2024, a year in review

Another year is coming to an end. It’s time to look back and see how far we’ve come (or not). I’m rounding up my fourth year on this self-publishing journey. It hasn’t been a rocket, more like an air balloon, but I’m hopeful that 2025 will be a good year in my writing world.

First, let’s examine my output. This year, I completed two full novels: The Novice of Thanatos, book 1 in The Order of Thanatos series, which is currently querying for an agent, and the Destiny of the Daystar, book 4 in my Absolution of the Morning Star series, which is available now for pre-order, but releases on January 7th. I’ve also begun writing a third novel, Duke Rime of the Spire, currently at 20,000 words. I only published one book in 2024, Noonday in the North (book 3 of Absolution of the Morning Star). Ultimately, this negatively impacted my sales. I’m currently 11% down from last year, which is frustrating. I also only received three customer reviews in 2024. It is getting increasingly more challenging to stay relevant and get noticed. I keep meticulous keyword indexing records, and they keep getting more grim as the number of books on the market increases. AI-written books will make this even more challenging, but let’s stay positive!

My most significant success was getting Koen: Quills from the Raven’s Nest, traditionally published with Grendel Press. Though the process was frustrating and a ton of work, it helped overshadow the disappointment in sales. Hopefully, it will be out in the spring and begin a new adventure for me (and a learning curve). As a prequel to the Absolution of the Morning Star series, if it’s even a minor success, it will help feed readers to my other books. That would give me the impetus to finish the last two books in the AMS series. In the meantime, I will finish Duke Rime of the Spire and then write book 2 of The Order of Thanatos series. My goal is to complete three books next year, but we’ll see if life allows that.

This will be my 55th post on this blog in 2024. Last year, I posted 34, a 62% increase in output, mainly because I started posting two times a week in November. We’ll see how long I can keep that up. I added 76 subscribers this year, and currently, I am at 604. Total views on my website are up 31%, and likes are up 36%. Ultimately, I am happy with this growth. I won’t lie. Constantly coming up with new ideas for posts sucks, but I enjoy the immediate feedback and engagement. On those days when I see nothing but zeros on Amazon, at least my numbers here show that some are interested in what I have to say. Thank you all!

As for social media, I’ve added 1,271 followers on X (Twitter). I aimed to reach 10k this year (currently at 9,849), but Elon and an exodus to Blue Sky ruined that. I’ve leveled out at around 9,850 for months now. I also joined Blue Sky, and currently, I have 1,088 followers. I’m excited about the platform’s prospects. My Instagram followers have declined, but I don’t post often on the platform. Facebook has remained flat. YouTube has done well with the addition of my new book trailers. Views are up 900%, and impressions are up 802% from last year. These seem like huge increases, but I have never paid much attention to the platform until recently. It looks like it may be a good area for future growth, and I will continue experimenting. I’ve always wanted to do some readings from my books and may get to that this year.

My honest assessment? 2024 was a pretty flat year. With all the increases in marketing, blogging, and social media engagement, I should have seen at least a modest increase in sales, but that didn’t happen. I also didn’t publish as much as I got bogged down in pursuing my traditional publishing dream. Querying for Koen took a year, then a rewrite, and then waiting in line to get published. The Novice of Thanatos will take a similar slow route. I’ve been querying since October. I slowed down because of the holidays but will begin again in the New Year. I will query until I run out of agents to send it to, and then I will likely traditionally publish. By that point, I will have completed book 2 of the trilogy and can shift to querying for Duke Rimes of the Spire. Hopefully, one of these books will catch someone’s eye. All I can do is keep writing, keep trying, and hope.

Well, that’s my year in review. I continue to learn and grow on this journey. It is undoubtedly full of frustrations and some heartache, but ultimately, it is still exciting. Every day, I wake up enthusiastic and ready to continue the battle, which is very important in life. I have so many more stories to tell, and I can’t wait to see where I finally end up. If anything, I will have these blogs as snapshots to remind me where I’ve been. It is easy to lose sight of the progress over such a protracted period, but there is progress, if only at an air balloon rate. It might not be as thrilling as riding a rocket, but the view is still pretty good.

Cheers!