March 12, 2024
The time has finally arrived, my fancy little crumpets! We're riding the event horizon of a monumental occasion many years in the making! We have received the proof book, have asked a few people to scan through it for errors (of which there have been several so far) and will be uploading the final copy very soon. When we do so, this post will be updated, along with our "Books" page, and you will all be able to download How to Forget to Remember to Forget Magic for free! Stay tuned!
With warmest personal regards,
Kristen & Viktor
December 12, 2023
Contrary to what you might have suspected, we have not fallen victim to a Magical trap or other calamity. The revision and expansion progress have taken far longer than we initially expected, and the Eternal timeline, as it often does, has continued to provide an infinite number of hurdles to impede our progress. When resources and time are at an absolute premium, and danger lurks around every corner, things just take longer. But the important matter is this: Our wards continue to maintain their strength, and we’re still progressing and as I type this. Volume One (which is actually three full-length novels, totaling over 425,000 words) is experiencing its last scan-through to make sure there are no errors. Everything is essentially done. Meanwhile, Volume Two is two-thirds through its last revision, and will have far less time (months, not years) before it too is released. This will then free up all our time for Volume Three, which should be complete by the beginning of 2025. Unless the Temploscope reveals something else dreadful barring our path, things will be picking up from here. And as we mentioned in our last news release, they all will continue to be free to download and read. This is a life-altering story unlike any other, and we feel it is of the upmost importance to place it in front of as many eyes as possible.
Sincerely,
Kristen & Viktor
July 30, 2021
A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to hear an interview with Reiner Knizia, which had a deep impact on our lives. He said, “You cannot make a living from writing novels. But there are some exceptions. If you start, don’t try to become one of these exceptions; do it because your heart is in it, because you love doing it, and if you do something you love, it may actually become very successful, and then you can make a living out of it. But starting by saying ‘I want to be a full time professional author’ is setting yourself up for lots of disappointments.”
It’s been nearly a year and a half since we first brought the Vaal’bara Historical Society into the public light. We thought that, optimistically, our series would be greeted with excitement, and might afford us the ability to press onward with our passion at a rapid pace. We couldn’t have been more thrilled. However, that same week, the Covid outbreak exploded, and things rapidly went downhill. Viktor lost both his grandfather and father in addition to contracting Covid himself, starting a chain reaction that nearly killed him and destroyed our finances. So too, our series struggled, gaining almost no attention, lost in a sea of countless other novels.
It’s been a difficult road to travel down, as we’ve found ourselves in a position far worse than when we started. Those who have read our books mostly enjoy them, and our Goodreads reviews largely reflect that. But we’ve reached a point where sales are non-existent, we can’t afford marketing, and Amazon will only allow us a handful of days each year to pass out free eBooks while remaining within the confines of their service. Continuing to watch the months tick by, only to result in little to no increase in readership, has been disheartening and humbling to say the least. But we’ve now realized we made an incredible mistake.
Asking potential readers to pay for six books written by a pair of authors they’ve never heard of, only to net ourselves a tiny sale, is counterintuitive, if not completely useless, when all we really want is to find people who enjoy what we’ve written. We have no desire for fame and fortune, but we do honestly hope to entertain readers and spark their imaginations, which does require at least some level of success. It’s what we love to do, and we were prepared to do so on a poverty-level income. When we opened our doors with multiple completed novels, we thought they might make a big splash by showing our dedication; when they didn’t, our passion quickly turned into a desperate, drudging, miserable slog - something we began this journey specifically to avoid!
So, after a lengthy discussion, we have decided to completely revise our series from the ground up, re-releasing improved digital versions for free on our website, in addition to maintaining that standard for our future novels as well. We will continue to create printed books for those who enjoy paper and ink, as we too love collecting physical novels for our own shelves, but they will never be a mandatory purchase, as they truly aren't a good source of income compared to what the reader has to shell out. For the moment, however, our series has been removed from distribution while it is being reworked. When we return, you can expect new artwork, new revelations, and new insights throughout each volume!
Some choices a person is forced to make are difficult, but in the end, it turns out this was not one of them. In our hearts, we simply want people to have access to our books, and this will be an excellent opportunity to provide that service to you, the reader. This decision feels good. As we continue forward, we are still committed to writing, and we already have a new volume in the process of being completed. That being said, due to our circumstances, progress will be slower than before. Thank you to those who have supported us thus far. We’ve certainly learned a great deal throughout this process, that’s for sure, but we’re not giving up; too much of the story remains untold!
Sincerely,
Kristen & Viktor