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the crime of century

July 13th, 2010 by Amanda Hocking

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Thank you to everybody for all the birthday wishes!!!!

I didn’t do much on my birthday, but that’s okay. 🙂

Unfortunately, a horrible crime was committed, and I’m actually pretty upset about it.

My pink flamingos were stolen from in front of my house. They lit up and I’ve had them for about 9 months, and today, somebody stole them from me. I’m pretty bummed about the whole thing. Plus, I can’t find anymore like them that light up on the internet.

I’m going to get more flamingos and I’ll padlock them to my deck if I have to. But I will win this fight. I’m going to fill my yard with lots and lots of tacky flamingos. I’ll show them. (I’m not sure what exactly, but I will show them. You’ll see.)

a very merry UN-unbirthday to me

July 12th, 2010 by Amanda Hocking

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I’m 26 now.

I know in the scheme of things, that isn’t very old. And when I’m talking to people who are twenty-six or twenty-seven, I always think they’re very young. I think I’m much older than I really am, and I act much younger than I am. I have a very immature old soul.

But birthdays always make me reflect on life. On where I am and who I wanted to be and all that. Most years, I’m pretty disappointed in my progress (or the lack thereof).

I have bad credit. I’m no good at getting up in the morning. I could really lose a few pounds. And I really, really need to clean out my car.

But I think for the first time in my life, I really feel on-track. I’m pretty much exactly who I said I would be when I was five-years-old, and that’s sorta awesome.

I read a study somewhere once where they said that what kids want to be when they’re five is a good indicator of what would give them the most happiness in life and where they should go as adults. It not necessarily a literal translation – kids who wanted to be cowboys might grow up to be farmers or something. I don’t remember exactly.

But the point is that who you are when you’re little is still the essence of who you are now. The types of things that gave you the most pleasure than are still the types of the things that would give you the most pleasure now. Even at that young, kids know they love animals or love to paint or want to help people.

I loved writing (and animals).

I’m not exactly where I want to be with my writing career. I’m not talking about J. K. Rowling success, but I would like it if my books were more accessible – namely in the actual brick and mortar stores like Barnes and Noble. It would make it bit easier explaining to people how to buy my books.

But for the first time in my life, I’m going to be able to write full-time. That’s been a fantasy my entire life. And it’s the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten. So thank you, to everyone who has bought my book or read it or reviewed it or recommended it. 🙂 🙂

Also, I added a little something on the My Blood Approves series link. As in a book cover for Wisdom, the description, an excerpt, the soundtrack, and dun dun dun… the official release date! Yay for that! So check that out!

Meanwhile, if you’re biding time until the fourth book comes out, you can always check out Switched. It’s a fun book. Honest.

And here’s a fun interview I did over at From the Shadows, which is author E. J. Stevens blog. If you’re unfamiliar with her, she writes dark paranormal poetry. I’d highly recommend you check it out, and click: here for the interview.

Switched Is Out Today!!!!!

July 10th, 2010 by Amanda Hocking

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Amazon, in its infinite wisdom and tricky trickiness, has Switched for sale today. It’s currently only available for the Kindle, but the paperbacks should be up soon. The site that sells my book says the page is up, but when I click on it, I get an error message.

But as soon as the paperback is ready, I’ll have the link for it. And the good news is I was able to keep paperback prices much lower than I was for the My Blood Approves series by switching publishing companies. Paperback copies of Switched will only be $7.99, and the Kindle version is only $2.99!!!!!

The winner of the cover challenge was the brighter purple one (thanks to everyone who voted):

For those of you that buy paperback, the cover will still be the paler image – at least for a little while. I will get it updated with the new, brighter image ASAP.

If you have read Switched and would like to review it, it’s open for reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and I’d love to hear your feedback – even if its negative.

Thanks everyone who offered to review it, and I can’t wait to hear what you all think 🙂

And be sure to check out Switched at Amazon!!!!! And review it at Goodreads!

Also, Adrienne at An Addicted Book Reader gave My Blood Approves a wonderful 4-star review that you should check out! She’s got lots of other great book reviews that should check out while your there. Thanks, Adrienne!

people like books

July 10th, 2010 by Amanda Hocking

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It’s 7:20 am and I am just finishing up working for the night – and I actually took the day off today. Admittedly, I did some spend the evening chillaxing and playing video games, but it’s the weekend before my birthday. I reserve the right to have fun.

To everyone who commented on my previous blog about review copies – I think I’ve gotten back to all you as of 7:20 central time. If you haven’t heard from me, feel free to nudge me and say, “What gives?” It’s not on purpose – I just spend 5 hours working on the cover tonight and my brain feels fuzzy.

Can I be honest here? I think I can since we’re all friends here. I didn’t expect that many people to want to review Switched. That’s not a bad thing, though. It’s very good, and I thank you all for offering up your time to read a book by a relatively (or… you know, entirely) unknown author. So thank you!

Back to the aforementioned cover – my good pal and bandmate Pete (her real name is Jenna Peterson) and her fiance Matt did the cover. Pete is insanely gorgeous and she’s the model on the cover, and Matt took the pictures using his camera, which is much more high class than my camera.

So major shout out to both of them for being the neatest!

And without further adu, here’s the cover for Switched:

Isn’t Petey a hottie? She sure is.

But now that I’m looking at it – I’m wondering if it’s too dark. Her sweater and the font are both purple-y, but maybe I should do them in a brighter color so it pops more? I wanted it subtle, but I’m thinking it’s too subtle now.

Sigh….

Okay, I just did a few quick changes, because I’m hoping to sleep today. But here’s what I did: