Amanda Hocking's Blog

As some of you may know, I've been doing a writing advice series on YouTube. You can watch the full thing: here. I've decided to start posting the transcripts of my writing video advice for those who don't want to or can't watch the videos on YouTube.

Below I have a lightly edited transcript of the video:

Since this is my first post of 2022, I wanted to take a look back at 2021, and I wanted to take a look forward at what I have coming up for this year!

If you didn't know in 2021, I published three books. The first book that I published was in January last year – The Ever After, which is the final book in the Trylle Saga, and it’s a doozy! I really loved this book, and now that the nine-book saga is complete, I really ought to do a retrospective on the worlds of the Trylle, Kanin, and Omte.

The next book I came out with last year was Bestow the Darkness. It is my first book written for adults, and it is a very, very dark gothic romance. It’s kind of steamy, with strong elements of folk horror. I really love this book, but it is different than the others I’ve written.

The final book I published last year is a re-release of Virtue. (I go more in depth about what that means and why decided to revise and rewrite a previously released book in this post here: Virtue Re-release Explained). It’s a sweet fairy tale romance, and it’s the first book in the Seven Fallen Hearts series.

So, The Ever After was the last book I released with my publisher, and I have returned to self-publishing this year. It’s been really great for me creatively, but I’m still on a bit of a learning curve (or re-learning curve?).

When my publisher and I couldn’t come to agreement about my next series, I was nervous about going back to self-publishing. The whole industry has honestly changed so much since I started way back in 2010, but it has been really great for me. It’s liberating, and I feel more bold and more connected with the choices I’m making – both in terms of writing and in
terms of overall career decisions.

With a publisher, you pitch a book, and then you are contracted to write that book. So I would feel obligated to only work on that book, and I missed out on just following my whims and creativity. Sometimes, I can get inspiration, and I just want to work on that for a bit, but it often doesn’t go anywhere. They’re whims for a reason.

What I’m learning about myself is that writing things just because I want to is still a part of my process. And it’s not that I don’t want to write the books I was contracted to write. It was that I felt like I was cheating on them or something if I worked on anything else, and that became really stifling for me creatively. I needed to allow myself more
freedom to express whatever ideas it is that I want to express, not just the ones that are commercially viable.

The past year or so, I have been writing so much, and I have gotten back to my roots about why I love writing, and it really has been so fantastic for me. I do have to spend more time doing things are necessarily as much fun or fulfilling – like formatting and marketing – but overall, I’m really enjoying where I’m at right now.

None of this is to say I had a bad relationship with my publisher. I don’t actually have anything negative to say about them, and I really enjoyed my experiences there. Everyone I worked with there was very kind and passionate about books, and I definitely think we put out some fantastic books together! So no regrets there.

With all that, here is what I am planning on coming out with in 2022. My main focus is going to be working on the Seven Fallen Hearts series. Virtue is book one, and like I said, it’s already out now. I am hoping to come out with the second book sometime in the next several months, but I don’t have an exact release date yet. It basically depends on when it’s finished and polished and ready to go.

There are going to be four full length novels and three shorter works (short stories/novellas), for seven works in total in the Seven Fallen Hearts series. I don’t know when they will all be out, but I am planning on the entire series being written and released by mid-2023. Hopefully sooner, but I’ll see how good I get at making (and keeping) deadlines for myself now.

I am also working on a young adult series inspired by Greek mythology called the Dynasty of Starlight. It was originally going to be a stand-alone book, but it’s growing and growing, and I’m thinking it will be at least two books, maybe three. But because of the nature of the series, I’ve decided that I want to write them all before I start publishing. I am hoping that I can get the first book out by the end of the year, but the Seven Fallen Hearts is going to be my priority, so I may have to wait a bit
longer on that.

I also want to thank you all for making 2021 as good as it was for me. It wasn’t a great year, not for basically anybody, but so many of the good parts I’ve had come from the support of
readers like you! So honestly, thank you all so much for all your support. Any time you read a book, or tell a friend about my books, or check it out from the library, or leave a review, you’re honestly making the writer’s day. We love
you all so much! Or at least, I know I do. :)

Until next time, stay safe, be kind, and happy reading.

Swear is available for preorder now! It will be out November 9, 2016!!!!
"In the final book of the My Blood Approves series...

Alice has moved on and is settling into a new country with a new career as a vampire hunter. Finally, she's created a stable, happy life for herself and her family, including her boyfriend Jack. Or at least as stable as her life can be, especially with a dangerous vampire cult resurfacing.

But everything she’s worked for is put in jeopardy when she receives a disturbing message - one that sends her on a quest that delves into a tragic mystery that has haunted Peter for years."

Preorder Swear from Amazon
Preorder Swear from Barnes & Noble
Preorder Swear from Kobo
Preorder Swear from iBooks

Now for a few questions:

Just to be clear, when will Swear will be out?

Wednesday, November 9, 2016.

Will there be another book in the My Blood Approves after Swear?

No. Absolutely not. Not ever. This is the final book in the series, and the ending has a definite finality to it. I typed "The End" when I finished it, and it meant it. I want to make this as clear as possible, so I don't get this question a lot in the future.

Will Swear be out in paperback?

Yes, it will! Because I'm self-publishing this series, paperbacks will not be available for pre-order. I did some research on setting up pre-order for paperbacks, and while it does seem like there are ways to for it to be possible, I'm not familiar enough with it, and I didn't want to risk any sort of pre-order debacles. So, paperbacks will be available as close to November 9th as I can make it.

Will Swear be available in other languages or audio?

I think, probably, yes. The rest of the series has been translated into many languages and audio books, so I assume that many of the same publishers that bought the rights to the past books will buy the rights to this book. But I have no guarantee on that, nor do I have any idea when they will be out. Given the fact that I just finished the book, I suspect it will be about a year, maybe more, before Swear starts releasing in other languages.

Who did the cover for Swear? 

Regina at Mae I Design did the cover, as well as all the new covers for the My Blood Approves series.

Hey, I just noticed the covers for the other My Blood Approves books are different. How come? Is anything else different?

I had never been super fond of the old covers, but I didn't want to update them until I had a plan for releasing Swear. That's why at the beginning of the year, I started putting my plan in motion to redo the covers and get Swear out to readers. I wanted all my covers to have a more similar style and feel, so that my self-published books and my traditionally published books looked like they belonged together. As for the books themselves, I did re-edit them before releasing them, but only for minor grammatical errors, and I made no other changes to the story itself.

Do I need to read/re-read the rest of the My Blood Approves books before reading Swear?

Since Swear is the final book in a five book series (well, five and a half, if you count Letters to Elise), I would not recommend reading it if you haven't read the other books. I tried to recap the previous books as much as possible without it weighing down the story too much, since it has been five years since the last book came out, but it's up to you if you want to read the other books as a refresher. I don't think it would hurt, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary, as long as you've read the series at some point.

Will there be ARCs (Advance Reader Copy) of Swear?

There will not, and that's basically because I wanted to get Swear to you as soon as possible. Creating rough versions of PDFs and paperbacks takes time, and then waiting for people to read them to help generate buzz (which is the whole point of ARCs in the first place) takes even longer. This would push the release date back for Swear by at least another month, probably more like 2-3 more months. And I figured you guys had waited long enough, so I decided to forgo ARCs and just get it out there as soon as it was ready. Right now, I'm finishing up edits on Swear, and after that, it needs to be properly formatted for ebook and paperback, which is why it's up for preorder on November 9th.

Is there anything else you can tell me about Swear?

Over the next few weeks, I'll be dropping more info and teaser quotes, so you'll get more of a preview of what the book is about. One thing you should know is that the first four books of the My Blood Approves series take place in 2008-2009 (My Blood Approves, Fate, and Flutter are all in 2008, and Wisdom is in 2009), and the newest book is set in 2014, roughly five and a half years after the events in Wisdom. Swear was always intended to take a small jump into the future, with the original plan having it set in 2011, but when I was re-doing the outline before writing Swear this year, I realized that I had more time to play with, and I thought it would make more sense for readers to set it closer to the present day. Plus, it allows for more time for the characters to mature a bit.

Why did it take you so long to write Swear?

When I first published the My Blood Approves series, I was a young sheltered writer self-publishing them with a lot of naive hope. I thought I was prepared for criticism. I expected reviews to say things like, "I really did not like this book. I thought it was dumb." I was not at all prepared for essay-length reviews that eviscerated every part of my books and myself. I'm not condemning the people that wrote these reviews - I'm merely stating that I was not prepared. And in the beginning, I read every single review of my books (not something I do anymore, because my sanity is important). And I will agree that My Blood Approves is not my best work. (Nor should it be - it's the first book I ever published. My books and writing are supposed to get better the more experienced I get, and I believe they have).

But I think reading so many negative reviews eventually led me to believe that it was true, that the books were total complete garbage, that they were the cause of everything wrong with the world, and their very existence was destroying humanity. SoI hated them. For awhile, I even considered unpublishing them, but I that would only make people angrier, so I left them alone, and basically, just tried to pretend like they didn't exist, because in my mind, they were the worst things ever, and every time anybody mentioned them, it was really just bringing up the greatest shame of my life.

I don't really feel the same way about my other books, I think, mostly because I don't read reviews as much anymore. I do read them from time to time, but not with the same fervor as I did initially, and my skin has gotten a lot thicker. But that's unfortunately something that can only happen after your skin has been shredded and allowed time for scar tissue to grow.

Which brings me back to this year. I decided to re-read the books to see if I could make any headway onto Swear. Despite my negative feelings about My Blood Approves - or maybe because of them - I still desperately wanted to finish the series and put it behind me and move on. I knew people where waiting, and I hated disappointing people (while at the same time fearing that the whole series was a disappointment and that everyone would hate it anyway).

But as I was re-reading the books, I realized I didn't hate them. I actually kinda liked them. I still don't think they're my best work, and they can meander at times - particularly the first book - but they had some genuinely good bits that I enjoyed, and they weren't total rubbish. They were fun, and sometimes I think they were even good.

And that's when I realized that the problem all long hadn't been that the series was awful - it was that I had let negative reviews eat too much at me, and I had been unable to quiet those most critical of voices, and that had been the wedge that had driven me away from My Blood Approves. Once I realized that the books weren't the worst thing that had ever happened, writing Swear was actually fairly easy. I already had an outline, and I did re-work it some (but the story is still true to my original and vision for the series). But it really only took me about six months to re-read, do prep work, and write Swear.

Since you finished My Blood Approves, what about the Hollows?

The Hollows is a different breed than My Blood Approve, and I go more in depth in this blog: here . But the short answer is: I always planned on My Blood Approves being 5 books. I actually planned on the Hollows only being one book. I added another because my mom asked me to, and I deliberately wrote Hollowmen in such a way that it could stand as a Happily Ever After in a Zombie Apocalypse if I wanted, or I could I write another book in the series if I wanted. At the moment, I don't have plans to write another book in that series.

I've never heard of the My Blood Approves series, but I like some of your other books. Do you think I would like My Blood Approves?

Maybe? The pacing and editing is better in my newer my books, but I do think that the MBA series still has the same "voice" as my other books. I feel like you'd be able to tell it was written by me, if you've read several of my other books. So it's less polished than some of my other books, but it's still fun, and I think some of the characters are great.

One thing I will say is that the My Blood Approves series get compared to the Twilight saga, with some people saying it's much better, and others saying it is much worse. But the comparison is unavoidable. I think that Twilight and My Blood Approves start at a similar place, but then they diverge sharply, and MBA definitely goes it's own way.

 

I have a new cover to share with you, and all kinds of info about it, and I'm so excited, so let's just get to it:

Here's the official description:

Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodes are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of―one that could change her future forever.


Preorder Freeks from Amazon
Preorder Freeks from Barnes & Noble
Preorder Freeks from Indiebound
Preorder Freeks from iBooks

Bullet points:
-Freeks is a stand-alone novel, meaning it starts and finishes in a single book with no sequels or prequels or anything.
-Freeks will be out January 3, 2017 in hardcover and ebook.
-It's young adult paranormal romance set in the 1980s
-I pitched it as Pretty in Pink meets The Lost Boys but with absolutely no vampires
-The soundtrack for Freeks (which is the playlist I created to listen to while writing the book) is my absolute favorite of all time. I'll post another blog about it in the future going more in depth, but for now, you can check it out: here . The idea for the book was actually solidified while listening to "Hush" by the Limousines.
-The hit Netflix series Stranger Things is definitely inspired by many, many of the same things that inspired me to write Freeks (although the two stories are vastly different). So if you like Stranger Things, you may enjoy Freeks

For those of you who want  more background on Freeks, it is totally my baby. I started writing it several years ago, actually, before I wrote the Kanin Chronicles. It was after the Watersong series had started coming out, and that series didn't do as well as I'd hoped, and I'd been obsessing over the whole publishing industry and so focused on the business side of writing I'd really lost sight of actually enjoying the process.

So I sat back and I said to myself, "What do you want to write about? Who cares if people read it or it's good or anything? What interests you?" So that's how Freeks started, with me writing a book just for myself filled with things I love, which is how the book ended up set in 1987. The number one inspiration for the book (aside from Pretty in Pink and The Lost Boys) were old pulpy horror novels I used to get at rummage sales when I was a kid, along with V. C. Andrews and Stephen King (to name a few).

I ended up stepping back from Freeks for awhile to work on the Kanin Chronicles, but when I went back to it, I loved it just as much as I had before. To this date, it's my favorite thing I've ever ever written (and I think it will be for a long time to come). It was a whole lot of fun, and I really found writing a stand alone to be very freeing - I didn't have to worry about holding back or what to put in or save for the next book. It's all there.

The title for Freeks is deliberately misspelled. In the book, an act of vandalism against Mara and her family comes in the form of the word of "freeks" being spray painted on their home, and that's where the title came from. (It's also a subtle nod to Pet Semetary.)

So, anyway, I couldn't be more excited for Freeks to spring forth into the world. I genuinely really and truly love this book, and I think many of you will, too.

So I have some exciting new! I've been working with Regina Wamba at Mae I Design to create beautiful new covers for the My Blood Approves series. They're totally redesigned with new images that perfectly capture the feel of the novels, and the interiors have been reformatted for both the ebook and the paperback versions.

For a long, long time now, I've wanted to update the covers, but I kept putting it off for a variety of reasons. But now finally, the My Blood Approves series has beautiful new covers that I can proud of. They are so stunning and I'm so excited! The covers at still updating at the retailers, but I can't wait anymore and I have to share them with you all!!!

You can check them all out, with all the links to purchase at at various retailers on the series page: here. Or you can just look at them below!







Get the new edition of My Blood Approves in paperback at Createspace

Get the new edition of Fate in paperback at Createspace

Get the new edition of Flutter in paperback at Createspace

Get the new edition of Wisdom in paperback at Createspace

Get the new edition of Wisdom from Amazon for the Kindle

The new edition of Letters to Elise WILL be available in paperback for the first time ever, but it's currently being proofed. I will update with a link as soon as it's available, but for now, it's out in ebook

The wait is finally over, and Crystal Kingdom is released, and the Kanin Chronicles has come to an end.

My publisher sent out ARCs and had Crystal Kingdom on Netgalley, so I've been able to see early reviews of the book. And I can tell you in all honesty that these are the some best reviews I've ever gotten for a book. I've had good reviews before, but these are ones have been consistently good in a way that they haven't before. So I guess that means that Crystal Kingdom may be the best book I've ever written, which is exciting.

Basically, what I'm saying, is that Crystal Kingdom is out now, and you should pick it up. I know some people like to wait until a series is complete until they start it, and now the Kanin Chronicles is complete. If you want to get the first two books in the Kanin Chronicles as well, click here for links: here. 

While you're reading, you can also check out the soundtrack for Crystal Kingdom  here , and you can also check out my dreamcast for the Kanin Chronicles over at Pinterest  here .

And finally, here are some places you can get Crystal Kingdom. If you got to a physical bookstore, and they don't have it on the shelves, ask for it. They might not have put it out yet, or if its not in stock, they can order it for you.

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio
Audible – for audio
Target – for paperback
Walmart – for paperback
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

 

It's only one week until  Crystal Kingdom comes out, so this is the final teaser quote. I thought I would end it all with a kiss.

If you can't wait until  Crystal Kingdom hits the shelves on August 4th, you can read the first three chapters now at Wattpad: here . You can also check out the Pinterest inspiration board:  here , and listen to the soundtrack:  here .

If you haven’t preordered Crystal Kingdom yet, and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

It's less than two weeks until Crystal Kingdom comes out, and today I'm posting the final chapter in from the excerpt. The first two chapters of the book - "Friends & Enemeies" and "Tracking" - are already available at Wattpad.

Remember: If you have not read Frostfire or Ice Kissed yet, there will be plenty of spoilers in the first few chapters of Crystal Kingdom, so read it at your own risk.

To start reading chapter two “Ember” now, please visit: here .

To check out Crystal Kingdom at Wattpad and all the chapters available, please visit: here .

If you haven’t preordered Crystal Kingdom yet, and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

For the next three weeks, I’ll be posting chapters from Crystal Kingdom at Wattpad . The first chapter - "Friends & Enemies" - has been up since last week, but now the newest chapter, entitled "Tracking," is up and ready to read.

Be warned: If you have not read Frostfire or Ice Kissed yet, there will be plenty of spoilers in the first few chapters of Crystal Kingdom, so read it at your own risk.

To start reading chapter two "Tracking" now, please visit: here .

To check out Crystal Kingdom at Wattpad and all the chapters available, please visit: here .

If you haven’t preordered Crystal Kingdom yet, and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

Happy birthday to the enigmatic and allusive Konstantin Black! (Pictured here is Kit Harington, which is who I would cast in a film adapation for the Kanin Chronicles if there ever were to be one. And to answer the followup question: No, there are no plans for a film at the moment, but I will let you know if that ever changes).



Spoilers will follow in this post for both Frostfire and Ice Kissed, so read on at your own risk.

Konstantin Elis Black was born on July 15, 1984, and the Kanin Chronicles takes takes place in 2014, so he's 29 throughout the duration of the books.

One thing that I've found interesting about Konstantin is that some readers have commented on him being "old," as in "too old." I find this fascinating, because I don't get the same comment about immortal characters, like in the My Blood Approves or Watersong series.

It's only interesting because Konstantin was originally conceived as being even older. In my original outline for the series, I had him at about 35. The reason for this that I wanted his journey to be realistic. In Frostfire, he's introduced as one of the most famous, more revered guards in the kingdom. As skilled and talented as he may be, I couldn't imagine that at twenty years old, he'd be outclassing every other member of the elite guard.

In the first two books of the trilogy, Konstantin is more hinted at than explicitly shown. He and Bryn have a few confrontations, but he's not been in a place where he can fully tell her what's going on. In Crystal Kingdom, Konstantin - and his true motives - are finally completely revealed.

If you haven’t preordered Crystal Kingdom yet, and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback

 

This week's teaser is a simple one, yet it hints at the chaos that will break loose in Crystal Kingdom.

In the scene this teaser quote is taken from, Bryn is wearing a white gown inspired by the one below. But without the belt/bow. I don't much care for that. And also, for the record, Bryn isn't that thin. She's much more muscular and fit, like Gina Carano or Pink.

I think it's technically a bridal gown, but just so you don't all freak out, I'm telling you know that Bryn is just wearing it as a dress - she's not getting married in it. As to where she's wearing that lucious Zuhair Murad coutoure gown, well, you'll have to wait and find out ;)



If you haven’t preordered Crystal Kingdom yet, and you’d like to, here are some ways you can do it:

iBookstore – for ebook 
Barnes & Noble – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Amazon – for paperback, ebook, hardcover, & audio
Indiebound – for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Powell’s– for paperback
Books-a-Million– for paperback, hardcover, & audio 
Booktopia (Australia) – for paperback 
Waterstones (UK) – for paperback