2013 was an interesting year. From a professional standpoint, it certainly had its highs and lows. Let's highlight some of them chronologically:
- Real Illusions, my short story collection, was released
- I released a special edition ebook exclusively to subscribers to my newsletter called Seeds (I plan on doing a special edition ebook for newsletter subscribers every year)
- I offered up my ebook and paperback print formatting services
- Walk the Sky, the short novel I wrote with David B. Silva, was released as a limited edition hardcover from Thunderstorm Books
- David B. Silva, regrettably, passed away
- I officially became a bestselling author, when The Serial Killer's Wife landed on the USA Today bestseller list
- I released The Calling and Spooky Nook as audiobooks
- I put together a limited edition ebook containing ten novellas called Midnight Symphony (note: it's still available, but not for that much longer)
- Refuge: Lost in the Echo, the third book in a serial novel I wrote with Jeremy Bishop and several other writers, came out
- "Mr. Mockingbird Drive" -- which originally appeared in Needle -- was reprinted in Eight The Hard Way, edited by Nick Stephenson
- Nomad, my novella set in the world of Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines, was released
Throughout the year there were, of course, many, many podcasts.
I also talked about neglecting the blog, and how I was going to try to update it more. I don't think I ever really reached that goal. I saw a news article recently that talked about the death of the blog, and I guess that's what's been happening here. I use it to make announcements and that's about it. In the past I would blog about a lot of different things, whether it be pop culture or what was happening in publishing, but it became tiresome. I began to limit my comments to 140 characters on Twitter, where I'm most active. And, quite honestly, I started to become bored with the blog. I see other writers sometimes blogging about one issue or topic or another, and I think, who cares? And with that in mind, I don't feel like throwing my two cents in when nobody ever asked me in the first place.
I'm not the only one, I've noticed. Many other writers have been blogging less and less. Is it true, do you think -- is the blog dying for good now?
Anyway, despite the ups and downs, 2013 was a good year. What it wasn't, however, was very productive. Don't get me wrong, I've been writing, but I didn't release nearly as much as I would have liked. And my sales this year have suffered for it. They're still good, but they weren't nearly as good as they were in 2012, when I was releasing many more books. That's the thing in publishing, whether it be indie or traditional -- velocity matters. The more books you release, the more you'll sell. That's just how it is.
But I have been working. 2014 should see the release of many new books. Besides an omnibus of Refuge, which will collect all five books of the series, I hope to release Legion, Bullet Rain, and at least one new Holly Lin book, if not two. I also hope to throw in a short horror novel or novella if time permits. And I might even try to write a few new short stories.
Yes, 2014 should be quite an interesting year.
This won't be my last post of 2013, though; that will be in the next day or two, when I'll list the books I really enjoyed reading this year.
Until then, happy Sunday!