I’m already on record, stating how 2025 was a banner year for me. I feel kind of weird stating that, since it sucked so bad for so many other people, but for me it went really well (effects of the national and international shitshow notwithstanding). I had four releases, wrote two entire novels, moved into graphic design professionally, and established a work and life schedule that was productive and, more importantly, sustainable.
But here’s the most important thing that happened. I found ways to market my books that were low stress, and people bought them at full price. Not only that, but sales increased on several books that I didn’t even promote. This tells me that the people I encouraged into my ecosystem stuck around and explored my other work. This shows me that this is not just a vanity project. I’ve found ‘pockets of demand’ for my books (thanks to Becca Syme for the terminology). Now, we’re not talking about thousands, or even hundreds, but dozens of sales in a given month. This would not be a success to some people, but for me, it’s a blockbuster. It’s more than enough to make this feel like it’s worth it.
I’ve not had a truly breakout hit, but what seems to be happening is that I’m adding people to my audience one or two at a time, and once they’re in, they’re in. I write adult science fiction and fantasy, so the audience churn is minimal. Once I have a reader, I can conceivably keep them forever. I call this the ‘Slow Burn, Long Tail’ strategy.
I saw some statistics that say that for fiction writers, the average career lasts 3-4 years. That counts indie and trad. That means from first publication, most people stop publishing new work after just four years. That is an insanely high churn rate.
This was year four for me, and I feel like I’m just getting started. I’m just now seeing signs that I could be successful. I feel like I’ve finally found my voice and am finding my audience. Sometimes, these things take time.
My top Clifton Strengths (everybody should take this inventory it is revelatory) are Ideation, Intellection, Futuristic, Strategic, and Maximizer. I won’t take time to explain what each of these mean, but they indicate that I have a million ideas, and focused on the future, and able to create plans to implement these ideas. For me, this means I have a plan for publishing that will take me through 2040. When I’m done (having retroactively added everything I’ve done so far to this plan) I will have published forty-one books in 19 years. That’s six full series of 5-8 books each, and six standalones. For the next fourteen years, I plan to write and release two books a year, working on four series at a time. Each series will get an installment every two years. This is a trad pacing for series, but I’m putting out books like an indie. No traditional publisher would allow me to do this. They would insist I pump out one series (maybe two) at a time, and then if it were successful I would be contractually obligated to keep extending the series ad nauseum until I was dead or sales collapsed. You only have to look at the fate of writers like Jim Butcher or Terry Brooks to see this is true. By staying indie, I maintain control of what I write and when I write it. I can release an entire series whether or not it is meeting the goals on a publisher spreadsheet. Nothing is getting canceled out from under me. I can write the books of my heart without needing spectacular sales to justify their existence. I can grow my audience slowly because I can keep them forever.
Also, and this is also important, this year I had finally developed the skills to do all parts of the publishing process myself. I can do my own covers; I can edit myself (with some assistance at various stages) I can do my own formatting. Aside from some software subscriptions, I can do this for free. That is an immensely different place than I was in before where I was spending $1000 per book release. That amount of money was not sustainable. But now, my pipeline is sustainable, and I’m even reaching out to do client work for other people to bring in some extra income.
I keep having to be clear with myself that I did not ‘get lucky.’ I developed these skills over a long career and spent 2024 earning a degree in digital art and graphic design. I created this situation. Not everyone has the time (or money) to do that, so no shade on other people, but I owe myself a pat on the back for putting in the work that allows me to do this.
Another important thing that keeps me sustainable is that I have an income (however small) that covers my bills so that I don’t have to rely on publishing money to live. I’m not flush with cash. Money is tight and I rent a room from my parents, but I don’t have to have an awful day job that sucks my energy. I can devote my entire energy to writing and publishing. My art does not have to financially support me, which removes a lot of the creativity-killing pressure that others experience.
I also tend to write fast. 40,000 words a month is an easily sustainable pace for me at this point. This means I actually can write two books a year without pulling a muscle. I’ve developed a work and release schedule that has downtime and a buffer built in, which means I shouldn’t have to miss many (if any) of my self-imposed publishing deadlines. I feel like this is where a lot of indie authors get into trouble. They devise a schedule and post release dates that account for them working at their absolute fastest pace, and when life intervenes or that does not turn out to be sustainable, they break promises to readers or burn out entirely and quite for a couple of years (or maybe forever). I’m confident that I can avoid that fate, if only because my deadlines and due dates do not need me to be running at full speed all the time. I have a work schedule where I work ten weeks and then take two weeks off. I am not exhausting myself to do this, so when I do post a release date (or a preorder link) I am fully committed to hitting those dates.
So, I’m kind of writing this post for myself as much as I am for anyone else. I am committed to a life of creativity and am starting to see myself enjoying the benefits of my hard work, and the years when it felt like I was shouting into the void. I am immensely proud of myself and, more importantly, proud of the work I am putting out.
So, thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I have a lot of new things to show you over the next fourteen years. I promise to be here through it all and finish the stories that I start. Thank you for being part of my slow burn, and please stick around for the long tail.