The end of 2023 has arrived! I don’t know about you folks, but I’m tired. It’s been a long marathon of a year. Time for a recap!
–The Books and Words-
This year I released 2 new books and a new edition of another. My horror collection of ice and cold themed stories, Red Icicles, dropped in March. My new-weird collection of strange and uncategorizable stories, Mirror Bones, came out in August. I updated my novella, The Stray Halos of Heaven Beyond, into a Pocket Book in October.
In terms of words written, I managed around 90k this year. About 50% of that is in things that have already been released, the other half is on future projects. It’s not a bad amount, but it falls short of my personal goals by a significant amount. I had set 120k as my bare minimum with the hope of hitting 180k. But, considering my office was destroyed for four months of the year, it’s reasonable to expect my output would be down accordingly. Next year we’ll try for no major disasters.
-Sales and Markets–
I did my first market selling my books last year in December. Since it went well, I decided to take the show on the road for 2023. Boy did I! All said, I stood behind a counter selling books and chatting with fans for 45 days this year at a wide variety of markets, conventions, and special events. What did this get me?
~ I put about 300 books into people’s hands!
~ I had 600 different story cards go off into the world!
~ I wrote over 50 live Snippet stories for people on my typewriter, Maxene!
~ I connected with over a dozen other genre authors and met hundreds of new folks!
I went from Yarmouth to Dartmouth and a whole lot of places in between! It’s been absolutely fantastic and I love getting out and meeting people and plugging into the vendor circuit. Writing often leaves me sitting alone for hours on end. The opportunity to interact and talk about my projects with people is really good for my extrovert side! I’ll be doing more of it next year!
If anyone’s curious about what sold best this year.
BOOKS
#1 – Mirror Bones
#2 – Across the Graven Horizon
#3 – Kingmaker Jelly
CARDS
#1 – Buddie’s Walk
#2 – Flight of the Kalikantzaros
#3 – The Angles Above
Does all this mean I’m doing well?
To know that, I’d need to know what the industry averages are for indy authors. I dug up some stats and compared myself.
- The average self-published book sells 250 copies. That’s average, not median. But still, it’s a goal. Based on that, I’m about 20-25% of average. Room to improve.
- 90% of self-published books sell less than 100 copies. So far, true. But all of my books are 50-70% on their way toward passing this milestone. I’m not worried that I’ll cross it in 2024.
- The average self-published author makes $1,000 per year from their books. 33% of self-published authors make less than $500 per year. 20% of self-published authors report making no income from their books. Okay, so if this is the average, I’m knocking it out of the park. Looks like my “go where the people are and beam with weird enthusiasm” strategy is working, cuz I made 10x that average this year.
- More than 1,000 self-published authors made $100,000 last year from Amazon. Here’s where I’m really missing the target. I sold a whopping 8 e-books this year. 8.
Online sales are absolutely where I’m lacking. Mostly because online sales require a bunch of things I still need to learn; keywords, adbuys, sale pricing, etc… Now that I have a fair number of books, it’s time to figure all this out. It’s high on the list of things to do for 2024. Speaking of which…
What’s in store for 2024?
Lots! That’s for sure. More markets and conventions, of course. I’m also adding some new products to the lineup; prints of cover art, stickers, bookmarks, and mystery envelopes (we do not talk about the mystery envelopes).
The “Online Overhaul” is going to include me doing a website update and migration, reworking my Patreon tiers and how I use Patreon, completing and updating an online store to get everything I sell at markets. Toss “figure out e-book sales” onto this pile.
I have a whole bunch of books coming out this year. The first will start dropping right here in this mailer. Every month, starting January, this newsletter will include one chapter of my serial novel, Patchworld Nova!
Capture the spirit of serial pulp fiction with this exciting sci-fi adventure! In the near future, Nova Scotia finds itself stolen from the face of the Earth and placed into a patchwork quilt of other alien worlds. When mysterious forces threaten their home, a brave group of misfits must cross strange landscapes in search of answers, before it’s too late. Chapter 1 releases in next month’s update, January 26th!
While Patchworld Nova runs for the entire year for free, it’s likely a Pocket Edition will release in October for those who can’t wait for the ending.
My next Pocket Edition will be the strange sword and sorcery tale, The Mudfisher’s Catch. A dying fantasy world, dripping with the dregs of wax and ancient magic. Release is planned for April.
After that we have Shunt, my full-length dystopian horror novel. It’s a terrifying vision of the future with a vile line drawn between the haves and have-nots. With an emphasis on food and flesh, it’s sure to leave a lingering taste in your mouth.
The next book is very exciting! Griot Enterprises has let me know that they’re full swing in production on Book #2 of Mark of the Cloven! This next installment in The Horsemen series is slotted for release in early summer, 2023. I’ll keep you posted with news and sneak peeks of art as it develops.
I feel like I may have rambled on beyond the normal capacity for human tolerance. I shall wrap this up.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported me over the year. This whole “turn daydreams into a life” thing wouldn’t be possible without all of you! I don’t know how to express my appreciation in any way other than to promise I’m gonna keep doing what I do, and getting you all strange fiction as fast as my brain can make my fingers scribble it out.
Here’s to 2024!
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All my books, social media, and other fun stuff all in one handy link at:
https://linktr.ee/judemire
Sign up for my monthly mailer! https://judemire.substack.com/
I’ve been adding to my online shop lately. If you want a Story Card or Signed Book in the mail, you can find them here:
https://ko-fi.com/judemire/shop
Some other ways you can help with putting strange stories into the world and supporting my writing…
1. Sign up and become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/judemire
2. Buy my books. For yourself or to give to the unsuspecting.
3. Rate and review my books on Amazon or Goodreads. This one is HUGE and wildly appreciated.
4. Comment on my social media posts. Likes and shares are good too, but they do less for the algorithm. Comments are king.
5. Feed me tacos and tequila.
(I’m not sure how much that last one helps with marketing, but I know I appreciate it!)