Amanda Hocking

I write books, and I always knew that I would someday. Like most of people that aspired to be a writer, I knew that meant that I would need to get an agent in hopes of someday getting a book deal with a major publisher and then see my paperbacks in real brick and mortar stores. (At least that’s the ideal). That’s what it took to be a real Author and making a living at it.

Along the way, I heard horror stories of authors ripped off by scam “publishers” like Publish America, and how many published authors still worked day jobs to break even, and how many literary agents have more than one job, and how with the recession, they’re publishing less and less books. Basically, I heard it was going to impossible to ever make a living at writing books.

But again, this was the only viable option. Because the only choices are writing and querying, or giving up. Or self-publishing, but everybody knows that self-publishing is the kiss of death. Only terrible books that could never sell are self-published. And only the author’s family and friends buy self-published books And the books are written like third graders on crack. And they’ll never sell more than fifty copies.

That’s what we’ve all heard for years, and in a big way, a lot of that has been true. Historically, self-published books have not sold many copies or made much money.

So even though we all hated it, we all know the system had flaws, the only way to get published, to get your book to sell, was to query, query, query.

In February of 2010, I got my last rejection letter. It was for my novel Switched. I queried at least 50 agents with it over the course of six months, making changes, adjusting the story based on feedback I was getting. But they all said the same thing. They just weren’t passionate enough about it, in this climate it’s hard to take on new projects, it’s all subjective, best of luck.

In March, I read about Joe Konrath and Karen McQuestion. In April, I published my first book to Amazon.

Skip ahead. In August, I got approached by my first foreign publisher. (I think I’ve been approached by 5 or 6 foreign publishers since then). I got these offers solely because of my self-published sales, and in August, I also landed a good agent, again largely based on my sales.

Skip ahead. October I got approached by a small publisher interested in one of my titles. I declined because I was making more money self-publishing.

Skip ahead. I published my eighth title last week – Letters to Elise. And as of 9:15 PM tonight, I have sold over 106,500 books since April 15, 2010.

Switched – the book that was last rejected in February because there wasn’t a market for it – has sold 13,555 copies at Amazon, 9929 copies at Barnes & Noble, and 314 paperbacks in December alone. The sequel Torn is doing quite well also, but I’m too lazy to add up the numbers right now.

Yes, my books are priced at $.99 and $2.99. But I’m actually making more than a lot of traditional publishers are on books that are priced more than my books because of the percentage I’m getting.

You could argue that I would be selling less books if I’d been picked up major publisher because my books would probably be priced at $9.99 for the Kindle. And you’d probably be right. But, if anything, that only makes my point.

Prior to April, I’d never been published anywhere. Not even a short story in a magazine. I have no literary awards. No special connections. I’ve done little marketing. And yet I’ve sold over 100,000 books in eight months. And without going in to specifics, I will say this – I am making much, much more writing full time than I did working full time at a day job.

I have a talked a bit before how this happened (in this blog titled “an epic tale of how it all happened“) and I even told you what the secret is (in a blog titled “there is no magic hand”), and I explained my thoughts on indie publishing (in this blog).  And I’m directing you to all those things so I don’t have to write it all down again.

Is self-publishing the wave of the future? I honestly don’t know. But what I do know is the landscape has been change dramatically for years in every way that we receive and share information, and it’s finally starting to change publishing.

The best part is that it’s a really awesome time to be both a writer and a reader. Never before have authors had the opportunities to reach so many readers, and never before have readers had so many choices.

And don’t take something at face value. Just because something has never been done before, or it’s only been done by a very few people, doesn’t mean it can’t be done now, or that it can’t be done by you.

I’ve got a couple things I want to cover. Stuff about Letters to Elise at the top, and some news at the bottom.

Letters to Elise went on sale yesterday, and it’s already garnered five 5-star reviews. It’s only $.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Here’s what some people are saying about Letter to Elise:

“I didn’t realize how little was told about Peter in the series, he was very vague. This novella was beautifully written, and you got to see the side of Peter you normally don’t. In the ‘My Blood Approves’ series, he just seems so quiet, and to himself. But it’s also told in Alice’s point of view. In his novella you got to learn so much about him, his past, and his love for Elise.”  – Jenn (Amazon review)

“I was not sure how I would enjoy this book knowing it was mostly going to be told in the form of letters, but I am so glad I read it. It was written not only in the form of letters but also in recollections and dialogue between Peter and Ezra. Amanda also gave us some insight into Peter and Jack’s relationship, or rather, how it used to be. I really felt like I got to know Peter better and see into his mind somewhat. Be prepared as I needed the kleenex box nearby!!”  – T. Anderson (Amazon review) 

“Peter’s love letters to Elise lets you see inside his head — and his heart. I found myself remarkably sad when I finished it.”– Hope Welsh (Amazon review)

Listen to the Letters to Elise soundtrack: here (which is my favorite soundtrack ever, and has the songs from both the trailers on it)

Now onto the news:

I’m going to be “off” from today at 3:00 pm until Monday at 8:00 am. I don’t know what that means exactly, except that I won’t be writing and I’m trying to spend some time away from the computer. So if you email me or message me or what have you, I probably won’t get back to you until Monday.

And I think I’ll be able to give you some info about Ascend next week. Not a release date yet, but at least some idea of what’s happening with it.

I’m on vacation right now. I’m counting this as a “pleasure” blog and not a “work” blog. And also I’m bragging. Why am I bragging you ask? Because I got to read Dark Tomorrows by J. L. Bryan before it’s released.

You may ask yourself, “What is the significance of this? Who is this J. L. Bryan you speak of?” And the answer is: my new favorite author.

I read his book Jenny Pox, and whiled I loved it, I wasn’t sure if that work alone could qualify as a “favorite” author. I think it takes two books for me to be sure (except for Alan Moore but The Watchmen is the most brilliant thing ever.)

But Dark Tomorrows is brilliant. It’s sorta like a literary Twilight Zone. I’ve only had a chance to read the first three stories, but they were really fantastic. I only meant to skim them to get an idea of what he was writing, but once I started to reading, I just kept reading. I’ll give a more detailed review later, because I really should be doing things around the house and wrapping Christmas presents.

Full disclosure: Bryan sent me Dark Tomorrows because he’s asked me to contribute a short story. I had a very hard time doing that, because he’s a much better writer than me, and I didn’t want to slog down his anthology with my crap.

In conclusion – if you have not read Jenny Pox, go do it now. Dark Tomorrows should be out soon. I’m not sure when, but I think I was holding up the release date. So soon.

Also, my friend Daniel Arenson has a new book out. It just went on sale today. It’s called The Gods of Dream. The description that I stole from his website sounds very David Bowie. (Yes, I’m using David Bowie as an adjective).

Some think dreams are figments of our mind, but they are wisps of a distant, magical world… a world that can be visited.

Twins Cade and Tasha discover Dream, the land dreams come from. It is a realm of misty forests, of verdant mountains, of mysterious gods who send dreams into our sleep. Cade and Tasha seek solace here; they are refugees, scarred and haunted with memories of war. In Dream, they can forget their past, escape the world, and find joy.

Discover a world of light and darkness, of hope and fear, of dreams and nightmares. Discover The Gods of Dream.

Look at how gorgeous the cover is. Now go buy the book. It’s only $2.99 and perfect for that Kindle you/your loved one/your worst enemy is getting for Christmas.

So yesterday I posted a blog about the release date from Ascend going from “soon” to “I don’t know when.” Thank you to everybody for you comments and support. It really means a lot to me. I felt really bad and nervous about postponing the release, and I’m really appreciate your response. I also understand your frustration over the situation, and I am sorry for that.

There seemed to be some questions, though, and I thought I would clarify a few points.

#1. Ascend will be released. You will be able to read it at some point. I guarantee that. I just don’t the day yet, and I can’t even speculate right now.

#2. Letters to Elise will still be out. I actually uploaded it yesterday morning, so it should be for sale within the next 24-48 hours from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

#3. This does not effect the release of Honalee. I’m currently thinking a late January release, but I will let you know more the closer we get.

Good news to follow on this heals of this: I think I’m going to start outlining a sequel to Hollowland, but I probably won’t be able to start writing it until March.

In January, I’m going to work on cowriting a paranormal romance with David Dalglish, and it sounds like it’s going to be really good. I’ve never cowritten anything before, so I’m not entirely sure how it will work, but I think it will be really fun.

I have three more books I wrote over the past three or four years that I’m going to edit and try to get out over the next six months. One of them is fantasy, but the other two are just young adult.

I’m also working on a fun idea for the sirens novel I’ve been wanting to write for a over a year now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start that this spring. I haven’t gotten everything figured it out with it. But it will be good.

So I have a lot of other projects and stuff coming up. Lots of stuff to keep you busy until Ascend comes out.

Edit: Letters to Elise is now available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble for only $.99.

Hi.

So… the thing about Asend is… I’m going to hold off on publishing it. Indefinitely. It’s not because of issues with the book or because I don’t love you guys. Because I do. And this feels really, really mean of me to do right now after telling you it would be out soon. And I really wanted it to be out soon. I did. I still do.

But stuff’s going on right now. Not bad stuff. Stuff that’s good for me and the Trylle Trilogy in general. Possibly really good stuff. But it means that I need to hold off for now.

I’ll explain more if/when things are concrete. But right now, I just have to apologize. I am sorry. I really am.

Ascend will be out at some point. I can promise you that. But I don’t know when. And I love you guys.

So… I am sorry. But that’s all I can really say for now.

EDIT: Ascend will be out by January 15th.

The day I posted this originally, I was offered a publishing contract for the trilogy. They wanted me to hold off on publishing the third book, but they did offer editing and marketing for the books. I debated on what would be the best course of action. I was aware that I’d made a commitment, but I thought that given the abrupt change of circumstances, I needed to put the book on hold to think about things.

I set the date before the contract was offered. I did not know I would be offered a contract.

I declined the contract, in part because I would have to hold off on publishing Ascend. So Ascend will be out.

But because of the reaction to this situation, I will no longer be announcing the release dates of projects until a few days before they are released. When I hit the button for publish, that’s when I’ll tell you.