Amanda Hocking

Amanda's Blog Post

exciting news!

April 26th, 2010 by
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I just uploaded the sequel to My Blood ApprovesFate up to Kindle. It takes roughly 48 hours for the title to be approved (and it might be quicker than that). So within the next day or two, you’ll be read to the sequel! Yay!

To help churn excitement, here’s a pic of the cover: 


And here is the blurb from the back of the book:

“Alice Bonham thinks she’s finally found a balance in her life between the supernatural and real life with her brother Milo.  Jack – her sorta vampire boyfriend – keeps her at arm’s length to keep her safe. As for his brother Peter… she’s not sure where he’s at, or what he wants with her. Worse still, she’s not even sure what she wants with Peter.

When a tragedy happens, Alice finds herself struggling with a terrible choice. Her decision changes everything, and as it all spirals out of control, she has to wonder, will there ever be a place for her in this life?”

 Meanwhile, I’m still working on edits on the third book. I changed the title to Flutter. Originally, I was calling it Ether, but that didn’t really make any sense. Okay, to be fair, Flutter doesn’t make all that much sense either.  Except all the titles of the book are taking from the same e e cummings poem, “Since Feeling Is First.”

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis


I would love, love, love to have that printed in the beginning of each of the books, but I’d have to secure the rights to it. And that’s not how I roll. Not as an indie author. Yep. That’s right. I’m indie. Like Conor Oberst. That’s how I’m labeling myself, and its awesome. But more about that in a moment.

As soon as I’m done editing Flutter and get that up, I’m going to go back and finish writing the fourth book, Wisdom. That’ll probably be a couple months before I get up it up on Amazon, tho. Even after I finish it,  I have to edit it a ton. So… it should be up by July. That’s my current goal.

Onto further exciting news – I’ve been reading this really good blog by J. A. Konrath, which I think anybody even considering epublishing should read, and its got me really excited.

Basically, this guy is a traditionally published author. He says he’s mid-level, and I’ll take his word for it, although I’ve never heard of it. But that doesn’t really mean anything, since he writes the type of book I’ve never read. (From what I gather, its the kind of book the hit film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was based on. And I love that movie… so maybe I should read his books.)

Anyway, I digress. The point is – he’s making more now selling ebooks through Kindle than he ever did traditionally. And I’m talking thousands of dollars a month kind of money. 

And all he’s done is publish on Kindle and talk on forums and blog. That’s it. He wrote a book, got a decent cover, set a low price, and marketed incessently on the internet.

You know how can do all those things? This guy (I pointed my thumbs at myself but I had to stop to type.) I did that. I am doing that. I could make actual money at this.

I know its a long shot, but I think the only thing stand in my way is lots of hardcore marketing. And I can/will do that.

On his site, Konrath compares the ebook revolution to that of the iPods and music industry, and he’s correct. Everybody knows it, but the publishers are trying to pretend its not. Cause change is scary.

Unless you’re someone like me. Or Panic! at the Disco. They were discovered the same way.  By putting music up on MySpace (which in a round about way, is sorta like what I’m doing now.) And if Brendon Urie can do it, stealing lyrics from Chuck Palahniuk, then I can do it? Right?

(A comparison to P!atD only seems fitting because anytime I write a sexy scene in a book, I always listen to “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off,” which is actually a reference to the hit film Closer, which is where Alice & Jane get their names, but I didn’t know all that until later. But it’s neat how parallel our lives are, P!atD.)

And, last but definitely not least, the Paranormal Romance Guild has agreed to review my book!!!! I had to order a paperback copy to send to them, and I haven’t gotten it yet. But by the sounds of it, if I send it off soon, the review should be done by late May or June. Which is SOOOOO exciting!!!!!!

Also, I need to give a shout to Melanie Nowak – author of the vampire romance series  Almost Human. She’s been giving me some fantastic tips, and she’s put me up on her site under Authors Helping Authors section. Almost Human is a complete trilogy, but she has a second trilogy coming out soon, so you should really check it out.


That’s all for right now. I’ll let you know when Fate is live. I’ll also probably let you know lots of other random details about my life too. So… look forward to that.


Also, I’ve linked the crap out of this blog for no reason. Enjoy!!


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