Amanda Hocking

Amanda's Blog

Ink

September 25th, 2014 by
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So I’m trying my hand again at Tumblr. Macro-blogging no longer seems to be my forte, but I like gifs and micro updates, so Tumblr seems like the platform to do that. You can follow me over there, although I will be honest and admit that I’m still getting the hang of it. But it’s amandahocking.tumblr.com.

I also believe there’s a feature where you can ask me questions, and I am open to receiving questions, and I am also very open to receiving tips on how to better enjoy my Tumblr experience.

I guess my one issue with is that I see people reblogging all sorts of great and interesting content, but how do you find it in the first place? I’ve stumbled across a few neat things, but I don’t know how to figure how to find neat things consistently.

I’ve also been experimenting on Pinterest. I’ve got a couple boards going on now, with books and movies and just random things I like. I’ve used other boards to post inspiration for the Kanin series, and they’re secret right now, but I plan on making them public in the future. So you can check out my Pinterest boards here (if you’re into that sorta thing): www.pinterest.com/aehocking/

Also, I’ve updated my All Books tab to include Trylle: The Complete Trilogy. It’s a 3-in-1 special edition paperback that includes Switched, Torn, and Ascend, and it’s coming out January 6, 2015. It’s a great way check out series if you haven’t already, or to introduce to any of your friends that haven’t read it yet. And it’s just time for the release of Frostfire, the first book in the spin off series, The Kanin Chronicles.

And finally, in just some fun news, I got some fresh ink the other day. I’ve been plotting getting new tattoos to add to my arm for over a year, and I finally got around to do it earlier this week.

It’s a blue and purple peony, so I finally added some more color. I also had the black vines on my hand touched up, because they weren’t done very well the first time (or the second time around). I cannot stress enough how important is to vet your tattoo artist. Ink is permanent. Make you sure get it done right.


New Book Details

August 4th, 2014 by
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You may have already caught the cover reveal for Frostfire on Entertainment Weekly, but for those who haven’t, I’m posting the cove now, along with some other new information about the book.

So, without further ado, here is the fantastic new cover for Frostfire – the first book the Kanin Chronicles.

“Bryn Aven is an outcast among the Kanin, the most powerful of the troll tribes. Set apart by her heritage and her past, Bryn is a tracker who’s determined to become a respected part of her world. She has just one goal: become a member of the elite guard to protect the royalty. She’s not going to let anything stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her commander, Ridley Dresden. But all her plans for the future are put on hold when Konstantin—a fallen hero who she once loved—appears to be up to something dangerous…”

Now for those of you that may have questions about the new book, I’m here to answer them.

When does Frostfire come out?
I’m glad you asked. It will be out January 6, 2015. It’s available for preorder now, and I have links: here.

Is this a spinoff of the Trylle series?
Yes, it is, in the sense that it takes place in the same world that Trylle did. A few characters from the Trylle do appear in the Kanin series, and Ember Holmes (Finn’s younger sister) is featured prominently throughout the books. This series takes place four years after the events in Ascend, which has given the characters from the Trylle some time to grow and change.

Do I need to have read the Trylle books to understand what happens in the Kanin Chronicles?
No, you do not. I wrote it with the goal of it being accessible to both old and new fans. With that said, there are a few allusions to past books and events that fans of the Trylle will enjoy, but nothing that will keep new readers from understanding what’s happening.

Why did you want to revisit the world?
I loved creating the world of the Trylle, but Wendy’s story only showed the tip of the iceberg. I knew that I wanted to write a complimentary tale from the eyes of someone who’d grown up in the world and knew it inside and out and could really showcase everything that’s going on the troll world. Originally, I envisioned possibly writing the books from Ember’s point of view, but eventually I realized that I wanted to start with a brand-new character, who became Bryn Aven. Bryn is fierce and tough, and she won’t take crap from anybody, and I absolutely adored writing her and how she tackles the obstacles in her way.

How many books will there be in the Kanin Chronicles?
Like the Trylle books, this will be a trilogy. The first book Frostfire will be out January 6, 2015, the second book Ice Kissed will be out May 5, 2015, and the final book Crystal Kingdom will be August 4, 2015.

Why is the girl on the cover blond? Is that Bryn Aven? But trolls don’t have blond hair?
That is Bryn Aven, and she is blond. The Trylle books really only focuses on the appearances of two tribes – the Trylle and the Vittra. In the Kanin Chronicles, readers will learn that there’s so much more to the troll world than just those two.

Is Ridley Dresden named after famed director Ridley Scott, who you frequently reference in your books because AlienBlade Runner, and Legend are masterpieces?
Yes. Yes, he is.

What about the Trylle movie? Is there any new news on that?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any new news to share with you. The movie company still has the rights optioned, which is a good sign, but I don’t have anything new to add. For previous updates, you can check out this blog: here.

It’s great that you’re working on this series, but what about INSERT BOOK HERE? When will that come out?
For that I would refer you to this blog: Ideas vs Things, where I explain why I don’t talk about projects in process, and also to my FAQs, which I do update when I ever have new info to share with you.

Mission vs Machine

May 6th, 2014 by
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There are easily hundreds of posts on the interwebs dedicated to reminding people the differences between “their” vs “there” vs “they’re” and “your” vs “you’re.” Not to mention all the posts reminding people that “a lot” is two words and “irregardless” has never been a word. (You should check out Hyperbole & a Half’s post about “alot” because it’s funny.)

Today I am going to share with you a personal grammatical struggle of mine that makes no sense. I often write things that sound similar to what I want to say (like that one time I wrote “fart sailing” instead of “start failing” and when I caught in edits, I laughed for like twenty minutes).

One that I’ve done more than once – in hand written notes and outlines, so there’s no possible excuse for autocorrect mucking things up – is I write the word “machine” instead of “mission.” Like, “She has to leave on an important machine.” Some machines are important, I suppose, but that’s not what I was going for.

Now, I know the difference. Verbally, I’ve never once said, “Hey, let’s watch ‘Machine: Impossible’ starring Tom Cruise” or “I’m going to go throw some laundry in the washing mission.”

So I don’t understand why my hands don’t know what my brain does. But I should really come up with some fancy memes for myself to put up to remind myself of the difference.

The Hollows: New News!

May 2nd, 2014 by
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The Hollows graphic novel is finally available as one complete novel. (Previously it was only available in ten issue installments). It’s currently only in digital format, but the paperback copy is available for preorder and will be out June 30, 2014.  For those of you that haven’t heard about, the graphic novels was adapted by Tony Lee from my novel Hollowland, and it expands the novel by adding more information about the beginning of the zombie outbreak.

Here’s the description from Dynamite of Amanda Hocking’s The Hollows: A Hollowland Graphic Novel:

Welcome to the world of Amanda Hocking’s bestselling novel Hollowland, as never seen before! It’s Day One as a new pandemic sweeps the globe, and all over the world people are turning into mindless zombies. But for five people — siblings Remy and Max King, med student Blue Adams, rock star Lazlo Durante, and teenager Harlow Smith — it’s the start of a journey that they can never return from! Learn for the first time how the characters of Hollowland started their journeys as we go back to the very beginning of the story! Amanda Hocking is the New York Times bestselling author of the Trylle trilogy and six additional self-published novels. Hollowland is the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows, and Amanda has personally overseen and approved this Hollowland graphic novel project. 

Now here are some links on where to get the digital graphic novel:

Itunes http://tinyurl.com/l82mxxd
Kindle http://tinyurl.com/mnxfoqk
Google Play http://tinyurl.com/kbm8vhl

Comixology http://tinyurl.com/p36qsvb

Also, as another fun fact, Comixology is having a huge sale on horror comics this weekend (including The Hollows), so you should check that: here.

For preorders on the paperback graphic novel (due out June 30, 2014):

Amazon http://tinyurl.com/kr4gw3s
Barnes & Noble http://tinyurl.com/oeyadhj
Powell’s http://tinyurl.com/njjbnu5
Walmart http://tinyurl.com/nrkrfzx
IndieBound http://tinyurl.com/psrdmwf

Distractions & Balance

April 30th, 2014 by
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So. I’m still working on blogging more, which obviously is not my strong suit lately, but I’m determined to somehow figure out how to get back into it on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. I think that seems like a reasonable frequency to blog, because honestly, my life is not exciting enough to blog about every day.

For instance, I’ve spent a better part of the morning trying to get an Icy Hot patch to stick properly on my neck/shoulder area, and I also spent too much time trying to convince my dog not to destroy the cats’ toys and let the cats actually play with them.

Below is a destroyed Peeps Bunny-style cat toy, with catnip filled stuffing torn out of it, as evidence that my dog does what she wants: 

My work days usally alternates between getting distracted on the internet until I turn it off, yelling at the dog and cats to behave, actively writing and getting work done until the animals do something again which interrupts my flow, and then I go back to getting distracted by the internet. And that’s how I write books.

Some people have children, like more than one, sometimes even infants, and they manage to write books. I am in awe of them. Literally in awe. I don’t know where their energy and motivation comes from, but it must be some magical deep well within them that I am forever jealous of.

I don’t write with the same ferocity I once did. I knew at the time, when I was writing 10-14 hours a day for several weeks at a time, that it wasn’t sustainable. I knew that if I tried to keep it up forever, I would risk burning out in a very severe way.

And if I’m being honest, I do think that I got close to that point. Especially in conjunction with the amount of time I was spending online, reading reviews, responding to people, obsessing over publishing. Everything was happening at once, and I was still trying to write books overnight, and nobody ever really taught me about balance.

I mean, I’ve heard of moderation, obviously. I know that exists and people do things in moderation all the time, and from what I’d heard, it was supposed to be very healthy. But I’ve always been all or nothing – it’s a feast or a famine, no in between.

The past year or so, in particular, I’ve been trying to create more of a balance for myself – with my friends, family, pets, and with my eating habits, sleeping, and exercise, and of course, with my career, writing schedules, and online interactions.

If you look through my pasts blogs, I was blogging pretty regularly until November 2012. Then there is a rather stark drop off, where I was still blogging, but it wasn’t the same. The big change was my gramma’s death in December 2012.

After that, I started reevaluating everything. Looking at my life and how I was living it and how I would want to be living it in ten years. Losing Nanny was hard for me in a lot of ways, but one of the good things that came out of it was my realization that I needed to change.

So the long and short of it is that I’m going to make a concerted effort to make blogging part of my balance. It is something I have enjoyed a great deal in the past, and I think it’s a fun way to connect with people about a variety of things.

But alright. I promise this is my last blog where I write about not blogging. The next one will be entirely different.