One of the most successful self-published authors in history tops today’s Buffet. Amanda Hocking is the USA Today bestselling author of the Trylle trilogy and six additional self-published novels. After selling over a million copies of her books, primarily in Kindle format, she is widely considered the exemplar of self-publishing success in the digital age.
Amanda lives in Austin, Minnesota, where she was employed as a group home worker until 2010. She wrote 17 novels in her spare time, and in 2010, she began self-publishing them as Kindle books. Within weeks, she had sold over a million copies and earned $2 million from sales.
Amanda’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 in an urban fantasy setting; and Hollowland, a zombie novel that tops today’s Buffet. The New York Times characterized Amanda’s 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, at a price of two million dollars, with St. Martin’s Press. It concerns her new young-adult paranormal series called “Watersong”. Book one, “Wake”, was released in August 2012. All three books in her previously self-published Trylle Trilogy were also sold to St. Martin’s Press, and have been re-released from January–April 2012.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours. Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
Hollowland (The Hollows, #1)
Science Fiction & Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban
Author: Amanda Hocking
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The first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows..
This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.
Bringing Down Sam
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Leslie Kelly
High school teacher Eve Barret has a secret–she was once a child modeling superstar. She’s left that life far behind, and has no intention of returning to it. At least not until her best friends talk her into a crazy scheme to “bring down” Public Enemy Number 1: Sam Kenneman.
Sam Kenneman has every woman in the country up in arms about his new bestseller, 101 Ways To Avoid Commitment. The book’s supposed to be a joke–but women aren’t getting it. Now he just wants the frenzy to die down so life can go back to normal.
Her goal? Teach him a lesson.
His goal? Don’t fall for the sexy blonde.
The problem? They can’t resist each other!
7 Simple Choices for a Better Tomorrow
Self-Help > Personal Transformation
Author: Bob Merritt
Life is hard–for everyone. No matter how gifted or fortunate, everyone will experience some level of disappointment in life: difficult classes, jobs, relationships, and losses. But by following basic disciplines anyone can experience accomplishment, freedom, and ease in navigating through life’s daily challenges.
In this positive, insightful book, Bob Merritt describes a set of universal principles that work for everyone in every stage of life, showing that what we do today determines who we become tomorrow. Anyone who has experienced pain or confusion from lost opportunities, broken relationships, or a nagging sense of emptiness will treasure this book that shows them that the best of life has not passed them by.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat
Teen & Young Adult > Humor
Author: Linda Macfarlane, Stuart Macfarlane
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Adrian is no ordinary cat – he has ambitions. Not only does he want to become the most famous cat in the world but he’s also determined to create world peace between cats, dogs and mice.
Adrian’s life is full of complications! In an attempt to win the affections of the power crazed, but beautiful, Snowball he is forced to join a gang run by the most evil cat in town – Killer. But Killer also loves Snowball and he’s not going to let Adrian steal her away – not without a fight. On top of all of this Adrian has many adventures; he goes treasure hunting with a pirate parrot, saves the life of a fox and helps his best friend out of all sorts of trouble.
The Medium
Romance > Paranormal & Fantasy
Author: C.J. Archer
Seventeen-year-old spirit medium Emily Chambers has a problem. Actually, she has several. As if seeing dead people isn’t a big enough social disadvantage, she also has to contend with an escaped demon and a handsome ghost with a secret past. And then there’s the question of her parentage. Being born an entire year after her father’s death (yes, a year) and without the pale skin of other respectable English ladies, Emily is as much a mystery as the dead boy assigned to her.
Jacob Beaufort’s spirit has been unable to crossover since his death. It might have something to do with the fact he was murdered. Or it might not. All he knows is, he has been assigned by the Otherworld’s administrators to a girl named Emily. A girl who can see and touch him. A girl who released a shape-shifting demon into the mortal realm. Together they must send the demon back before it wreaks havoc on London. It should be a simple assignment, but they soon learn there’s nothing simple when a live girl and a dead boy fall in love.
Scarlette
Teen & Young Adult > Historical Fiction > Europe
Author: Davonna Juroe
What if Little Red Riding Hood was real?
Ninety years before the Brothers Grimm penned their version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” an historic, gruesome series of events shocked all of Europe. Starting in 1764, an unidentified wolf-like animal ferociously mauled dozens of peasants in the Gévaudan region of France.
Whispered rumors of unnatural creatures blended with age-old superstition to cause mass hysteria. A werewolf was blamed for the carnage. Alarmed, King Louis XV sent his best huntsmen to rid the province of the beastly scourge, but this legendary massacre had only just begun.
Scarlette, a 19-year-old seamstress who is laboring to make ends meet, lives under this dark threat. Although fearful of the nightmarish monster lurking in the surrounding forest, she remains skeptical of the supernatural gossip.
Until her grandmother is attacked.
The Queen’s Blade
Fantasy > Epic
Author: T C Southwell
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A doomed kingdom, a young queen’s sacrifice and a killer who will bring an empire to its knees…
In a world where men share kindred with beasts, the Idol of the Beasts predicts a child who will end the Endless War after centuries of strife, but first the enemy king must die and his son be brought to the Jashimari Queen in chains…
After numerous failed attempts, killing King Shandor seems impossible, until an assassin offers to do the deed. His success places the Crown Prince at Queen Minna-Satu’s mercy, and Blade becomes the instrument of her wrath. Forged in the fires of fury, his heart died long ago in the desert kingdom. His glance is as icy as his smile is disarming, and the fires of passion will never stir his blood. He is the Master of the Dance in Jondar, the best to ever hold the title.
Cobbogoth
Children’s Books > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths
Author: Hannah L. Clark
To seventeen-year-old Norah Lukens, the Cobbogothians were just a myth. But after her archeologist uncle’s brutal murder, and being asked to translate one of his research journals for evidence, she begins a journey to discover the truth for herself. Chasing the myth her uncle was obsessed with, Norah learns that his murder was a cover-up for something far more sinister. If she hopes to save others from suffering the same fate he did–including the peculiarly magnetic James Riley–she must head to Iceland in order to stop the killing once and for all. If she succeeds, she’ll gain the one thing she’s always longed for. But if she fails, not even the gods can help her.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2