My Publishing Year in Review

I believe every writer should take a moment to reflect on their year, because even subconsciously, that recap will inform them going forward. I, for one, am the type of person who needs to spell things out for myself, because otherwise, I'll fixate on my failures. Don't we all? But I don't think that is entirely fair. 

I'm in a unique position among writers/authors, in that I'm retiring from the game. Sure, I'll be doing little tweaks, such as my current project of rehabbing an older novel, but that's really not writing; it's editing. I hate editing. Still, it's not exactly labor-intensive. I can take my time and work only when I'm in the mood.

I'm going to do something counter-intuitive for me, and start with the good.

1. Between January and March, I was still in the throes of writing Running From Herself, and I at last fell madly in love with writing. I enjoyed writing my novellas, but this novel was different. As a writer, I should be able to explain that feeling better, but I can only describe it as euphoria. My synapses were firing; I both couldn't wait to find out what happened next and knew that I could make that "something" really good.

2. I became a better writer in general. Good writing became almost automatic. As with any pursuit, no one becomes proficient overnight. Looking back over the past decade, I wasn't "bad" to start with, but I had my struggles. I'm not talking about plotting, which I've yet to master, but the actual process of writing. I see it now in other areas of my life, even a simple X post or an email. The words flow easily. 

3. Rather than fight my humor instincts, I incorporated them into my story, not in a distracting way, but discerning readers, at least some of them, got it and appreciated it. Is that called "voice"? Probably. I deliberately placed my main character in situations that were embarrassing, sometimes cringey. Because that happens in real life; admit it.

4. I took a risk and promoted my writing, which means I promoted myself, because to me there is no separation between the two. I absolutely did not want to participate in social media, but I did it. And in the rare instances when I was asked to answer interview questions, I defied my inclination to downplay my talents; resisted my self-deprecating nature. That's called "playing pretend". It's not hard to do when you have a clear goal in mind, which in my case was to present myself as a competent professional.

5. I repackaged all eight of my novellas into two paperback editions, and while the process involved a lot of frustration and cursing, I now have those eight stories inside two fat volumes on my bookshelf. (They look nice!) 

The bad:

Oh, where do I begin? Did I choose to retire from writing because of the bad? Not really. I'm pretty good at rolling with the punches, and I was definitely punched a lot. And often, it was me doing the punching.

1. I blew my novel's rollout, primarily by designing my own cover, which I insanely believed I could do and still entice readers to buy my book. Sure, I can justify why I did it--I'm poor. There ya go. Nevertheless, once I finally realized that I was sabotaging sales, I surrendered, and by being able to split the cost of a professional cover into two payments, I acquired a (really) good cover, and it didn't impact my bank account much at all. Of course, by then, months had passed and the debut buzz had zzzzz'd right out.

2. Instead of approaching marketing the right way, I threw money at everything. Not a lot of money, which is another drawback, but $10.00 here, $20.00 there. I essentially tried it all--Facebook ads featuring my bad cover, Amazon ads, puny promo sites, BookBub ads, begging for free reviews from bloggers and review sites, paying to enter writing contests. I can't think of anything, within budgetary reason, I didn't try. Every one of those things failed. I also wasted time, loads of time, promoting my novel on Instagram and to a lesser extent, on X and Facebook. At one point I was creating and uploading Instagram posts every day. I even tried TikTok.   

3. It finally sunk in that as much as I loved my story, it didn't resonate with anyone. I think that was the baddest of the bad. An author can correct bad marketing decisions, she can fix her cover, fix her blurb; but if no one wants her story, there is no point to any of it. I can't make someone be interested. I reworked the novel's blurb probably ten times, figuring it wasn't catchy enough or intriguing enough. No, the story apparently just sounded boring. 

4. I allowed envy to creep in. No, I don't like romance novels--I disdain their cookie cutter nature and empty calories--but lots of people love them. It's not romance authors' fault that readers prefer their books over mine, but I still resented them. Or I'd start reading a Reddit post by a debut indie author who complained that he only sold twenty books in his first week of release, and I fumed. I've sold 44 copies of Running From Herself in ten months. I don't like envy; it's a heavy, dark cloud that shadows the soul. And once you submit to it, the cloud tails you wherever you go.

 

So, what will 2026 bring? I do feel that the old novel I'm repackaging is worthwhile. And I have no self-imposed deadline in which to get it done. Despite my past bad experience with designing my own cover, as of now I don't intend to commission one for this book, because the expense is not recoupable. But I will try hard, incorporate all the tips I've absorbed, to come up with something presentable. I'll publish it, not in the hope of sales, but in order to buy a copy for myself. If one person buys a copy, great. 

After that? No clue. I'll still have one more novel remaining--my very first one--but I'm kind of doubtful about creating a paperback version, even for myself. The story itself isn't interesting enough for me to even edit, but if I get bored enough, I might take a stab at it.

I'll still keep one foot in the indie publishing world, by reading and blogging about topics that catch my eye. I don't foresee this blog going away, because I like it!

I think that's the theme, overall, that I take away from this past year: Do something because I like doing it; don't do anything I detest. I spent decades in jobs that I occasionally enjoyed, but that mostly stressed me out, even to the point of affecting my well-being. Nobody's forcing me to do that anymore. Now is my time to please myself.

Happy 2026 to my readers! Here's wishing you, in a non-envious way, success with your publishing.