MY YEAR IN REVIEW

2024 was my third year as an Author, and this blog is an opportunity for me to review my progress and outline my plans for 2025.

SALES

Let's examine sales to get right into the reality of life as an indie author. This year, I made over 300 sales, compared to less than 100 in 2022. These numbers may not seem huge, but this is a significant win for me. I do not currently consider writing a realistic means to make money, as I am nowhere near that stage… yet. When you add up the time spent on writing, researching, marketing, and editing costs, I would need to sell around 1000 books a month to make it financially viable.

SOCIAL MEDIA

When I first started writing, it was all about creating stories. I spent very little time on social media in 2022, which was my most successful year in terms of actually writing. Since then, I have been in an unhealthy cycle of killing time on my social media pages once I open my laptop. This has been a real detriment to my creativity and something I intend to turn around in 2025. I will now only pop onto social media once I have completed my writing goal for each day.

WRITING WILL BE MY MAIN FOCUS FOR 2025

Like many indie authors, I have a full-time day job and a hectic family life. Therefore, writing doesn’t always fit in with the balance. My current and future projects are overwhelming, so I plan to take an entire day off each month to focus entirely on them. Additionally, I will ensure to write for at least 1 hour each day, which worked perfectly for me in 2022. This, along with my reduced presence on social media, will allow me to focus on doing what I love… creating horror.

SUPPORT

I continue to be blown away by the support for my work from readers and fellow authors. This genuinely boosts my motivation to create more horror and comes with a certain degree of (healthy) pressure, usually self-inflicted. I now strive to improve my writing and storytelling with each book I release, which I didn’t care much about in 2022.

WHAT AM I WORKING ON NOW?

I am completing the final edits of my supernatural horror tale, FORMULATION, and will confirm a release date at the end of January 25. I also have ten other workable story drafts, which I will prioritise after releasing FORMULATION. If you wish to be added to the email list for ARCs, please subscribe using the contact page.

MY ‘BEST’ BOOK

RED is my best-selling book and also my most-rated and talked-about story. I have been asked if I will venture back into the world of RED, and although I am tempted, I will wait to see if it can reach 100 ratings on Goodreads or 50 ratings on Amazon. Then… we will see.

IN CLOSING

2024 will be all about writing for me, as I have fallen into a bad routine this year. Today, I will commence my new regime, aiming to write for at least one hour each day, no matter what. Please continue to reach out on social media or email me at the contact page, as I love hearing from you all.

Wishing you a truly fantastic 2025.

Yours in horror,

Daniel Lorn