It's the latter I want to talk about most, because it's my newest quiz and the most ambitious so far! I spent forever (okay, three weeks, but three weeks is a long time) developing, balancing, and adjusting it. And then drawing art for it! I'd love some beta testers to have a look at it, which is where you all come in. I'd love it if you were to take the quiz and tell me your experience
with it! Here are some of its features:
It has five scenarios where you think about what you would do in a situation you might find yourself in, in the Alliance
It scores you on 76 (!) virtues, and uses those scores to find your best match
It tells you about yourself based on your choices, how strong a match you were, and what other virtues you scored well on
It tells you how many other people share your species (in the Delilah's recommendations
section)
It tells you a little about the species in the context of the Peltedverse
And it recommends a specific Peltedverse book based on your species, and two more options based on the next highest species scores
Right now all the artwork is grayscale, and I'm debating whether I should color it. What do you think? And did you enjoy the quiz if you took it? Send it to friends, find out what they are!
Oh, and here's some fun data about the
participants in the Jokka quiz:
Of the 92 people who've taken the quiz, 50 were eperu, 22 emodo, and 20 anadi.
Of those, only 9 were elithik - every sex at one point or another!
And only ONE, for each sex, was kudelith - three times the same sex.
What's crazy to me was that this feels like a realistic breakdown for a real Ke Bakil community: about half breeder, half neuter, with the lowest number the (precious!) females. I'm not sure what the ratios of
elithik/kudelith/normal are, mostly because I think they fluctuate over time, but under 10% sounds right: they're always rare.
Wow, you're making a lot of these...
...I am! And I have plans for at least two more, a Kherishdar quiz, and a Jokka paper doll (where you get to dress up and color your Jokka avatar!).
But why...?
Because I want people to get excited about the books, and this is a novel way to do that, and to participate in some way
in the stories. Plus, it's a fun way to rope your friends in, if you've been trying to get them to read the books!
I'll be honest, aletsen: these days it's hard to stand out from the crowd, hard to market your work in a way that gets it seen, and hard to make it clear that your work is worth any investment, whether it's time, money, or enthusiasm. I could be buying Amazon or Facebook ads, or doing the same old "pleeeeeease buy my book" song and dance on social media. But
I want to do something different! I want people to play and have fun, and be inspired!
Also, I like doing this kind of thing. It's fun for me, and I'm learning a lot! 😁
But doesn't it take up a lot of time...? For no noticeable return?
It does take time, mostly because every time I do a quiz, I have to try something different with the next. And while I have a 'you might like this book or sticker' purchase link at the bottom of your results screens,
I don't anticipate that creating a ton of new income for me. I'm thinking of running some super mini-Kickstarters to pay for development time for these... if I do, I'll let you all know. But I consider these quizzes investments in my creative ecosystem, and so I'm guessing it will take some time for their effects to snowball. I'm betting that they'll create a lot of joy, though. So go try them, and let me know what you think!
Clays Upon the Sands is the second volume in the Clays Collections series of short fiction about the Jokka. This volume includes a
few standalone Jokka shorts that I've published previously as freebies or singletons, plus three new stories I wrote specifically for this book. I hope Jokka fans enjoy their return to Ke Bakil! Plus, it's got all new art, in color, one illustration per story! Some of them are really lovely too. Have a look:
New Serial: Red Honey
If that's not enough Jokka for you, I'm beginning the serialization of the Red Honey novella on my subscription platforms this week! Eventually that story will be available for retail sale, but if you want to watch it evolve in real time, you'll want to hop on one of those platforms. If the serial isn't sufficent incentive, I post artwork every Tuesday, and I have plans for another
regular feature in addition to the serial, so it's never been a better time to buy me a cup of coffee very month. Choose between Patreon and Locals: same content, same day, just different venues.
New
Wiki!
Finally, in support of the Jokka work and the forthcoming Kherishdar books, I've started a wiki for the remaining series in my canon. The peltedverse wiki is a mature product—I still find things in the books that aren't on it yet, but it's rarer. The new wiki, as you can imagine, is nearly empty! If you'd like access to it, let me know. Contributors helped build out the peltedverse wiki, which helps me enormously with story continuity. This new wiki for other universes will do the
same, and the faster it gets the data, the faster I can work...!
Finally, a Cat
And of course, it wouldn't be a monthly email from me without a cat photo!
But wait! you say. Don't you have an
orange cat?
I do! This visitor is my cat's girlfriend! She's a neighborhood cat who wanders between four different houses, and ours is a favorite because she gets to stare inside at my cat, who stares longingly back. They even meow to one another as if having a conversation. Truly a star-crossed romance! Look how lovely she is, posing with the grasses that accentuate her big green eyes. No wonder my cat is
smitten.💗
That's it for July! I hope you all are having a fantastic summer (or winter) and that you try the quizzes and have fun with them! I'll be back in August with more Jaguar news. 🐆 Until then, be well, friends!
