Now Out: Know Thy Frienemy (and what that has to do with a new blog I've started)

"Know Thy Frienemy" by Misti Wolanski on Ganxy

I am so glad to finally have this book out there. Now to get to working on book 3, which is about 10% written, mostly because it opens with a scene I'd originally written while working on Destiny's Kiss, thinking it would open book 2, but no, not time for that yet.

Interested in the prequel, Destiny's Kiss? It's just started going up on Wattpad. Plan is for one chapter every Tuesday. If my math's right, the last post will go up the last week of January.

If you want to go ahead and get a copy of Destiny's Kiss, good for this week only, use the coupon code PU99L on Smashwords to get for $2.99 instead of $4.99 for this week only. (Sorry if that's not your preferred vendor, but the other major vendors don't make it easy to set up a coupon.)

The paperbacks for both books will soon be available, hopefully this month.

And then I'll be all done with Kickstarter fulfillments (assuming I get the last person's address), except for the item that can't be done until I write book 3.

Oh, that's going to be fun. Research-heavy, like these books tend to be, but fun.

Anybody know of any good resources on yurei mythology? I have a general overview of what they are, but I'll need more for book 3. Which is all the spoilers I'll give for that. ^_^

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So… What does the release of Know Thy Frienemy have to do with the new blog I've started?

The blog is www.aboutthatherb.com. Visit it now for the full story of how I accidentally cured my own lung infection, a few years back.

Destiny of the Destiny Walker series works at an herb store, and she does things like chew on a willow twig for the painkiller. (Willow bark reputably has the same chemical in it as aspirin, albeit not nearly as distilled.)

In person, I frequently get told to start a blog to share what I know about kitchen remedies, so here we are. Shiny new blog, an as-yet undecided update schedule—every two weeks, maybe—which includes a "Recommendations" page for where you can get bulk ingredients, based on suppliers I've either used or chatted with those who use it.

Eventually, I'll get to putting together a blogroll for the site that includes such sites as Crunchy Betty. And the site appearance will get a makeover at some point, but it's functional for now.

And I think my readers will enjoy where I'm headed*.

*Speaking of where I'm headed, I've not forgotten about my question regarding free will. It's just taking me a while to mold my thoughts on the matter into something coherent, because there seem to be some differing definitions of terms involved.

Are you interested in the Destiny Walker series or in the herb blog? Both? Why or why not? Have any pertinent links/stories/anecdotes to share?

—Misti

This Is Why Some Authors Don't Read Their Reviews

Know Thy Frienemy, the sequel to Destiny's Kiss, will release on Tuesday (9/10)!

First, please excuse me while I swallow hard, then smack myself upside the head because I have little left to do for both the e-book and the print book, so my urge to run around screaming like a chicken with her head cut off is a distinct overreaction.

But this is intimidating. It's a sequel. In a series that is fairly disturbing—the narrator, Destiny, is a Christian teenaged modern-day slave—and she's not right, emotionally, to the point that even she notices, and she's been through some terrible things.

From the early review on Goodreads, that's come through clearly, but I'm kind of chewing my nails now because that review demonstrates that a particular pertinent detail that unreliable narrator Destiny doesn't realize will be missed by at least some readers. I knew that would happen, but seeing it in a review? The very first review?

I'm not now suddenly thinking the story is terrible. It isn't. I'm more concerned that I'm still not targeting my ideal audience properly and that readers won't want to put up with further books in the series until certain details will make more sense.

But we'll see what happens. The former (a failure to properly ID audience) is far more likely than the latter. The reviewer did call Destiny "passive", when she's "reactionary"—which is, well, her, right now.

The novels' standard price is $4.99 US. I'm considering temporarily dropping the price on book 1 when book 2 releases, and I'm also considering posting book 1 on Wattpad, but I've not decided yet. In any event, if you're curious to look into them further, I've embedded the Ganxy showcases below, which should automatically update as further links and such are added.

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"Destiny's Kiss" by Misti Wolanski on Ganxy

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"Know Thy Frienemy" by Misti Wolanski on Ganxy

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In any event that "Oh, no!" feeling is why some writers don't read their reviews. They freak out and think things are absolutely, positively terrible…

I admit, I'm not immune to that particular soul-sucking feeling, but I do endeavor to tackle it and squash it with logic until it goes slinking off to bother someone else. A benefit to having a hormone disorder, I presume—I'm used to handling mood swings that happen for no reason other than my body decided to make a little extra something at an inopportune time. (Yes, it's as annoying as it sounds. I don't even like bawling with cause, but bawling for no reason whatsoever?)

And when logic isn't helping? I go read reviews of some books I enjoyed that use some unpopular techniques, like Sunshine by Robin McKinley (or anything by her, really—her stories always seem to meander through the plot in a way some readers loathe) and Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card (which is dark fantasy in an intentionally archaic style, which has gotten lambasted for violating the "rule" "Show; Don't tell").

*rolls eyes* They're rules of thumb, not rules. ^_^ I feel better already, just remembering those.

Even when a story is precisely what it's supposed to be, folks will dislike it, complain, and make assumptions about the author's writing ability and what they were aiming for. One of my better-selling short stories at the moment received two 1-star reviews from folks bewildered by it before it got a 5-star from someone directly in the target audience.

And then there's the review on Thrice Uncharmed, which politely pointed out that it could've been expanded more on the themes and climax. That reviewer's right—it could've been—but I chose not to on purpose. Maybe that reviewer would've enjoyed it more had I expanded it, but maybe he just thinks he would've. *shrug* It is what it is.

And really, all writing "is what it is".

And Seanan McGuire just had a new book come out this week in her October Daye series! Yay! Like unreliable narrator urban fantasy? Go check it out! It's probably even at the library. ^_^

Do you have any fun reviews, comments, or new releases to share?

—Misti

Some Updates for December 2012

First, A Fistful of Fire and A Fistful of Earth now each cost $6.99 for the e-book.

Second, I'm having website issues with Wordpress (on my main site—this blog is Blogger), and those issues are bad enough that I will probably be abandoning WordPress once I get a few spare days to write a new site layout. It's eating sections that displayed perfectly fine previously, and I can't seem to get the rollback to take. *sighs* WP just updated, though, so maybe that'll fix it.

Third, I should be getting a response soon from the latest magazine where I submitted "Kill Jill". If it's rejected, I'll be self-publishing it. It's even prepped and ready to go, so watch for that.

Fourth, I've self-published a dark fantasy novelette. This is dark, disturbing, not for kids. If the "Donkeyskin" fairy tale bothers you, avoid this novelette. Otherwise, you might like this slaughtering of "Beauty and the Beast" of about 11,600 words / 65 pages, available in electronic and print format.

Electronic Format: $2.99 US

Amazon US | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | JP | CA | BR

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Smashwords

All Romance Ebooks | Omnilit

DriveThru Fiction

Print Format: $6.99 US

CreateSpace (I get a larger % if you buy direct from there.)

Amazon (Might suit you better if you're seeking Christmas gifts.)

Fifth, Captain Morgan's spiced rum is pretty good, but I think I like coconut rum better. (Couldn't resist an alcohol comment on that one.)

Sixth, did I mention I hate WordPress and will probably be redoing my site from scratch?

Seventh, I'm hoping to soon finish a companion story to "A Blackmail and a Birthday"—namely, what exactly happened a year before that when some werewolves tried to eat Ember. I'm hoping that finishing that story will assuage my subconscious's desire to explore a particular related one that's a good twenty-five years (story timeline) down the road… (Lord willing, I'll get to writing it eventually. Likely not for a few years, though.)

Eighth, I need some funny but morbid music, along the lines of "Oh, Michelle" or "Mad Science Love Song" by Seanan McGuire, or "None Too Ladylike" by ApologetiX. Anyone have any specific recs?

Ninth, I need that music because all my major projects on my to-write list are at emotional low points. Usually, I can bounce between a happy moment and a downer one. But right now… I have one narrator who's borderline suicidal, and another who's angry, bitter, and shortsightedly dumb enough to ruin multiple lives along with her own.

I may take a break to write something about someone who's, yanno, emotionally healthy. Or maybe I'll get on a "Let's hang out with the loonies!" kick and knock most of it all out at once. We'll see.

Tenth, I'm seriously considering a side business of making allergy-safe lip balm. It's fun to make, and most lip balm contains things that aren't good for you or that aren't good for me. (Anything ending in –paraben isn't good for your skin. It makes the item feel nice, but it's bad for your skin.) I can easily make my own, but recipes produce along the lines of 5–50 tubes at a time, so it wouldn't take much before I would be swimming in lip balm, so starting the business would really be just setting up something I do anyway so I could make money instead of losing it.

If I did start the aforementioned business, I'd publicly post my recipes so that anyone who wanted to could make the lip balm, themselves. I'd also want to offer customability—for example, if you're allergic to apricot, I could whip up a batch with something like olive oil, instead of apricot kernel oil—but with unshared plastic equipment. Metal and glass can get allergens cleaned off. Plastic…not so much. So I'd either need my lip balm fill trays marked with specific things they're for—and that's if I didn't just fill tubes by hand. (It's doable, although a bit messy.)

You have any particular plans or news or goings-on you'd like to share? Or do you have any particular reaction to any of the above points? Or perhaps a question or something you'd like me to address in a future post? ^_^

—Misti

What's Up with…Er? Which Project?

No, I have not forgotten about A Fistful of Fire's paperback editions, nor getting A Fistful of Earth published. Nor have I forgotten about… Just see the list below for updates on everything.

• A Fistful of Fire has gone through a very careful re-proofreading process as it's been formatted for paperback, because somewhere in publication I screwed up and uploaded the wrong file. I've also compared the current file against the various other ones to make sure everything's included. I'm also making some formatting changes (like smart quotes) that mean I have to watch for newly inserted errors, like quotes turned the wrong way.


• A Fistful of Earth has finally gotten the results from the "Does this story work?" check. (Long story short: It "jinxed" the first 3 first readers.) Now it's going through editing. After editing comes ARCs to Kickstarter folks, proofreading and formatting and finalizing the cover. (I have the image; I just have to put the typography together—and there are some slight things I'm considering changing about the typography that'll affect the cover for A Fistful of Fire.)


• A Fistful of Water has the basic plot outline. (For me, that means notes jotted of major events, including where the story will end up—and the opening scene is started.) I've started poking at it enough to have a sense of the narrator's voice (Geddis). I've also started compiling that book's song listing. (Anyone have suggestions for songs about someone who feels neglected, bitter, and resentful that she gets ignored and that everyone complains about having what she'd give almost anything to have?)


• Destiny's Kiss will be getting a glance-through to convert it to smart quotes, etc., but that won't be an issue until…


• Know Thy Frienemy (Destiny #2) is the current to-write project. It's half written, so I should be able to finish drafting it in the next month or so, after which time I'll jump into A Fistful of Water.


• Short stories – I have several planned and started. A sequel to "Associated Accidents" that explains how Nirmoh so quickly became Silva's fiancé in A Fistful of Fire. Three shorts all stemming from "The Corpse Cat", which will reveal more about Emris and some side characters in Destiny's Kiss. I have probably a good score more short stories in various stages of completion, including some that would go under alternate pennames or would be (or are being) submitted to 'zines.


• A note on "Of Her Own": I'll be updating it in the next few weeks so it contains an excerpt from A Fistful of Earth rather than A Fistful of Fire. It will be free for at least a short time after that.

So. Now let's talk some numbers.

I've mentioned before that math isn't my strong point. I probably have some form of dyscalculia. If I don't concentrate, I will transpose numbers. I'm not talking the usual "Oh, I do that sometimes" that everyone does. If I'm not careful, I will transpose numbers. No "sometimes" about it.

Even when I'm careful, it happens more often than is normal, but it isn't completely debilitating. I still tend to double- and triple-check my math on even the simplest things. I also apply a lot of logic to my math: I estimate answers before I calculate, so I can quickly figure out when I transposed numbers in a fraction (again).

Still. Even I can see that A Fistful of Fire is about 20k words longer than Destiny's Kiss.

I've mentioned before over on the blog version of A Fistful of Fire that the sequel will cost $4.99 US when it comes out. That's true.

But A Fistful of Earth will only cost $4.99 for 1–4 weeks.

After that, I'll be bumping up the prices for both A Fistful of Fire and A Fistful of Earth by a dollar or two. (So A Fistful of Fire will cost $4.99 or $5.99 and A Fistful of Earth will cost $5.99 or $6.99.) Then, when I release A Fistful of Water, I'll look at the prices again.

Now, why did I mention that A Fistful of Fire is longer than Destiny's Kiss?

There's a growing knee-jerk reaction against too-low prices (even in me as a reader). That $3.99 price point of A Fistful of Fire…is starting to feel too "bargain bin". The book's already available for free as a web novel, which is something I mention openly. I even link to it at the start of the book.

I think $0.99 is fair for a short story of 2-4k words. Those of you who've bought one of mine obviously agree, because you haven't left scathing reviews protesting the lengths and/or price point.

Even Destiny's Kiss, my shorter novel, is over 10 times the length of one of my short stories.

That was why I first raised the price on Destiny's Kiss to $4.95. The sales rate has stayed the same if not increased slightly, so I don't think I've found the ideal price for that audience. (Actually, looking at comparable titles' prices, I've not yet decided if my next move will be to try $3.99 or to shoot higher on that one, to give fair warning to anyone interested in buying it.) I'm not planning on entering Dean Wesley Smith's current pricing scheme—but then a year ago, I never would've put Destiny's Kiss up for $5, either, which is what he was recommending then.

I might just change my mind and start following his pricing recommendations. We'll see.

Some folks scoff at Dean and his wife (Kris Rusch) due to their ranking on the Amazon bestseller lists, which evidently suggest they aren't selling all that many copies a month, but those people seem to forget that other vendors exist. Some authors actually sell better on vendors other than Amazon. Also, consider that an author would have to sell 16 copies of something at $0.99 to equal the income of 1 sale at $7.99 (which is still a reasonable price for a novel, which provides more entertainment time than a $10 movie at the theater).

Dean and Kris aren't dumb. They know business. So when they talk, if I disagree, I sit up and listen and figure out why I disagree. Sometimes, it's because we're at different stages in our careers or have different goals. Sometimes, it's because I'm being dense.

And sometimes, I can't figure out which it is.

I say all this so my fellow writers can know what one of their peers is thinking, and so my fellow readers can have fair warning that my prices are going to change, most likely to go up. (So if you've been eyeing one of my stories, you might want to get it now—unless we're talking about "Of Her Own".)

If you've read any of my stories, which one(s) do you most want to see a sequel/prequel for? What character's your favorite? What off-screen situation or event do you want to see a story for?

And what price do you think too high for a short story? How about for a novel (e-book and print form)?

—Misti

New Cover Unveiling — Plus a Giveaway

I'm so excited! I have a few things to share with you today.

First, I've gotten a new cover for my urban fantasy for young adults and older, Destiny's Kiss, created by the talented Najla Qamber. She took my concept cover ideas and came up with something that fit what I wanted.

Moreover, she tackled working with me. I'm not the easiest person for an artist to work with. (Thus why I've learned to buy images from artists and do my own typography.)

In celebration of this new—gorgeous—cover, I'm hosting a giveaway, and the winner gets their choice of 1 of my stories in e-format (as a Smashwords coupon or e-mail attachment)—

And nobody entered. That puts this on my list of "ideas that seemed good at the time but evidently weren't."

Ah, well.

And one of the options available is the original draft of A Fistful of Fire. Considering the original edition of A Fistful of Fire was perhaps 17k words and the final book is 79k words, I think it'll be of interest for comparison.

This is an e-book giveaway, open worldwide, except where some law would interfere with it.

How the Winner Will Be Picked:

From a drawing. See "How to Enter" to see how to get entries into the drawing.

How to Enter:

(Each entry method can only count once.)

• Leave a comment on this post: +1
• Mention the giveaway on social media or your blog: +1
• Leave a review for one of my stories: +1
• Leave a comment one one of my blog posts* other than this one: +1
• Blog about one of my stories or blog posts*: +2 per story or post blogged about

*Only substantial blog posts like "How to Serialize Your Novel (or Not)" are eligible. Miscellaneous ones like "Website Down" aren't. I'll assume you're intelligent enough figure out what "substantial" means.

You must leave a comment tallying up your points, with links to off-site entries. (And if you've already done something that would've qualified for an entry, like left a review for or blogged about a story, you can count that retroactively.)

If you have to tally points more than once,, I'll edit your comments to combine them.

Giveaway closes 7am Tuesday, December 13th, 2011. Winners will be announced the next day.

When I announce the winner, I'll also be raising the price for Destiny's Kiss and announcing the title for its sequel.

Now let's see the pretty cover that made me decide to do this:

Destiny Walker is an exceptional student despite her youth, sullenness, and the werewolf baby she had to leave on a stranger's doorstep. Across the Atlantic, Kismet Baros was a rare type of Magik who was under the protection of the vampire court. Only Destiny and the judge who emancipated her know why Kismet no longer exists.

When powerful Magiks from Kismet's past show up, Destiny must face her demons. She must decide what she is—person or property—and if she'll sacrifice the few friends she has to save the many.

If she doesn't, she'll be the gunpowder that sparks World War III.

(A novel of about 59,000 words / 215 pages.)

ALERT: Contains mature themes, some violence and gore, and a handful of cases of objectionable language.

And if you like this giveaway, just wait until you see what I have planned for when its sequel comes out!

—Misti

Plans for December 2011

#1:

I won't be intentionally releasing a short story for December. I have a reason for that.

…Because I've already had a story come out, in the first Saffina Desforges Presents anthology: "Primpriety", an urban fantasy novelette featuring a girl whose day's sleep gets interrupted by a murder outside her apartment that she can't stop, and things go downhill from there after she's bribed into tracking the murderer for the cops. And no, she isn't exactly what you're thinking. It's a completely different "world" from my Darkworld series.

The anthology is currently $0.99 US on Amazon.com. I'm not sure of its price elsewhere. I know there are plans to release it on other vendors, as well, but for now, all I have are the Amazon URLs:

• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Amazon DE
• Amazon FR

#2:

I'm working my butt off trying to get A Fistful of Earth done, like I promised. I had "writer's block"* for too long, because I wasn't firmly enough in the narrator's head, but… Well, that writer's block lingered for longer than it needed to, because I had some personal problems get in the way of addressing it.

At any rate, it's flowing now. Even if I don't get done for NaNoWriMo, I should at least have a working draft done by the end of next week.

That means…

#3:

I'll be trying to get A Fistful of Earth out when promised ("late 2011"), but that promised release might not be the final polished version. I have some ideas for how to work that, but we'll see how necessary they are.

#4:

I've commissioned a new cover for Destiny's Kiss. It's gorgeous and fits the genre. I look forward to revealing it (and my cover artist) to you.

But I can't. Not yet. Because…

#5:

I'm working on some stuff to coincide with the new cover's release. That's as detailed as I'll get on that right now.

#6:

Write 30k words in the month of December, finishing the first draft of the sequel for Destiny's Kiss. (See my nice little progress bar in the sidebar? I can't promise that I'll keep it 100% up-to-date, but I'll do my best to keep it close.)

#7:

I owe some of you folks reviews of your stories. (And then there are the folks who I've promised to read and review… You know who you are.) I'm hoping to do that this December.

What are your plans for reading and writing in December?

—Misti

*Just FYI, I consider "writer's block" to be the subconscious's last desperate attempt to nab my attention when I'm not hearing it scream "Something's wrong!" at me.

New Short Story Release! & more news

"Romeo & Jillian"

13th century Italy: A mysterious sorceress meets a werewolf who'll change her life. (A short story of 3,300 words plus an excerpt from the novel Destiny's Kiss.)

Yes! I got it out, yes I did!

I decided to put the excerpt from Destiny's Kiss in this story, too, because Romeo and Jillian do appear in that book, and Jillian mentions the time she set Romeo's cousin's tail on fire.

Because "Romeo & Jillian" is short—even shorter than "The Corpse Cat"—I decided to release it for "Set your own price" on Smashwords, which means you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to. I have to price it at $0.99 US on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (ETA links.)

But if you use Smashwords, you can get "Romeo & Jillian" free! Go on!

I'm a bit confused because the cover turns blurrier when the image gets smaller, but I'm living and learning.

I'm also way behind where I wanted to be on A Fistful of Fire, at this point, but oh, well. I've done another one of those back-up-and-change-plot things that I'd hoped to do after I had the first draft done, but my brain really doesn't work that way.

Oh, well.

As a side note, I have a completely unrelated novelette sitting on my computer that I'm trying to submit to Kindle Singles, but they e-mailed me back that I would have to self-publish it for Kindle myself before I could submit it to them—even though their information page says you can submit unpublished material.

If I do decide that I want to continue submitting to Kindle Singles, I will not be announcing this particular work's release, and I may not leave it up if Kindle Singles rejects it, so fair warning to all.

—Misti