2013 was, by any measure, an improvement over 2012.

I published another 20 ebooks (many under a pen name).

I produced several audiobooks and made dozens of sales by that avenue.

I received many reviews — some positive, some negative, but all having strong reactions, which to me is indicative of some sort of emotional power behind my books (I hope!)

Most importantly — though my sales by some people’s accounts are modest — my sales and royalties were five times more than the previous year. I averaged more than $40 a month in royalties, varying widely from month to month, but compared to the previous years of self publishing it’s an astonishing number to me. I know to some it’s small, but the increase is what’s significant to me.

THINGS I DID RIGHT

• Setting Fell Winter to free produced probably hundreds in royalties, causing a steady influx of sales for High Queen, Dragon’s Son, and the Omnibus. Also, whenever I do a promo on one of the lovely sites such as Ereader News Today, it invariably produces several sales of the next few (and sometimes sales of the free book itself, go figure.)
• Optimizing my world/publisher website with illustrations. (www.vardabooks.com)
• Writing a lot.
• Not giving up on audiobooks (last month produced great sales and better reviews).

THINGS I DID WRONG

• My Imperial Chronicles series has a pretty terrible ranking. But I don’t doubt that when I set the first to free, the same will happen as did with Fell Winter. Once I finish that series, I’m going to do a bit more promotion and also focus on my pen name. Maybe I will reveal that to you at some point soon.
• I still haven’t made a print edition of Fell Winter, High Queen and Dragon’s Son. That will change hopefully by the end of this month. Print is becoming a viable option for indie publishers like myself.

And I have some fairly exciting news on the publishing front, but nothing concrete. I’ve grown a bit jaded with the process, but the company I’m speaking of is a major publisher. Again, nothing concrete, and something that could easily dissipate into thin air.

I am very pleased with 2013, and very hopeful/optimistic about the future.

Au revoir, 2013, you were good to me. Looking forward to where 2014 takes me, and bon voyage!