my books, including giving out a copy of Switched with an edition of Dolly magazine (which I understand to be something like Teen magazine here in the US). But across the board, the promotion in the UK, Asia, India, South Africa, and Australia has been phenomenal.

To gear up for the publication of Switched in January, I did a small press tour. In the US, that meant appearing on Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show Anderson and on Erin Burnett’s show on CNN, as well as several interviews for newspapers, radio, and blogs. They also got reviews from major review publications, like Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and the New York Times. My publisher set up a very cool meet and greet with local bloggers, and I did a book signing and reading.

After Switched came out, I went over to the UK and did press there, including a short interview on the BBC and a piece in The Guardian. I actually did a huge amount of press while I was there, for the UK, India, Asia, and Australia. I also got to do a couple book signings and talked at a school.

I’m not saying that I couldn’t have gotten some or all of that press without my publisher – I’m sure that I would’ve been able to get some of that attention on my own as a self-publisher. But my publisher certainly did get me more than I would’ve gotten or at least would’ve thought to get on my own, and they organized it all for me. And the foreign press – I would’ve been completely lost with a publicist to help me navigate.

But in the end, as pleased I’ve been with my publisher, as much as I’ve enjoyed working with them, and as much marketing and publicity they’ve done, none of it really matters if the books aren’t doing well.

So how are the books doing? I don’t the exact sales on anything because it’s harder to tally with paperbacks and through a publisher, but here’s what I do know:

Switched came out January 3, 2012 with an initial print run of  about 200,000 books in the US, and it’s in its fifth printing. Torn came out February 28, 2012, and I’m actually not sure of its initial print run, but it’s in its third printing. In a recent email from editor, she said that books in series tend to lose momentum as the series goes on with sequels doing slightly worse than the original, but she said that has not been the case with my books. Torn was outselling Switched and doing really well. Ascend came out last week, and my editor told me that my first week sales are already double that of Torn.

Switched was on the New York Times Children’s Paperback Books list for a total of 13 weeks, and Torn has been on for a total of 5 weeks. With Ascend out now, there are three books in a series, so none of the books will be eligible for the main Children’s Paperback list and will instead be vying for a spot on the Children’s Series list. Whether or not it will make, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.

So far, my publisher is very happy and very excited about how the books are doing. As far as I can tell, they’re doing about as well as they’d expected and hoped. The same goes for me. I wasn’t really completely sure how well the books would do considering they’d already been self-published and already sold so many copies before, but I’m very pleased to with it.

Some people have been speculating that I’m not doing so well based on my Amazon rankings – which aren’t terrible, but none of my books are in the Top 100 right now. They think this means that I’m not selling and the books must be doing poorly.

But one of the biggest reasons I went with a publisher is because I wanted to expand outside of the pool of Amazon readership. I know ebooks are continuing to grow, and I know that right now Amazon controls the largest share of ebook sales (they account for roughly 60% of my self-published ebook sales, with Barnes & Noble covering the vast majority of the other 40%).

And you cannot discount the fact that I sold nearly a million books copies of the Trylle books before I went with a publisher, and a large portion of those were through Amazon. I thought I’d already mostly tapped out the Amazon audience, so the fact that my books are doing as well as they are (Switched is ranked in the #1,000s of the Kindle store at the time of this writing, and Ascend is ranked #325) is impressive to me.

Books can’t sell exponentially well forever. Sure, Stephanie Meyer and J. K. Rowling continue to sell really well, but they are in an entirely different stratosphere than I am. That’s like comparing Coldplay to the Beatles. Or anybody to the Beatles. Just because I’m not doing as well as the Beatles does not mean I’m doing badly. They are the frickin Beatles. With exception of books like the Bible or Charles Dickens, eventually shelf time expires for every book. And I think we can all safely agree that Switched is neither the Bible nor A Tale of Two Cities.

My books are still being stocked readily at Wal-mart, Target, and Barnes & Noble. If books aren’t selling, they quit stocking them, and they still are, so that’s a very good sign.

I don’t have any sales number on how the books are doing in the UK, India, Asia, South Africa, or Australia, but everything I’ve heard from my publishers there sounds very encouraging and they seem very pleased with how the books are doing.

And most importantly – at least to me – the reviews and the response to the new editions of the Trylle books have been very positive, more so than the original versions. That’s thanks in part to copy editing (no misspelled or forgotten words), but I think it’s more to do with the small but strong changes made with the overall content. Especially with Ascend. Readers seem to be enjoying it much more, and that’s always been important to me.

Some of the changes made to the Trylle books were mine, some were my editor’s, but I think the overall collaborative experience of me being able to bounce ideas of another person made the books stronger, smoother, and over all more fun for the readers. I am more willing to take chances and to try different things because I feel like I have a safety net in the form of my editor. That makes for a better quality of work overall, plus I feel less stressed.

So in conclusion – I have been very happy with the overall editing, packaging, marketing, and sales with both St. Martin’s and Pan Macmillan for all three books in the Trylle series.

If you want to really judge on how I do with self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, though, the Trylle books aren’t really the best ones to look to for an example. Because I’d already tapped into such a huge portion of the audience, everything is a bit skewed.

What will really be interesting is to see how the Watersong books do. St. Martin’s rolled out the carpet for the Trylle books, but I know they didn’t give it all they have because they knew they couldn’t completely recoup it. They were taking a chance that the books might not find an audience at all because they’d been previously published at a lower price. The marketing plan they have for Watersong is larger, and it’s starting out without the million book deficit that the Trylle had.

Plus, I think the Watersong books are so stronger. Don’t get me wrong – I love the Trylle books, particularly Torn and Ascend. But I think that Watersong has a more original concept, stronger female leads, tons of action, and plenty of romance.

But anyway – we’ll see how it goes. I can only say that so far I am happy and am pleased with my decisions.

Oh, oh, fun stuff! Remember the other day when I was talking about Wake a whole bunch and about how the Watersong series is so much fun to write and I love it so much and I want to marry it and have little baby bookmarks with it but I can’t because I would get paper cuts? (Okay, I didn’t use those exact words, but I thought some of them).

Anyway – an excerpt for Wake is up now! For you to read! Just click: here and scroll down to the bottom and then click on the part that says “Read an Excerpt.” (I believe in the UK, they are frequently called an “extract,” which for some reason really tickles my fancy.)

For those of you unfamiliar with Watersong, here’s the deal:

It’s a brand-new never-before-published four book series coming out with my publisher (St. Martin’s in the US, Pan Macmillion abroad). Wake – the first book – will be out August 7, 2012 in the US (I believe August 9 elsewhere), and it will be in ebook, audio, and hardcover. This is kinda cool because I’ve never had a hardcover book in the US before – only paperback..

Anywhere, here’s the description and beautiful, amazing cover by James Porto (my favorite photographer ever, for reals):

Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They’re the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone’s attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it’s her sister, Gemma, they’ve chosen to be part of their group.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all – carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door. But her greatest passion has always been the water. She craves late night swims under the stars, where she can be alone yet belong to the sea. Lately she’s had company. Penn, Thea, and Lexi spend their nights dancing, singing, and partying on the cove–and one night Gemma joins them. When she wakes up groggy on the beach the next morning, she knows something has changed.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. As she uncovers the truth about her new mythical powers, Gemma is forced to choose between staying with those she loves or entering a dark world brimming with unimaginable secrets.

For an added bonus, you can click here to check out the soundtrack I made for Wake. I make soundtracks for all my books, because I’m OCD like that. And you can listen to Florence + the Machine “Never Let Me Go” right here, because no song has ever fit a book more than this song with this book. (For added fun, you could listen to that song and read the excerpt.)

I’ve gotten a couple fun pictures of Ascend, but I’m waiting until more of the UK/Aussie/South Africa/Asia people can way in. Ascend comes out there today, and I hope you all like it! I’ve heard form a few people in the UK and Australia that they’ve already snatched up copies, so that’s fun.

And here’s the brand new book trailer for Ascend, if you want to check that out:

I also heard from publisher that people are grabbing up Ascend like hotcakes, so I want to thank all of you again for being so amazingly supportive and dedicated and just all around awesome. It’s because of you that I get to spend my nights playing make believe with a laptop. Thank you!!!!!

If you live North America, you’ll notice that Ascend has arrived today! (For UK, Australia, South Africa, India, and Asia – it’ll be out on the 26th, sorry for the wait, but it’ll be there soon!) The trilogy is wrapped up.

So far, the early reviews I’ve gotten from the St. Martin’s edition of Ascend have been really positive. And I am so stoked that you guys finally get to read it. Ever since Switched came out, I’ve really been like, “I can’t wait for people to read this. Hurry up, April!” And here it is!
So it’s an awesome sandwich all around.

It’s early yet, so the good people at St. Martin’s who unroll stuff aren’t at work unrolling things yet, but I believe they do have some things lined up at the Facebook pages today. From what I understand, there should be new trailers, and also some talk about Wake.

I don’t know. I don’t currently have that much that’s exciting to say. Other than, you know, yay! I’ve been up all night writing, so  I’ll probably be going to bed here soon.

It’s sorta nuts, if I’m being honest with you, because I am really excited about Ascend, and I really can’t wait to hear what you guys think of it, especially the bonus short story, “Ever After.” I really want to talk about that and the Trylle.

But on the other hand, I’ve been in a pretty intense writing binge working on Tidal, the third book in the Watersong series, and it’s going AMAZINGLY. I haven’t been this in love with writing a book in a while. Probably, Ascend, actually, was the last book that I loved writing this much. It’s all … smooth and awesome, and I can’t wait to get to the last book, which is going to blow the socks of everything I’ve ever written before. I don’t say that about every book, because I don’t think every book is the greatest book I’ve ever written. But Elegy will be. Mark my words.

So part of me really, really wants to talk about Ascend. Which is probably my favorite book I’ve written up until this point. Honestly. I LOVE Ascend. The other part of me really, really, really wants to talk about Tidal, but I can’t, because none of the things I would say about it would make sense since you haven’t read the first book. But you guys, try to remember this for later: The stuff going down with Daniel is INSANE.

But back to the book that’s actually out today. If you buy Ascend today, either in paperback or ebook or even audio book, and you take an fun/interesting/unique photo of yourself and/or the book, I will post them in a blog. I might even give away some autographed books.

(Side note: I’ve been listening to more audio books lately, and I’m totally giving my characters more accents because they make audio books so much fun.)

I’d love to hear reviews and NON-SPOILER comments. I can’t emphasize that enough. People can’t unread things, folks. Feel free to speak your mind as long as nothing is given away or at least  include *SPOILER ALERT* in the comments. I will delete spoiler-y comments, even if they’re nice, out of respect for people that don’t want to read spoilers.

I’ve used a lot of caps in this post. So I should probably go to bed.

Oh, also feel free to tweet me pics or post them on the Facebooks. (There’s a couple now: www.facebook.com/amandahockingtrylle and www.facebook.com/worldofamandahocking) Both of them have new content and trivia and all sorts of fun things going on. And there should be new stuff for Wake rolling out soon. And don’t forget to check my website: www.worldofamandahocking.com because there might be stuff there, too.

And if you have reviews or any other fun stuff going with Ascend or any of the Trylle books, tweet me, email me (hockingbooks@hotmail.com), Facebook it, comment it, whatever. I’ll be RTing and posting fun stuff about the book.

Know why? Because it’s out today! I really loved writing this book, and I loved editing it, and I loved doing the bonus stories. If you guys enjoy it even half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then we’re golden.

Have fun today, folks! It’s a good day!

Ascend is coming out on Tuesday, and I should probably be talking about that. But I’ll talk about it more on Tuesday, because that makes sense. I should also have some other fun news regarding Wake on Tuesday.

Instead I am going to talk about the fact that I have the most awesome dreams ever. And I know, people always think they’re dreams are awesome, but they’re wrong, because my dreams hold that title.

They can be annoying, too. Like a few weeks ago I had this really bizarre, really vivid dream that I was riding on a train with Ryan Gosling (I’m pretty sure it was in Chicago), and we got in a really big fight because I wouldn’t stop talking about Drive, and now every time I see Ryan Gosling I feel vaguely afraid of him, like I’m a battered spouse and he actually beat the crap out of me.

Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between my dreams and real life, which is obnoxious. This is also amplified by the fact that I sleep a lot. So if you added it all up, my life is probably equal amounts being awake and equal amounts dreaming. Or close to it, since I’m not dreaming every second I’m asleep.

But despite the fact that my dreams are completely awesome, I’ve never used one as the basis for a novel. (However, often times, the dreams I write into books are ones I’ve had in real life.) I know some authors say that they do. They say ideas came to them in a dream. That’s never happened to me.

Last night, I had a dream that was vivid and long and somewhat elaborate. I don’t remember all of it anymore. But it had something to do with a train ride (think more Harry Potter, less L-train), and Charlie Hunnam, and Germany, and a really pretty cottage in the snow, and a missing ring. Look, it doesn’t sound that great when I just list things that were in it, but I enjoyed it. And that’s what counts.

So today, I woke up with the determination to somehow turn it into a novel. So when people ask, “Where did you get your ideas?” or “What’s the inspiration for the novel?” I can be all, “It came to me in a dream!”

I actually can break it down to where it came from, though. I watched Daniel Radcliffe on SNL, which had me thinking about Harry Potter. I watched an episode of X-Files where they spoke Norwegian, and I was thinking about how I wanted to learn German. I forgot to wear my Batman ring yesterday. It was cold in my room, which had me thinking of snow and winter. And I think that Charlie Hunnam is the most attractive person that has ever lived (not so much in Sons of Anarchy or Cold Mountain, but in Undeclared and Abandon).

So those would really be my inspirations for this alleged novel I’m working on. But I don’t care. I’m going to somehow turn these fragmented ideas into a novel. You’ll see. Maybe.

One of my very favorite movies as a small child was the hit film Willow.

(Other favorites include Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Legend, Ewoks: Caravan of Courage, and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. And in my defense of the Ewok movies – it’s not my fault my grandma showed me Ewoks before she showed me Star Wars. I didn’t see Star Wars until I was seven. And Ewoks are awesome.) (Okay, yes I get that Ewoks sorta ruin Return of the Jedi by basically saying that cannibalistic teddy bears are more powerful than the Force. But they’re also really cute.) (And again, let me remind you, that I was a three-year-old girl when I first got into Ewoks). (And I love Warwick Davis).

Parenthetical asides aside, this is a blog about Val Kilmer and my mild obsession with him. It all began when I was a small child and saw Madmartigan, and I was like, “Hey, that dude is pretty.”

So, I put a lot of thought into it, and I figured out why Val Kilmer got fat. And I’m not saying less hot, although I would classify him as “differently hot” now, but he’s still got that Iceman oddly toothy smile that I feel like could totally bite of Tom Cruise’s nose.

Okay, first of all, Val Kilmer plays by his own rules. And I don’t mean in a “he’s a rebel without a cause” kinda way. I mean in an An Artist Formerly Known as Prince kinda why, where when he says stuff like “I want to live in a house made of bubbles,” he doesn’t understand why that’s not possible when you try to explain it to him.

Val Kilmer is clearly more in touch with reality than Prince (but hey, most people are). But still, he’s a little bit of that, “Oh, what?” at times. But what makes Val Kilmer super awesome is that has that “I’m only kinda here” quality mixed with a wicked fast wit and he’s crazy smart. So he can only be half there, and still be really condescending and put you down. It’s the most awesome thing ever.

Anyway, Val Kilmer does not care what you think. Any of you. He really doesn’t. So all these years when he’s been working out and had washboard, rock hard abs, that was not for you. He did that because he loves acting and wanted good roles. But he did not give one smelly poop about being a sex symbol.

Then, in the early 90s, Val Kilmer worked on a film called The Doors with Oliver Stone. I’m only piecing this information together from interviews of Val Kilmer, so I don’t have the exact details, but from what I understand is that Val Kilmer really, really dug the story of Alexander the Great.

So he says to Oliver Stone, “You need to make a movie about Alexander the Great. I could be Alexander. It would be awesome.” And Oliver’s like, “Nah.” So for years and years, Val Kilmer keeps coming back to him and saying, “You should do this movie.”

So finally, after like 15 years of nagging, Oliver Stone finally says, “Alright, I’ll do it.” And Val’s like, “Yay!” And then Oliver says, “But you’re too old. The studio wants some younger with a bigger name.”

In steps Colin Farrell to play the role that Val Kilmer has been lobbying fifteen years for. (Colin Farrell is 17 years younger than Val Kilmer, so if Oliver Stone had made the movie way back when Val Kilmer would’ve been the right age).

But on the plus side, Val Kilmer gets to play Alexander’s lame father, Philip. And Alexander goes on to be a box office failure.

The very next movie that Val Kilmer is in (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – one of my favorite movies ever), he’s put on a good … amount of weight. I don’t know how much. I don’t care. But he’s clearly heftier.

So that’s pretty much my theory. He’d basically been staying in shape to land roles, and when he realized that it didn’t matter if he was in shape because he was now too old to land the roles he’d been fighting his whole career for, he was like, “Meh. I’m gonna eat some tacos.”

And now, I see him in things, like Macgruber, and I’m like, “I have never loved you more. I know you don’t care about anything except what you think. And that is so awesome.”

Yep. I put too much thought into everything and everyone. And now I want to go watch something with Val Kilmer. If you wanted a selected filmography of my favorite things he’s done, here it is:

• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Willow
• Real Genius
• Top Gun
• Wonderland
• MacGruber
• The Doors (which gets bonus points for starring Michael Wincott!)
• Salton Sea
• True Romance
• Tombstone 
• Heat
• The Real McCoy
• Red Planet

 I do also feel compelled to recommend The Island of Dr. Moraeu but go into it knowing you might really hate it. I also cannot recommend Batman Forever. As much as I love Val Kilmer, he’s like cardboard. You could literally put a cardboard cutout of Batman in every scene, and it would be better than him. Since he’s given solid performances elsewhere, I tend to blame the script, the director, and the over the top performances of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones.

And seriously, if you don’t watch Willow, and go, “Oh, my. That is a pretty man,” then there’s something wrong with you. I don’t care if you’re a man or woman, gay or straight. If you have eyes and you can see him, you know. He’s a pretty man. And he probably hates you.