Melissa A. I. Murray's Blog

So the strike is over, and my Etsy shop is open for business again. Having kept it in vacation mode for a week means my stats—and thus, the algorithms that drive traffic to my page—are way down. But that’s ok; I can recover. While I was in vacation mode I set up a shop on this site as well as on Ko-fi, which you can find either by clicking the fancy new button in the site header that says “Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi” oooor just click here.

Not much else to say at the moment, at least not about the strike. I probably will make a post, maybe a series of posts, about Putin’s Assholery in Ukraine in the near future. I feel obligated to say something about it, I’ve just had a really hard time organizing my thoughts into anything coherent besides blind rage about the invasion and a general feeling of f@$# Putin and anyone who supports him. As a former Army officer who lived in Russia for six months and traveled to several Baltic countries, and who now studies Slavic languages and literatures (albeit, Russian = my best area of expertise; my Polish and Old Slavic are rudimentary at best, and I have not yet had a chance to study any others), I definitely have some feelings.

Until then, that’s what I’ve got.

Hey guys! Been a while. I haven’t posted much on this site lately for various reasons. Mostly because I get zero site traffic, so I couldn’t justify to myself the time it takes for regular upkeep and blogging when I have so many other projects on my plate. Running business as an independent artist, without the normal support structure of an agent/IT guy/social media person/etc takes a LOT of energy. So I let this site (and thus, this blog) go by the wayside while I tried to focus my efforts on my actual creative projects.

And then WWIII began to brew thanks to the delusional prick in charge of an autocratic nuclear power who decided it was a grand idea to invade his democratic neighbor because he doesn’t think they have a right to sovereignty, and I lost all motivation to do anything but obsessively follow the news. As a #sadgradstudent plugging away at a dissertation for a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literature, it has been really hard to redirect my focus beyond the millions of people displaced from their homes or injured or murdered in an inane, unnecessary war. My own problems pale in comparison, so I have donated what I can, wherever I can. I will likely devote a post or two specifically to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in the near future, but I am still organizing my thoughts and sifting through the news about it. So more to follow.

Today, we are instead going to talk about an issue where my thoughts are already organized: Etsy.

The tarot deck I dreamed up, researched, wrote, illustrated, and produced is now on it’s fourth printing run. I have literally had to restock FOUR times, and have now sold over 300 individual decks either in person or through my Etsy site. I had no idea they would be this popular, and I am thankful every day that I decided to just roll up my sleeves and make my own darn Slavic-inspired deck after years of hunting in vain for a good one. Apparently, I was not alone in wanting one. In any case, I suddenly went from 6 total sales on Etsy in 9 years of having a shop there to being a “Star Seller” with 250+ sales. I actually made a profit, albeit a small one (I keep my prices as low as I can based on cost of materials, by and large ignoring the implied labor costs of the time I spend on creation).

And then Etsy hiked their processing fees from 3% per sale to 5%. I could live with that, so I just bumped my price by $2. And then Etsy pushed their free shipping initiative in an effort to compete with Amazon, informing sellers that if we did not offer free shipping domestically, they would move our products to the back pages of search results, thereby ensuring we’d get zero visibility. So I had to bump my prices yet again.

And then the influx of resellers who offer nothing but the same mass-produced, cheap crap made in China, but marketed as “unique” and “handmade” began to REALLY become an issue, forcing us indie artists and artisans to the back pages regardless as we can’t compete with the sheer volume, let alone afford the same kinds of marketing for sponsored placement. So we complained. And we complained about the complete and utter lack of support response by Etsy whenever sellers have a complaint/issue/etc.

And THEN the pandemic happened, and Etsy made record profits. Their stock skyrocketing. Their CEO making crazy bonuses. So what does Etsy do? Initiate their “offsite ads” program, which removes the ability for individual sellers to set a marketing budget on places like Google or Facebook, and instead takes 12-15% commission off the ads for our listings that Etsy places if someone clicks the ad. For 30 days. 30 days!!! And that includes, apparently, any “referrals” we might get from the person who clicked the ad. Meanwhile, we the individual sellers have no oversight on whether that sale actually occurred because of the ad—as in a new customer discovering us through the ad—or was simply the result of, say, a repeat customer trying to Google us.

If you make less than $10k a year off Etsy sales—and that’s gross income, not profit—you can’t opt out of this program, and it’s a 12% transaction fee. If, like me and most other *real* independent artists on Etsy, you make less than that, it’s a 15% transaction fee. I thought to myself, maybe it would be worth it for the increased visibility, right? And I was probably way too small to have the program affect me anyway.

Wrong.

Apparently Etsy was promoting my Slavic Tarot cards offsite (though again, as the seller I have no way of verifying this; I just have to trust the faceless corporation that it is occurring…which, as traffic to my Etsy page actually significantly went down after they implemented this program, I doubt), and apparently someone did click an ad. And apparently all subsequent sales I made that month—which were more than a few—were a result of this same ad click. That month? My payout from Etsy was about $5. That was it. That was my gross income after they took their standard fees, ad commission, and, due to their “free shipping” BS, the cost to me to print shipping labels. Usually this is about $8-9 for domestic shipping and $24-30 for international shipping, though I have paid as much as $99 to ship to Europe upon several occasions. On an order that cost $48. As I charge a flat international shipping fee of $20 and 0 domestically, the money I eat with each sale adds up.

Oh, and the Etsy fees come out of the total sale price, so they get a much larger chunk out of this “free shipping” garbage. Funny how that works…

After that, I opted out of the offsite ads program. That sad little $5 payout means, after accounting for the cost of getting my tarot cards printed hugely increased due to supply chain issues during the pandemic, I lost a TON of money that month.

And, on top of all of this, now Etsy hikes their transaction fee by 30%, meaning now on each sale they take 6.5% of the total. This fee hike is supposedly so that Etsy can meet the requests by sellers for better support, more marketing, and to crackdown on resellers. That was the same promise they made to us after the last fee hike, and yet all of those issues only got worse. I encourage you to do a search on Amazon and Etsy simultaneously for the same item and compare what your feed looks like. If Etsy once was the place shoppers went to find genuinely unique, handmade, or vintage items sold by real people, that is no longer the case. Those items are now a small fraction of what you’ll find on Etsy.

My point: it wasn’t so much the doubling of transaction fees in four years that made me join the over 14k sellers on strike this week. The hike in fees was the last of many, many straws.

I’m probably going to reopen my Etsy shop on 19 April along with most of those other striking sellers...because what alternative do we really have? For all Etsy’s issues, it’s still the first platform people jump to when looking for ways to support individual artists and artisans. It’s still the biggest marketplace for us and our best chance at getting any kind of visibility or building a customer base. I went ahead and added a “shop” page right here on my website—where, not having to contend with Etsy’s fees, I can offer reduced prices while still providing free domestic and flat rate international shipping—but how much visibility can I expect to realistically get here? The answer: not a whole lot.

I don’t expect anything to actually change with Etsy. Even those of us who signed the petition and put our shops in vacation mode are but a fraction of the total number of sellers on Etsy…though I’d wager we are the bulk of the ones who comprise actual people, not those pesky resellers. I just hope that the increased visibility of this issue and the public backlash against corporate Etsy will result in…something? Maybe some highspeed, low drag tech dude or dudette can create a new marketplace for us. Maybe places like Ko-fi can become more viable, with more shoppers turning there.

We can only hope.

It’s a small issue in the grand scheme of things, and I realize that I am incredibly fortunate that a) my Etsy sales are not my primary source of income, so I can afford to turn my shop off for a week, and b) this is pretty much the biggest stressor affecting me personally right now. It’s a small stressor, granted, but it still counts. I am one of the lucky ones.

My blessing for those of you who took the time to read this whole silly rant: may all your problems be equally small.

Hey guys! So Hidden just received its first critical review, and I gotta say - I'm pretty pumped with the result! Reader's Favorite Magazine gave my newest release 5-stars! They base their rating on five categories: appearance, plot, development, formatting, and marketability. I am pleased to say that Hidden scored a 4 in appearance (ok, I get that, the cover art is definitely not for everyone), and a 5 in everything else! Which, in my opinion, matters way more. The full text of the review is below for your reading pleasure, and if you haven't yet snagged a copy of Hidden, perhaps the opinion of this Reader's Favorite professional reviewer will entice you to start reading now:

Hidden is an epic fantasy novel and the second installment of the Circle series by author Melissa A. Ivanco-Murray. The Fifth Spinner Laria is troubled to find out that the enchanted Loom, which allows her to peer into the past, present, and the future, is unable to give a glimpse of the western part of Dahrigek. She contacts Mari and her friends and seeks their help in investigating the land and solving the mystery. Mari, Gren, and Ruv once again set forth to Aorea alongside the twins, Sam and Sarah, and the new recruit Wendy. However, things are worse than they imagined as they soon discover that the reawakening of ancient powers threatens to destroy all civilizations. Mari and her friends must do their utmost to prevent the apocalypse.

Hidden is a wildly entertaining epic adventure novel that keeps you hooked to its pages with its colorful characters, intricate storytelling, and stupendous worldbuilding. With its plethora of magical creatures including sanguines, leshii, lanti, necromancers, and a detailed history and lore of Aorea, Melissa Murray's narrative pulls you deep into an immersive world full of wonder and awe. The author takes her time setting up the plot but halfway through the book, the narrative picks up speed and flies by in its final stretch. I couldn't pick a favorite between the characters as everyone felt distinct and I was mesmerized by every single one of them. Despite being the second book in the series, Hidden also works out as a standalone. I was thoroughly entertained and I would highly recommend it to fantasy readers.

- Reader's Favorite Magazine

Alright you guys - you've waited long enough, and now it's finally here! Hidden is officially online and available for purchase! You can buy the paperback version from Amazon here, or you can purchase a signed copy directly from me here (I do have a slight markup on the signed ones to cover the cost of shipping...Etsy is doing this weird thing now where they won't list your product in search results if you don't offer "free shipping," so now all of us are having to mark up our prices just so that shipping can be "free." Welcome to online shopping, folks. It's all a scam. But that's a rant for another day). Anyway, if you just can't possibly wait for your print book to arrive and want to start reading right away, it's available as an e-book here.

If you want to go the signed copy route and buy directly from me, I am happy to personalize the inscription, whether you're buying for yourself or for someone else as a gift. I'll inscribe it with basically anything you want (within reason...there are only so many blank pages at the beginning and end of the book...I'm not about to write a novel within a novel, here), plus it comes with. a free bookmark featuring some quotes from the text. If you want more bookmarks, just shoot me a note when you purchase the signed book and I'll gladly pop them in the package!

I'm really proud of the way this one turned out, and I can't thank enough those who helped me along the way. There are too many people to list without whom this book never would have made it as far as publication, but I will try to capture them all:

To my wonderful husband Sean, thank you for the unbelievable amount of support you have provided me over the past few years as I devoted way too much time to writing. To Lauren and Britt, thank you for helping me refine all my ridiculous ideas into a coherent story (well, as coherent as anything coming out of my brain could be). To Mom, Dad, Teddy, Haleigh, and Jess, thank you so much for your invaluable feedback on the early drafts, helping me find all the plot holes, and of course, for your years of friendship. Anyone with complaints about the ending should address them straight to Jess, for the record. And a huge shout out to Rob Vega Jr. and Josh Lintz of True Sounds Audio, who who are turning my previous novel Destined into an epic audiobook, complete with Rob's rich baritone replicating Gren's music. I do hope you’ll help me turn Hidden into one as well. All of you are amazing.

An unknown shadow brews in the west, clouded from the Spinner's sight. Laria calls

the Destined back to Aorea to find and face the darkness she cannot see. Join Gren, Mari, Ruv, and their newest friends as they hunt the source of the shadow across inhospitable lands where no one has tread for eons…or at least, so they think. As they uncover Aorea’s oldest, most well-kept secrets, they cannot help but wonder if some truths are better left buried.

Hey everyone! So we're now close enough to the publication date that pre-orders are available for the e-book version of Hidden! The paperback loving folks will have to wait until the actual release date to order (sorry), but you can snag an e-book now, and it will be delivered to your Kindle on 21 December! Which, incidentally, is the actual release date. In the meantime, you can pre-order your copy here.

I can't believe we're this close to the finish line. It feels like just yesterday I was publishing Destined, and now I'm about to publish Hidden. I suppose I better start working on the next book now (Vanished). I'll have a novella (Frosted) coming out in between, but this time it will be a little less integral to the overall storyline than Bound was. And, eventually, once more novellas and short stories are complete, I'll publish an anthology of those as an e-book and a paperback.

I really can't wait to share Hidden with you guys. In my semi-professional, not at all humble or unbiased, opinion, it's 100x better than Destined. I am definitely one of those artists who believes my current/most recent work is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life, and everything else before it is suddenly garbage. This...is no different. However, based on feedback from my beta readers, Hidden is indeed a better novel. So now, I suppose, I will have to advise new readers to just make it through Destined so you can get to the good stuff.

So now we're almost at the end, and Hidden is almost in your hands. I will of course be selling signed copies here on my Etsy store, and if you happen to live in the Charlottesville area and would prefer to earn your signature in person, we can work something out. I hope you're looking forward to it! Don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list to get a free copy of "Faerie Stones" delivered right to your inbox in .pdf form, and drop a comment below to tell me what you are most looking forward to discovering in Hidden!

Since Hidden is coming out in just a few weeks, I've got another promotion going on! The e-books for the first novel in the Circle series Destined and the companion novella Bound are free 1-5 December 2020--that's starting tomorrow! Just like last time, the free e-books promotion applies even if you aren't signed up for Kindle Unlimited. Just head over to Amazon (or click one of the links right here in the post to go directly to my books) to download your e-book. That way everything will be fresh in your mind when you start reading Hidden, because you know you want to.

If I could make the free e-book period longer I would, but Amazon only lets us keep them free for five days. So go snag up a copy while you can!

Hello again! Next Saturday (21 November 2020) I'm going live over on my Instagram (@maimurray_is_writing) to talk about how shapeshifting works within the context of my fiction as well as answer any questions you have! With Hidden just a month away from publication, I'm really excited to talk to you guys.

The rules that govern the science and magic of shapeshifting (or, as Ruv dubs it, the "Art of Sanguina") within the context of my stories is something I have spent quite a bit of time developing, because it's an integral part of the world of Aorea, and especially because I *hate* it when the "rules" of a fantasy novel don't make sense. That's one of the quickest ways to make me put down a novel and not open it again: the book's system of magic--or whatever else governs the world--is inconsistent. Inconsistencies drive me crazy. (I am a rather typical Type-A Virgo in that regard.) Thus, I have done my best to make sure that not only does the system of magic that governs the rules of Aorea in general--and shapeshifting in particular, as that is one of the key manifestations of that magic--is not only consistent, but also makes sense.

One of the great things about fantasy as a genre is that you have so much freedom, but I have always believed that it's important to maintain a certain extent of realism. If the magic is just chaotic and runs rampant and is subject to no limitations, you lose that realism. Balance is key; you can't get something out of nothing. I'd like to think balancing science and

magic is one thing I do well in my fiction, but then I always loved physics.

It's really about the only science in which I really excelled in school...as should come as no surprise, my academic interests tended more toward the language arts side of the house (to include, obviously, languages other than English).

Thus, I'll be talking about shapeshifting next Saturday. I hope you'll drop by and ask a question, or even just say hi! And don't feel like your questions have to be limited to the general topic -- I'll happily answer anything, whether that's updates on Hidden (not that there are too many updates at this point besides you have only a month to wait for it!), or how that post hardcore band I formed is coming along. Hope to see you there!

While waiting for my last few beta readers to send me their feedback, I dove into a few more creative endeavors outside of writing...in this case, music. But more on that later. First off, the reason you are likely here, as this is my blog devoted to my author/artist persona: I have finally received that last beta reader feedback, so I can finally devote my time to the last round of edits for Hidden. This puts me a little behind where I wanted to be by now--there's only about two months left before it needs to be ready to grace your bookshelves (digital or physical)--but I'll still get it done and off to the copy-editor in time, promise! So a big thank you to my fearless beta readers who pointed out all the remaining plot holes and confusing bits (as well as the bits they liked) so that Hidden can be the best possible version of itself.

So that's my writing related update for the day. On to the music! Which will eventually explain why there's a skull with a bird sitting on top it in the attached pic.

In the past six months or so I've been really getting back into guitar and music in general: digging through musical theory, writing songs again, learning covers, developing a whole new appreciation for Dio and Iron Maiden and Meat Loaf. I've played the guitar since I was 10, but I put it aside for over a decade to focus on West Point and then the Army, so it felt good to reconnect with that side of myself. A few months back I even snagged a lesson with Jacky Vincent, guitar god, and second (in my opinion) only to Jon Petrucci, so that was a whole new level of awesome, and I learned soooooo so much. If you haven't checked out his solo stuff, you definitely should, and if you are interested in improving your skills (shredding or otherwise), he's an amazing teacher as well. Super patient and ridiculously nice. Highly recommend.

And with that, onto the news: I have officially started a metal band. Well, more like melodic metalcore, but yeah. Now I know, you may be thinking, "But Melissa! You write fantasy adventure novels, make obnoxiously bright-colored illustrations and paintings of fairies and elves and folkloric figures, you are a sad grad student, you dress like a hippie...the heck are you doing in a metal band?" Well, those of you who know me in person, know that I have many proverbial irons in many proverbial fires. My interests (and hobbies) have always been eclectic, to say the least (which, to be fair, is definitely reflected in my writing and my art as well), so this likely comes as less of a surprise. To those of you only familiar with my online presence, you probably noticed that much of my creative work revolves around Slavic mythology and folklore...and those themes tend to be pretty metal. Google Baba-Yaga or Koschei the Deathless and tell me there's not metal potential there, and that's not even getting into the actual history. Or, incidentally, Olga of Kiev. The story of her revenge is where we took our name: Olga's Burning Sparrows.

Don't feel bad for the sparrows...they're the ones who did the burning, not the other way around.

We're auditioning a few drummers and an additional guitarist at the moment, so the permanent lineup currently only consists of myself (lead vocals and guitar) and my fellow grumpy vet Awbrey (bass and vocals)...but we shall see where the music ultimately takes us. Songs are already happening :) but those aren't available publicly yet, of course, since we don't officially have a permanent drummer.

And finally, as promised, the explanation of the chosen graphic for today's blog post: "Rock or Something" is 100% a military pun. The weird thing leaning against the skull is an MRE heating system, and the bird, obviously, is a sparrow. Art by yours truly.

Tomorrow you can watch (or simply listen, should you so prefer) to an excerpt from my upcoming novel Hidden, which is due to be released in just a few months: December 21, in fact! Hidden takes place a few weeks after the events of the novella Bound, immediately after the short story "Faerie Stones" (which you can read here for free, or subscribe to my emailing list and I will send you a digital copy of the full text, complete with illustrations), and approximately two years after the first book in the Circle Series, Destined, leaves off.

The excerpt is posted over on my YouTube channel, so enjoy! (And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a beat!)

It's here!!

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while (been busy with many, many projects...more so than usual), but this is so exciting I just had to post about it even though I only have about ten minutes to do so.

Alexithymia, the first publication by poet and writer Kit A. Sinclair (she has a novel coming out soon as well, which I will post about later) is released and available for download to your Kindle or on paperback for you traditional bookworms like me who like to feel and smell the book you're reading. Ok, I don't exactly go around sniffing books, but you know what I mean. Anyway, if you're a fan of poetry, or even if you're not, you should go give this poetry collection a looksie. I had the pleasure and privilege of editing Alexthymia before it's release, so having read it myself, I can assure you it's worth the read.

The poems inside are raw, and they tackle a lot of deep and rough topics since this particular collection covers a year of the author working through love and loss and battling depression. Thus, it comes with a trigger warning, which I'm echoing here, as those topics can be difficult for others struggling with similar issues to read about (and sometimes re-experience as a result).

So if you're up to it and want the emotional catharsis, or just want to read beautiful words processing difficult emotional depths, then give Alexithymia a chance. I wouldn't recommend it if it weren't excellent. Also check out that gorgeous cover art of a gorgeous model! I forgot her name (my bad, I'll look it up and post it later) as well as the name of the photographer, but the model perfectly captured the melancholy and inability to express that melancholy thematically ingrained in the book.