Amanda Hocking

Listening to:  “The Barber’s Unhappiness” by the Matches

This week in my life: I’ve taken a decided risk to this whole publishing business.

I’ve written a delightful paranormal romance about vampires. Its well received by my peers and has been downloaded almost 500 times for free. However, since it is about vampires, and the market is tremendously saturated at the moment, I doubt I’ll find representation for it. It’d have to be the greatest vampire novel of all time to do that, and it does fall just short of that. (Just.)

Meanwhile, I’ve written and crafted a wonderfully original paranormal romance not about vampires, or werewolves, or witches, or ghosts, entitled Switched. I think its set. Ready to go. Publishable. Magical.

Since my last major revisions, I haven’t sent it out to agents. This is because I’ve decided to develop a platform.

Basically, my vampire novel will end up being a throwaway novel (despite being good), with hopes of maybe trying to get it published 10-15 years down the road. In the meantime, I can use it to establish a name for myself and develop a fanbase.

If I’m very successful, it might help me land an agent (note: this is a slim chance.) If I’m only minutely successful, it’ll helpful for WHEN I do find an agent and get a book published. In the long run, having fans will definately lead to more success.

With the advent of Kindle, having a low priced e-book in a popular genre should be beneficial. I’m not saying spectacular, but helpful.

For further reading about my inspiration for this plot, see: Elisa Lorello.

I’m not saying I’ll be a slamdunk success.

But what I am saying, is that in 6-8 weeks when my book appears on Amazon.com for a low, low e-book price that’s perfect for reading on your Kindle, smart phones, e-readers, home/work computer, and laptops, I’ll be plugging the hell out of it.

And I do mean the hell out of it. I’ll be begging and pleading for ever single person I’ve ever met to buy a copy. (“person I’ve met” will be defined as people whose names I’ve seen on the internet as well as physically met.) Its pennies a page, really! (I think $1.19 is the cheapest I can go, but I’ll see when things go live.)

Word of mouth can make or break this, and I’m hoping to make it.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue working on  my other books, reading graphic novels, watching John Hughes movies, planning a baby shower, and loving you.