Hello lovelies,
I thought it would be a good idea to start the year off with a blog post about my plans for 2025 and which changes I might be making. I’ll be sharing a bit about the ups and downs, as well as what my 2025 might end up looking like.
Did you check out the blog post prior to this one? It’s all about New Year’s resolutions and it even comes with a printable workbook for you to try out!
Writing and publishing
The plan so far is to write and publish three books this year. The first one is already halfway done and available for preorder! If MM, age-gap, ex’s brother-in-law, plus a good bit of action sounds like something you might be interested in, you can check out Fatal Temptation here.
The plan, at least so far, is to release 3 books in 2025 (hopefully more, but we’ll see). Starting with Fatal Temptation and then on to the Salvation Kings MC: New Freedom Chapter series. The series will start with a prequel for the first couple and then they’ll have a full book. Who is the first couple you might ask? Well, if you’ve read the Salvation Kings MC series and the King’s Disciples MC series, you may already know Miles and Kaz. Both were adopted from horrible circumstances into the clubs and Kaz loves to tease Miles…In more ways than one.
Something new, maybe?
I am considering publishing my new releases in my shop for one to two weeks and then putting them into Kindle Unlimited for one 90-day period. The reason I don’t want to publish wide for a week or two before pulling the books and putting them into KU, is because the wide retailers can be really slow with removing the books from their sites.
They can even show as removed in my dashboard while still being available on some of their sites (this happens mostly with Kobo and their smaller affiliate sites). When the KU period is over, I’ll take the books wide (Kobo, Nook, Apple, libraries, my shop, and so on). Let me know in the comments below if you like this idea or if you hate it! I’m still undecided so I would love to hear your opinion!
What’s up with the blog?
When my PA (very strongly) suggested I start a blog, I thought I would be thrown straight into the deep end and end up drowning because I had no idea what to write about. Fortunately, I quickly found that I had a lot to say. Surprising to most people who know me, probably, but certain topics are close to my heart and therefore I could talk you to death about them.
There are always things happening in the writing and publishing industry and as an author, I feel I’m quite equipped to weigh in on those topics. I’m glad to have a place where I can do that now! I love sharing with you guys as well and I find blogging more intuitive than newsletters and social media. So, thank you to my bestie for pushing me to start this blog! I can’t wait to see how much the blog can flourish this year!
So far, we have 26 blog posts on the schedule and I’ve already begun writing quite a few of them. I have some fun blog posts planned for 2025 and I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do creating them!
The uncertainties
A lot is happening in the world right now and it makes the life of an author quite perilous. Especially the continued book bans in the US. The next four years might break the publishing industry (and to be honest, it’ll probably extend many years beyond that particular presidency).
My earnings have gone from small to non-existing. Unfortunately, that means I can’t continue the way I have for the past seven years. With no income, my savings are taking quite a hit every month. I’ve been a full-time author for nearly a decade which means that selling books is my only source of income.
I know I can only continue the way I’ve been going the past year for a few more months. That means I need to get another job and that job has to become my priority until things turn around again. Writing will have to take a backseat which sucks because aside from stressing me out, writing is also my safe space. It’s where I get to be creative! It’s where all those stories my mind creates gets life breathed into them. It brings me as much stress as it does peace.
In a rich man’s world
I love creating! I’m not writing to earn money. I write because I love it and I love sharing my stories with others at the chance that they might enjoy them as much as I do. Do I want to earn money from my work? Yes! Who doesn’t? I think my stories are worth it! That doesn’t mean I want to become a millionaire or a celebrity. Far from it, actually. The best time for me was when I was earning exactly what I needed to live comfortably.
Unfortunately I earned more in three months of 2022 than in all of 2024. That’s the harsh reality many authors are living currently. It’s so damned disheartening to be doing more and more and see your income only dwindle each month. I’ve made less on my latest release than I did my very first despite throwing money at it that I don’t have. I know many authors in the same boat as me and although it’s slightly comforting to know I’m not alone it’s also just as horrifying!
In Conclusion…
While I have to be realistic, I hope that 2025 will be much better than 2024! I may have some rough months ahead of me, but here’s to hoping that I’ll make it through. If all goes well, I’ll have at least 3 books out in 2025! Remember that despite the bad stuff, we authors will keep writing because it’s who we are and what we love to do. Nothing in this life is permanent, not even sh*tty periods in your life! So keep your chin up and everything will solve itself in due time. Thank your for reading along and stay safe guys!
Happy New Year Ana🥳2025 is going to be an interesting year with everything going on!!! I hope that for you and many authors that it will be an awesome year!!!Your books are amazing and I hope many people get to read them 🙏🏾❤️❤️🤎
Thank you, Anna, and happy New Year🎉❤️ I really hope so too!!