At only 28 years old, Amanda Hocking has come a long and far way. Living in Minnesota and employed as a group home worker, she spent her free time writing novels. And not just any novel – Amanda writes paranormal romance young-adult fiction.
To date, she has writing about 17 novels in total. In April 2010, she decided that she would self-publish her work as e-books. Barely a year later, she had sold over a million copies of none books and earned two million dollars from sales.
It’s unnerving only because it’s not common for self-published authors to achieve such greatness. And we really do mean unnerving! We’re talking 9,000 book sales each day. The New York Times characterized her novels as “partly quirky girl-like-Hocking characters, part breakneck pacing, party Hollywood-style action, and part bodice-ripping romance – they are literature as candy, a mash-up of creativity and commerce.”
Part of her published work includes “The Trylle Trilogy”, which covers a teenage girl’s journey of self-discovery in an urban fantasy setting.
The story starts at “Switched”, part one of the trilogy, and it introduces the character, Wendy Everly, as a six year old. Her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Lo and behold, 11 years later, Wendy discovers that this is in fact, true. She’s not the person she has always believed herself to be and her whole life begins to unravel. And of course, it is the handsome, stealthy Finn Holmes who unveils the real life she never knew she had.
Oh and by the way, Wendy is a troll. Yup:
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What happens next? Follow Wendy on a journey to a magical world neither she nor us knew existed, one that’s both beautiful as it is frightening. Intense!
“The Trylle Trilogy” continues with “Torn” and concludes with “Ascend” (released on the 24th of April 2012). All three books are available at any bookstores near you.
Happy reading!
