Amanda Hocking

Amanda's Blog

The Plague and Reviews
November 11th, 2010 by
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I don’t think I would fare well in a zombie apocalypse. Although I am constantly thinking about how I should get guns and provisions (ala Michael Gross and Reba McEntire in Tremors), I don’t think it would matter. I’ve been suffering from a stomach virus (henceforth to be known as “the plague”) for the last few days, and I can barely get anything done. An form of actual antagonist would certainly do away with me without much effort on their part.

Anyway – I’m not blogging to talk about my imminent demise.

Here are few early reviews of Torn:

    “In Torn, Wendy is once again being pursued by the Vittra – a rival Kingdom. The story reveals why she is so sought after, what her true capabilities are, and the choice she is forced to make – between love and her duties as Princess to the Trylle. With a new love interest, a better understanding of her position in Trylle society, and a firmer grasp on her powers of persuasion, seventeen-year-old Wendy Everly has some difficult decisions to make – does she follow her heart, does she accept her responsibilities, or does she choose her own safety?” Read the rest of the review here, at Fiktshun
     
    “Torn is the stunning follow up to Switched. With the fast paced plot and romantic tension fans of this series will be far from disappointed. Their are gasping moments as Ms. Hocking throws readers some twist and turns that makes Torn intriguing and genuine.”  Read the rest of the review here, at Nocturne Romance Reads. Brandi at Nocturne Romance Reads also reviewed Switched, which you can read: here.

The giveaway to win paperbacks of Switched, Torn, and My Blood Approves ends in a few days, so enter while you can: enter here.

Also, Switched will be on sale for $.99 for a few more days, at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Guest Post from Kait Nolan
November 8th, 2010 by
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Keeping The Faith
When Amanda approached me about guest blogging, I was mired in the depths of a deep, black pool of suck.  My words sucked.  My story sucked.  My job sucked.   My life sucked.  This is, of course, an exaggeration, but it felt really true at the time.  And you know, sometimes, when life has you down, you come across the right message at the right time.  In the midst of all the suck, I stumbled across a guest post at Adventures in Children’s Publishing written by Myra McEntire called Why You Gotta Believe.  I read it.  I cried.  Then I read it again.  Then I pulled myself, hand over hand, out of the mire of the suck because she reminded me of why it’s so, so important to keep the faith.
Writing is a tough business.  We all start out as starry-eyed dreamers with stories in our hearts that we simply have to share.   We scribble in secret, staying up nights, losing sleep, slaving over our opus.  And if we manage to stick it out all the way to The End—a feat many don’t survive—we finally get up the guts to show it to someone we care about, whose opinion we respect.  If we’re lucky we receive encouragement.  If we’re not we get a, “That’s a nice story, dear, now why don’t you see about getting a real job.”  One way or the other, if our passion prevails we move on to the next step.
And as we go along we learn that passion isn’t everything, that we’ve gotta devote time to honing our craft.  So we do that, bleeding a little as we carve up our little darlings, but ultimately joyful because it is in the best service of the story.  Then, as we step out there, clutching Our Precious to our metaphoric chest, we meet other writers, some who’ve been in the game longer, some who’re even greener than we are.  We start following agents and editors and other writers.  And pretty soon our starry-eyed dreams are starting to smoke a bit because they’re taking fire from all sides.
We hear story after story about the impossible odds of getting published.  Slush piles are taller than Everest.  Queries are written, rewritten, burned, written again.  Rejections keep coming in waves.  Everything’s derivative, nothing’s original, and everybody’s in search of the next Big Thing.  Even already published authors are being told by the powers that be, “Don’t quit your day job.”  Add to that the massive changes in the publishing structure that mean that the big houses are taking risks on fewer and fewer new authors, instead being more likely to pour resources into guaranteed payouts like Stephen King, Nora Roberts, and Stephanie Meyer. 
 
There are a million and one reasons to lose our faith along the publishing journey.  I started out this year with a bang, self-publishing my first novella, Forsaken By Shadow. Then my husband broke his leg and things began going downhill from there.  Everything I started, I fumbled through with fits and starts and massive life interruptions.  I was exhausted and overworked.  My focus was shot.  My outlines were crap.  My production was down.  Months rolled by and here I was in the last quarter of the year with only a bunch of failed and unfinished WIPs to show for it.  I had completely lost my confidence in the story I was writing, convinced that every word was manure.  To make matters worse, I took my eye off the ball and started obsessing about other indie authors, envying their successes and their lack of multiple jobs (I work two on top of family responsibilities and writing).  It left me bitter and frustrated and angry.
So when I stumbled across Myra’s post, it was exactly what I needed.  She reminded me of three very important lessons:
1.  My publishing journey is mine alone.  So there are other authors out there who are only working one job.  Still more who are fortunate enough to be able to do nothing but write.  Bully for them.  That’s not my path and the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  I need to keep my eyes on my own goal, my own plan, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Maybe I’m the tortoise, but everybody knows who won that race.
2.  Have faith in the story.  The entire point of writing is to share the stories that move us, that speak to us.  If you don’t love your story, how can you expect anybody else to?  If you’ve fallen out of love with your WIP, go back to the beginning, take it on a date, apologize and see if you can’t figure out what went wrong.  Maybe you should take your WIP to your crit partner and have some WIP counseling.  Revisions are a beautiful and powerful thing.  Don’t be afraid of them.
3.  Have faith in yourself.  This is the most important one of all.  You have to believe that your path to publication—be it indie or traditional—is not just a possibility; you have to believe it will be a reality.  If you don’t believe in your dream, nobody else will either.
I gave myself an attitude adjustment, found my mojo.  And five days after being inspired by that post, I just wrote “The End” on my next release, Devil’s Eye.  It still needs some surgery, but I’ve got faith that you’ll be seeing it in December.
*          *          *
Kait Nolan is a writer of action-packed paranormal romance that features a fresh and inventive mythology.  No sparklay vamps here!  She can be found at her website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, MySpace, and Pots and Plots (her cooking blog). 
Her debut paranormal romance, Forsaken By Shadow, is available on  Amazon, Barnes and Noble,, Smashwords, Sony, Scribd, Amazon UK, Kobo, BooksOnBoard, Diesel, and SpringBrook Digital. It is available in audio from Crossroad Press, and SpringBrook Digital.

So Many Things, So Little Time…
November 7th, 2010 by
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First off – don’t forget to enter the big giveaway I have going on now. Enter: here.

Second – if you’re interested in beta or ARCs for Torn, read: this.

Third – Switched is currently on sale for $.99 at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the next week. Also, the paperback is discounted 30% at Createspace if you use this code:  PUFRUS43

Fourth – I have a new tab of Witches of Honalee at the top. You might ask yourself, what is this? It’s for my new series, and the first book Honalee comes out next month. Also, the cover is super sexy (from Phat Puppy Art.) So check that out.

Fifth – I love my readers. I really, really, really, really love you guys. You make everything possible. You’re all awesome. I think I’m going to run some Reader’s Appreciation thing early 2011. I don’t know what yet. But rest assured, I’ll try to make it as awesome as you guys are.

Sorry the blog is brief. I haven’t slept yet, and my sleepiness is kicking in.

Torn – ARCs
November 6th, 2010 by
This post currently has 9 comments

With Torn‘s release imminent, I’m looking for people interested in advanced copies. Readers open to checking for mistakes, both grammatical and plot-wise, are encouraged to do so, but it’s not necessary.

Are you interested in getting an ARC? Answer me these questions three-

  • Have you read and enjoyed Switched?
  • Do you read ecopies of books (either PDF, .doc, or some other electronic way)?
  • Do you have a review blog?

If you answered yes to those three questions, then I’d probably like to send you an ARC. If you’re interested in a paperback ARC of Torn, I will be getting some out, but not for a few weeks.

So, if you’re interested, let me know. Either leave you’re my email or email me at: hocking_amanda@hotmail.com.

If you haven’t read Switched, but you answered yes to the other two questions, let me know, and I’d probably enjoy if you reviewed an ARC of Switched.

I say “let me know” a lot. I hope you like me anyway.

Thanks in advance!

Kids Today
November 5th, 2010 by
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My friend had a baby in June, and she asked me to the godparent. I accepted, because I like her, and because there a lot of grandparents actively involved in said baby’s life, so the odds of me having to raise the child ala Kate Hudson in Rasing Helen, or Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg, and Tom Sellick in Three Men and a Baby, seemed unlikely.

Anyway, this will be Kaycee’s first Christmas. (Kaycee is the baby). I’ve been trying to think of what to get her, and Kaycee’s mom has frequently said that she didn’t watch the normal kids movies when she was little. She hasn’t seen most Disney movies, for example. And only vaguely knows what a Muppet is. And Kaycee really enjoys watching TV. She cries when the credits come up at the end of her Baby Einstein video.

So I decided to compile a list of my favorite movies from when I was a kid and get her them. Because of Disney’s stupid vault where the only release certain movies at certain times, I won’t be able to get her everything I’d like to. But at least Beauty and the Beast is out now.

So here’s a list of my favorite non-Disney vault movies from my childhood:
–Labyrinth
-Dark Crystal
-Neverending Story
–Neverending Story 2
-Legend
–Ewok: Caravan of Courage and Battle of Endor 
–Muppets Take Manhatten
-The Muppet Movie
-The Yellow Submarine

I was basically raised by Jim Henson.

Anyway – I was born in the 80’s, and I picked my favorite movies that I watched when I was under the age of five. But I’m wondering if these are films for kids today. I’m sliding down on the cool scale and started to turn into that old guy has no idea what’s hip anymore. (Do people say things are “hip” anymore?)

What I’m asking is for people who have children or know children, what do your kids watch? Would they like classic films like Labyrinth? Are there films I’m leaving off my list?

I watched an awful lot of fantasy as a kid. Is that normal? I also really liked dinosaurs. Maybe I’m not the best choice at picking at movies for a little girl.

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