Dear humans,
According to the female’s schedule, she should be finishing A Chip on Her Shoulder today. She is not finishing A Chip on Her Shoulder today. In good news, she got through the hell scene, so she might be able to finish over the weekend and otherwise stay on target for the rest of her schedule.
Which is, admittedly, insane.
She isn’t going to get November off. She is now angling for a decent chunk of December off.
She is not holding her breath because she does not want to die.
So, let’s just dive into the news.
Playing with Fire and Hoofin’ It will be on sale for $0.99 in mid August. End date for Playing with Fire’s sale is officially end of day August 23rd, but we will likely change the price back on the evening of August 24th.
Once the sale is over, the entire Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series will be priced according to length. That means Playing with Fire, Hoofin’ It, and earlier books in the series will move from $4.99 to $5.99 according to their length.
The female will be doing a pleasure reread of the books (read: she’s going to proofread them again) to clean up anything nefarious while enjoying herself.
Booked for Murder comes out August 18, 2020. That is like two and a half weeks away. Book is done. Book is complicated. We are 100% sure the female, her editor, and the entire herd of badass proofreaders have missed typos.
Female is having a bit of a meltdown over the missed typos, because inevitably, everyone will tell her about every last one of them, and she is developing some severe anxiety over it.
Current staff and volunteer count for typo eradication: 16.
The typos will win.
And someone will inevitably state the book was not edited.
That is what cranky readers do.
But in case you were wondering why the female gets very frustrated with her job sometimes, this is why. In reality, readers expecting perfection for their $5.99 is par for the course, and they don’t care beyond their personal expectations.
Writing a book is hard and serious work, and if the female charged for every 200 or so hours (on average) it takes to write a book, nobody would be able to afford books.
Personally, we think the $0.03 an hour readers pay her to enjoy her work is pretty fair.
A special shout-out to the beta proofreading crew, for Booked for Murder had many typos they helped to vanquish.
Please enjoy this picture of the female’s tea cup. It is a tenmokus, and she loves it. She is collecting tenmokus like she collections pokemon.
Gotta. Catch. ‘Em. All.
They are wonderful to drink out of and come in cute and protective boxes.
The female is still deliberating over next year’s schedule, but she thinks these will be the books prioritized:
- Client from Hell (March 2021)
- Catnapped (May 2021)
- Silent Stalker (August 2021)
- Booked for Kidnapping (November 2021)
- Cobra Chicken (???)
- Runaway (Royal States) (???)
This is still up in the air. Preorders… may not be a thing. We’re going to see.
Right now, the female is Very Tired. If the female didn’t hate disappointing readers, she would move one of the December books to January, but she gave her word and she utterly, utterly hates going back on her word.
So she will be doing her best to have everything done on time.
Whee.
The female must go back to work now.
After 17 years working on technical document editing, I’ve come to the conclusion that zero typos is not achievable. I see them, sometimes, but when a story is engrossing (like, for instances, YOURS!), they fade into the background.
Also….LOVE the cup!
The Female needs to have a double shot or 3 of her favorite booze. Then take a 2 hour nap.
Then she should just read the book in word format to find the typos and mark them on the page. Typos are hard to find in ebook format and you can’t mark the pages for correction.
Oh, ebook reading is so much easier for me to find typos in. That’s a personal thing. You can mark pages for correction in kindle format by highlight (tap on screen and drag to highlight) and if you need a note, you tap on the highlight and add a note. Super easy to leave reminders in a kindle book. Most ebook readers have similar tools. 🙂
We would rather the female stay healthy by deferring a December book to January than have her stress out and become ill to fulfill a promise. Please take care of yourself female, we need the break from reality your writing provides in these strange new times.
I manage to spell my name wrong half the time in e-mail. So I commend you on trying to find all the typos.
I commonly misspell the word “dog”. It is only when there isn’t a single letter in the word that is correct that I haven’t got a clue. Context, baby! It is the best. Almost as good as anything you write so just keep on trucking and don’t kill yourself.
PS The cup is beautiful.
Move one of the December books to January. It won’t hurt us.
I am unfamiliar with Silent Stalker and Cobra Chicken. I assume that they’re from series I don’t follow yet. I’m guessing Booked for Kidnapping is another Vigilante Librarians book.
PS- Cobra Chicken has got to be the oddest name for a book I’ve seen in a while!
Cobra Chicken is a Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count.) Silent Stalker is Blood Bound’s sequel.
I very much enjoy all the books. I would not like the author working herself to death. Please take your time. We can all wait. Looking forward to your next book with anticipation. Thank you for all your hard work.
Female is evil. I am now calling them cobra chickens too. I will attempt to infect others to see if I quit after spreading it to others. You may laugh at me all you want, but I’m going to try infecting others. We have plenty of cobra chickens in Minnesota.
Dear Sneaky Kitty,
When humans as a species get rushed and stressed, they tend to botch things. This is true of every human I know. It is just how we are as a species. So please tell your human that I would much rather have a better quality book in January, than a rushed one in December. Also, I don’t consider a one month delay to be a broken promise. It’s just life and the occasional delay is just one of those things that has to be dealt with. Tell your human not to worry.
Best
Jane
Love the cup!! Please put your health first! Much as I look forward to your books I would rather wait a couple of months of so then you struggle. Typos happen! It’s a fact of life and when I read a book (especially one of yours) I get too into the story to nitpick on an error.
On pretty kitty tell the female we will take the books at her pace, writing is hard, and the energy to do so is enormous, so she must do what she can, take care and let the stories flow when they are ready to flow. I write, draw, paint, and work full time and I know how easily we can get overwhelmed. For me each of her books is a precious treasure, yes I’m book dragon, I have many books and many stories in me, but time is never on my side. But Those books she create are a safe place to relax and laughs. So yes, precious one take care of yourself, we will be here to read, to buy and to enjoy your creations, and don’t worry about the typos, I work at a law firm, and typos get into everything, even legal paperwork.
Take care
Life is what happens after you make plans. Health first, books next. I’d rather wait, than think you were getting sick, by working so hard. Thank you for all the good reading!
Agree with the above comments to delay a book from December to January would be absolutely acceptable. Anyway, having a January release would be a nice thing to look forward to, after surviving the holidays!
But there is a January release. Dirty Deeds on January 12. It has a Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) in it.
Oooh, right! Well, two releases would really brighten January… Frankly, as a reader, I try to appreciate whatever I get from my favorite authors. I read, and re-read my favorites, and your books lend themselves to re-reading… I am grateful for new releases, but also I am happy to re-visit your worlds. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you!
I greatly respect someone who keeps her word. That said, please don’t do three releases in one month again. It’s a ridiculous account of pressure. I hope your readership grows to the point you are comfortable with no more than one book per quarter year. ???
I would die of boredom if I only did one book every three months!!
???
I agree with what everyone has said! Health first, books second! Wait is always worth it!
I have to say, I adore the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series! Absolutely adore it – I do have a few questions – mainly – what are the odds of finding out more about Xena and her brother Juan? And how many foals will Dean and Layla have? And lastly – will Layla ever hug her Dad and Grandpa? I am holding out hope that I can get answers in the next 3 years or so. Thank you for the giggles and joy that I have gotten from your books. Peace and Blessings- Sara
Dean and Layla will ultimately have entire herds of colts and fillies to drive them lunatic because yeah. Inevitable, really!
As for Dad and Grandpa, her species is ultimately ridiculously affectionate so, also inevitable. I don’t know if it’ll show up in a future book or not. Though A Chip on Her Shoulder has a few foreshadows you may find amusing.
I don’t know re: Xena or Juan.
Any news is good news! Hopefully Xenia and/or Juan will tell you when they want their stories told. I am grateful that I keep getting to read new stories and am absurdly happy that you write as mischievous as you do- that being said – please don’t work yourself to the bone and commit to more than you are comfortable with- I love/hate having to wait for a new book in a series but the anticipation only makes the first reading that much better and honestly? As long as you don’t go. 7 or more years between books i will be happy. Thank you for the joy
Sorry – mischievous was supposed to be “much” but mischievous works well too