It’s the time of year where we have to scratch out 2024 because we’ve forgotten the year changed and now we need to write 2025.
I like to write a year end/new year post every year so I can see what I accomplished and where I need to
improve. If you’d like to read last year’s post, you can do so here.
I managed to hit a lot of my 2024 goals. And some I fell short on. I had hoped to try to launch a new romance book award, and unfortunately it failed pretty miserably. I did manage to connect a few romance reviewers to romance readers, but ultimately, it fell short of how I had hoped. I still plan to post the reviews that I did get, and do a feature post for all the authors that joined the event. I also tried to re-launch my “I Want Sexy Excerpts” newsletter, but it didn’t go so well either. Despite having authors sign up for most of the weeks, I only got excerpts from a handful of them. I had said I won’t spend my time chasing people down for posts/newsletter content. I don’t plan to give up on it yet, but I think I’m going to have to restructure it.
As for what went well…..
At the end of 2023 I asked one of my publishers for my rights back to all of my books, with the intention of re-releasing them in 2024.
I managed to re-released 5 books, write a short story for an anthology, and release 2 brand new stories. That’s a lot! I think I made up for not releasing anything in 2023.
2024 was also the first year I made more than $300 in a year, which was amazing. I’m far from being able to pay the bills yet, or even my author expenses (covers, editing, formatting, etc.), but it was a massive improvement, especially considering I did little to no promotion over the last year (because my focus was on releasing as many books as I could).
If you read last year’s post, you’ll notice that my social media and personal goals didn’t quiet get met. I still feel like I got a lot accomplished. We had some issues with my kids and needing to change schools, so that was an adjustment (thankfully for the better), and last summer I started working on a part-time/casual bases, which obviously cuts into my writing time.
What can we expect in 2025?
Contemporary stories:
I’m planning to release Naughty List, Naughty Secret, and Naughty Escapes this year. Ideally, I’d also love to release Holiday Hearts: A Collection of Winter Inspired Love Stories.
PNR:
I’m aiming to have Elliot out before the summer.
Clayridge:
This spring I’d like to release Waking the Winter Warlock, and before the end of 2025 (ideally before August) release Queen of Brood and Blood, but that’s a tall order.
Love Spells, Full Moons, and Silver Bullets will be getting a new cover to match the rest of the series.
What next?
If I can manage to get through all those releases, I’ll be jumping into Duncan, Mercer and Rafe’s books, as well as starting up a new BDSM contemporary series to start 2026. I’d love to finish off the Pack Trouble series in 2026.
I have no shortage of ideas, and a long list of future series I want to write, including 2 more contemporary series, a steampunk/fantasy type series, a sci-fi why choose trilogy, a few more shifter stories, and of course….lots more Clayridge.
Outside of writing….what’s next?
One of my big goals for 2025 is to start a podcast, The Clayridge Witches Coven Podcast. It will be focused on all things Clayridge, with some seasons being dedicated to author interviews. And each episode will either have a new excerpt, or a brand new, very short story that takes place in Clayridge. (With the exception of author interview episodes)
I’m so excited to get started on that, and with some luck, I might be able to launch it in March.
What books are you looking forward to in 2025?
