🍃, let's talk story about Melissa & NightBlooming!

Published: Tue, 03/16/21

Let's Talk Story

A friend of mine introduced me to the Hawaiian saying, "talk story," which means to really have a conversation with someone. It can be several anecdotes tied to a lesson or just a funny ending. It’s an amazing concept because it makes you stop and consider the person in front of you as a person. A living, human being with desires, hopes, dreams, successes, failures. It makes you relate to people as whole individuals, not some faceless username.

I forget sometimes people don't know my story.

I've been around Etsy for so long and known so many of my customers from The Long Hair Community, that I assume that most, if not everyone, knows how I destroyed my hair with chemical dyes and then spent years and years growing out the damage while I learned about natural hair dyes and developed all the products you see and all the articles I write at NightBlooming.

I forget that you might not know that I've been pouring myself into NightBlooming because it's what allows me to publish The Iyarri Chronicles independently, meaning I get to keep all my creative rights, but every single one of these books costs me about $25,000 out of pocket to have all the professional services of editing, ebook conversion, cover design, access to distribution networks, and all those books printed in hardcover.

I forget some of you don't know how insanely thin I stretch myself, and things like how I lost so much work recently and all I wanted to do was sit down and cry.

Iyarri Chronicles Series Book Trailer

Thankfully I've got more stubbornness than sense...

But this is my dream and I'm glad you're with me as I see it through! Keeping up with NightBlooming, and publishing deadlines is more than I could handle if I wasn't chasing my heart's dream of making NightBlooming my full-time gig, of being an author.

When I first started to get serious about publishing I had a lot of misconceptions about the process.

I had delusions of sitting beside an artist while they crafted my cover. I always wondered why some covers didn't match the contents, and the answer is because in traditional publishing you, the author, are sent an email along the lines of "Here's your cover, see attached .jpg! Hope you like it." As an artistic, visual person who has a clear vision, it crushed me to be totally excluded from such a meaningful part of the process.

More revelations made me realize that traditional publishing was not the best match for me. In addition to being in control of the cover, a publisher can:

Change the title of the book
Make you edit on their timeline (which is something I can’t do due to time constraints)
Make you change your name so you can keep being 'a debut author' until one of your series sticks, making it hard for readers to find your other books
Publish your first book and then decline to publish the rest, meaning that you’d have to let your series die or wait until you can get your rights back, which sometimes takes years

Writing this series is one of my life's goals and publishing independently lets me tell the story the way it should be told, and NightBlooming is a passion that helps pay for it all (and that one day I hope to be able to quit my day job and do full time--that's another thing I think that people don't know or forget, that NightBlooming is a one-woman business and I do it on top of writing and on top of a full time career).

Melissa Lynn Herold Fantasy Author and Herbal Alchemist Patreon Video

Patrons make my world go round

So what's a Patron anyway? Historically, art patronage was the gift of support and thus, survival. Royalty and the aristocracy retained artists who created in return for food, lodging, and much-needed supplies.

Today, however, support for art doesn’t have to come from some elite group, but from everyday people giving a little bit here and there.

Don't forget the 15% off Evergreen Discount for Patrons!

Patrons at the $7 tier or higher get a code every single month to take a flat 15% off EVERYTHING at NightBlooming. No waiting for sales--if you become a Patron at a qualifying tier you'll instantly have access to this month's code.

Would you be my Patron?

Essentially, this is me asking you to be my Patron, to support my art with a few dollars a month, so that I can produce the things you love. Think of it as buying me a cuppa and having a chat with you once every few weeks <3

I would love it if we could get enough people to hit these last two goals... (making Iyarri-inspired tea blends and an illustrated Iyarri book!) but like the $2 tier says, it takes a lot of little feathers to fly, and more than the money? Every Patron, to me, is someone that cares about this, that believes in me... and sometimes I need that when I don't believe in myself.

Become a Patron