Amanda Hocking (born July 12, 1984)[1] is an American writer of paranormal romance young adult fiction.[2]

Amanda Hocking
Born (1984-07-12) July 12, 1984 (age 40)
Austin, Minnesota, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
GenreYoung adult fiction
Paranormal romance
Notable worksWatersong series, Trylle Trilogy
Website
hockingbooks.com

Early life

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Hocking was born and raised in Austin, Minnesota. After high school, she studied human services while working in a group home for people with disabilities.

Career

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While employed as a group home worker, she wrote 17 novels in her free time.[3] Hocking left her employment as a group home worker and started self-publishing her novels as e-books in April 2010, at the age of 25.[1] By March 2011, she had sold more than a million copies of her first nine books and earned two million dollars from sales, previously unheard of for self-published authors.[4] In early 2011, Hocking averaged 9,000 book sales each day.[2] She's since published more than twenty novels, several of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list.[5]

Work

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Hocking's published work, originally self-published, consists of My Blood Approves, a vampire romance series; the Trylle Trilogy, which covers a teenage girl's journey of self-discovery[3] in an urban fantasy setting; and Hollowland, a zombie novel.[3] The New York Times characterized her novels as "part quirky girl-like-Hocking characters, part breakneck pacing, part Hollywood-style action, and part bodice-ripping romance—they are literature as candy, a mash-up of creativity and commerce."

In March 2011, Hocking signed her first conventional publishing contract for four books, for two million dollars, with St. Martin's Press, [6] for her young-adult paranormal series Watersong. Book one, Wake, was released in August 2012.[7] All three books in her previously self-published Trylle Trilogy were also sold to St. Martin's Press and were re-released from January–April 2012. In 2015, Hocking announced she had signed a new three-book deal with St. Martin's and revealed that the books would be a standalone and a duology, respectively. The standalone, called Freeks and set around a traveling circus in the 1980s, was published in January 2017,[8] while the duology to be based on valkyries of Norse mythology was set for a 2017 release.[9]

Bibliography

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  • My Blood Approves series:
    • My Blood Approves (March 27, 2010)
    • Fate (April 15, 2010)
    • Flutter (May 25, 2010)
    • Wisdom (August 22, 2010)
      • Letters to Elise: A Peter Townsend Novella (December 19, 2010)
    • Swear (November 9, 2016)[10]
  • Trylle Trilogy
    • Switched (self-published 2010, with St. Martin's January 24, 2012)[11]
    • Torn (self-published 2010, with St. Martin's February 28, 2012)
    • Ascend (self-published 2011, with St. Martin's April 24, 2012)
  • The Hollows series:
    • Hollowland (October 5, 2010)
    • Hollowmen (November 8, 2011)
    • Hollowland: Redux (June 2023)
    • Hollowmen: Redux (June 2023)
    • Hollow Stars (October 13, 2023)
  • Virtue (May 27, 2011)
  • Watersong series
    • Forgotten Lyrics (October 30, 2012)
    • Wake (August 7, 2012)
    • Lullaby (November 27, 2012)
    • Tidal (June 4, 2013)
    • Elegy (August 6, 2013)
  • The Kanin Chronicles
    • Frostfire (January 2015)
    • Ice Kissed (May 2015)
    • Crystal Kingdom (August 2015)
  • Freeks (January 3, 2017)[12]
  • Valkyrie[13]
    • Between the Blade and the Heart (January 2, 2018)
    • From the Earth to the Shadows (March 27, 2018)
  • The Omte Origins
    • The Lost City (2020)
    • The Morning Flower (2020)
    • The Ever After (2021)
  • Bestow the Darkness (2021)
  • Seven Fallen Hearts Saga
    • Virtue (2021)
    • Tristitia (2022)
    • Superbia (coming early 2024)

Adaptations

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In February 2011, the Trylle Trilogy was optioned for a film, with Terri Tatchell writing the screenplay.[4] As of 2015 the rights have reverted to Hocking, with no prospects for future development.[14]

Personal life

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Hocking lives in Rochester, Minnesota[15] with her husband and step-son.

References

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  1. ^ a b Plank, Tonya (January 5, 2011). "Meet Mega Bestselling Indie Heroine Amanda Hocking". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Saroyan, Strawberry (June 17, 2011). "Storyseller". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 24, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c Mewes, Trey (November 13, 2010). "Romance from beyond the veil". Austin Daily Herald. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Millar, Sarah (March 3, 2011). "How a failed author made $2 million from e-books". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  5. ^ "Amanda Hocking". www.hockingbooks.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  6. ^ Rinzler, Alan (April 4, 2011). "Advice for Amanda Hocking from authors and agents". Forbes. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  7. ^ Bosman, Julie (March 24, 2011). "Self-Publisher Signs Four-Book Deal With St. Martin's". The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  8. ^ "Freeks by Amanda Hocking". www.barnesandnoble.com. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  9. ^ "Hocking inks 6-figure deal for 3 new books". Austin Daily Herald. April 22, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  10. ^ "Amanda Hocking". www.hockingbooks.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  11. ^ Oliver, Lauren (January 13, 2012). "The Relaunch of Amanda Hocking". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  12. ^ "Amanda Hocking". www.hockingbooks.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  13. ^ "Amanda Hocking". www.hockingbooks.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  14. ^ "Amanda Hocking". www.hockingbooks.com. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  15. ^ Greenfield, Jeremy (November 29, 2013). "Companies book profits from self-publishing". USA Today. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
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