As I was reading the translation of my first novel into Russian to my wife yesterday, she was holding our third baby. He was loving the reading almost as much as she was. It was way past everyone’s bed time, we were exhausted after a crazy few months, but there was so much joy in that room. The laughter of 4-month old Daniel, our new house in a quiet little village, the hours spent coaxing baby #2 to fall back asleep in the middle of the night…
Yeah, it’s been an amazing year. Before the craziness of finals, New Year, and Christmas, it’s time to look back at the year, assess, and give thanks. You’re welcome to come along if you like.
The Good
I’ve been independently publishing my books for almost a year and a half now. I don’t regret a second of it. The year that I spent waiting for my agent to sell a book he wasn’t interested in was an experience I don’t want to repeat. The more I read about traditional publishing in our days, the less I want to subject myself to that “hurry up and wait” system. There are clearly advantages to being published by one of the so-called “big five.” But those advantages are getting smaller every year.
Plus, I really enjoy being effectively the CEO of a small, creative business. Realizing that was a major step for me this year. I realized that all of what I do–writing books, blogging, translating, interacting on social media–is part of a single business. Not a very profitable one, at this point. But one that I enjoy immensely and that I hope brings some good not only to me, but to others as well.
Some highlights of this past year’s good stuff:
- The Kickstarter for my Raven Son books raised over 25,000.00 dollars. I’ve been flabbergasted by the continued response from that crowdfunding campaign. Its success has led to a host of updates for my business, including courses, audiobooks, hardcovers, translations into Russian, some illustrations, and even a sword!
- I wrote two books (the second of which, The Forge of the Covenant, will be out in a few weeks). I already realized that I need time to process books before I write them. I’m not a fast writer, and though I’m getting faster, I need a long period of time in the beginning to get the world of the book created and consistent.
- I wrote a screenplay for the pilot of a miniseries. It was super fun to write, and it even got an award.
- I’ve published one audiobook version already, and book 2 is coming in a month or two. I’m thrilled with the narrator and with the possibility of hearing my words being spoken aloud by someone other than me in front of a mirror.
- Book 1, The Song of the Sirin, has been translated into Russian. I’m looking into publication options in Russia as we speak.
- I translated my first work of fiction, a monster of a novel that was over 700 pages long, set in a concentration camp in Russia. Fun stuff (not).
- I sold over 6,000 books in a year, and gave away over 10,000 books for free. This is phenomenal, considering most books don’t sell more than 300 copies in their lifetime.
Most interesting (and crazy) was my beginning a Masters of Divinity at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville. The good of this was that I started reading again (things other than fantasy novels, that is). My brain woke up, and I remembered the joy that learning gives. It’s been a while.
The Bad
Maybe I shouldn’t say “the bad,” because all of what I’ll list has led to good things as well. Anyway…
I didn’t manage to keep to the schedule of published books that I promised to my Kickstarter supporters. This was embarrassing on the one hand, but on the other it forced me to be realistic about my process of writing and what I need in terms of time, preparation, and head space. It looks like I’m going to be at least 6 months behind on both books 4 and 5, with book 5 possibly getting delayed as much as a year. But it’s going to be a big book, bringing together plot lines and themes from a lot of different story strands.
I’m excited to get started with it.
I also didn’t manage to get any traction with the screenplay I mentioned. Several production companies were initially interested, but the problem was that Ryan (my fellow writer) and I are newbies trying to sell an expensive historical fantasy series. Not a good combination, apparently.
I also lost focus on my blog. I had too many competing interests and not enough time to realize them, so rather than just hunkering down and writing every week, I just put things off. Turns out that was probably for the best as well, as you’ll see in a bit.
Finally, the choice to enter the Mdiv program was actually a mistake. Not without benefits, as I said already. But there was simply not enough time to do everything. So I had to first go from full time student to part time student, and now I’m probably going to have to take a leave of absence to finish book 5 and two translation projects that are handing over me like Madame Guillotine.
The Future
Being in the Mdiv program did have one huge benefit. I finally worked out a system to manage my time well. For me, this is huge. To give credit where it’s due, I’ve been helped out immensely by Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner, as well as his courses on goal setting and productivity. I realized how much time I was wasting on things that were not necessary. And I realized how important it is to prioritize the really important things, like time with the kids and my wife.
The Blog
My issues with my blog this past year have been at least partially due to a fracturing of focus. I have two things I like to blog about. Russian fairy tales, history, folk culture, and the like –the kinds of things that readers of my novels enjoy, because it deepens the experience of reading my novels. But I’m increasingly interested in culture creation more broadly, especially in a Christian context. This is something I have blogged about before, and it’s central to my Writer’s Manifesto.
The problem is that the two emphases are going in slightly different directions, and I’m being torn in two. So I’m starting a new blog next year. It’ll be about creating and cultivating authentic, traditional Christian culture in a time when such things are frowned upon, misunderstood, and sometimes vilified. I’ll let you know more about that later. I’ll still be regularly posting on Russian history, fairy tales, and folk traditions here on my author blog, though.
I’m also looking into doing more audio. Some sort of podcast, though I’m not sure yet what. If any of you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.
New Genres, Formats
I’ve started a short story anthology workshop with some of the best in the business, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I’ve already written two new short stories. (One of them is what might loosely be termed “historical romance,” gasp!) I’m also going to try out science fiction and maybe mystery. It’s exciting to push myself into directions that are not intuitive to me. Who knows, it might all be garbage, but it’s worth a shot.
I’ve also decided to finally expand outside Amazon with my ebooks. You can now buy them in all digital retailers. So those of you who read on Nook or Kobo, you can now buy my books there.
Waystone Press
This past year and a half I’ve been really focusing on my own writing and marketing. But it’s time to focus more on my publishing imprint. That means a new website, new authors publishing with me, and more efforts to help others out with their writing and publishing efforts. This might mean anthologies of short stories or other forms of collaboration. I’ll have more info on that in the near future.
So as you see, there’s plenty of good stuff happening, and more to come.
Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me and have read my blogs and books. Thank you if you’ve left a review or if you’ve recommended my book to friends. And thank you for your emails and your comments, both positive and negative. I look forward to another fruitful year of conversation and mutual edification (I hope).
Gift alert! I’m offering a free download of the fantasy map for my Raven Son universe. Interested? Add your email below so I can share it with you!