Once again with the year coming to an end I take a look back at the twelve months just gone and set out goals for the next.

I had lots of objectives for this year just gone, and I achieved them all. In March I released the complete fifteen episodes of STOPPING POWER as season one. In April I released YOUR BOOK WON’T WRITE ITSELF, plus I overachieved on getting both the next two books in the James Fisher series ready for production, with the second book THEIR RIGHT TO VENGEANCE coming out last November and the third book SHATTERED DESTINY, set for release in around four to six weeks.

In preparation for the second and third books I also released a new cover design for FATE’S AMBITION.

In addition to what feels like editing for most of the year, I also have over 30,000 words of new material, both of which are new genres which I will capitalise on in 2024.

I also wanted to make the most of my 2023 events and I think I can say that I well and truly have. I now have three series whose lead books sell really well, offering different things to different people. Plus my writing book is an added bonus. With very low production costs, I sell at least two at every event and some afterwards as well.

I attended 25 events, compared to 16 in 2022. I had some bad events of course and my overall average profit per event was a bit lower than in 2022, but I have tried out new venues and it has been a challenging year for everyone in retail.

In addition, all three books of the IN THE END series are available in dyslexia friendly formats, and more of my books in this format are coming soon (you heard it here first!).

2023 IN NUMBERS

Figure show units for 2023 against 2022.

Ebook & Paperback Sales (Online) = 578 (+187)

Paperback Sales (In Person) = 466 (+66)

Kindle Unlimited Page Reads = 335,350 (+190,634) (Around 960 books)

Audiobook Sales = 131 (-16)

Paid book sales total = 2,135 (+234)

These figures represent a ten percent increase in sales and I’ve done a fair bit of advertising this year, although not so much as in 2021. I’m very pleased with the results and hope I can keep this level of growth up.

LOOKING TO 2024

This is always my favourite part of these reviews as I try to consolidate my ideas of what I will work on next.

The easy goals to speak about are those I’m either already working on or are itching to get on with. They are STOPPING POWER Season Two, which will still be a story about the undead, but it won’t contain zombies this time. I will also release the sci-fi / time travelling book as a novella to test the water, as I will also for the secret project.

I actually doubt I’ll have any more time in the year to produce anything else, but if I do then I will either work on the full sci-fi / travelling novel (assuming the novella was well received), or an Agent Carrie Harris story I’ve been thinking about in the background.

I love writing these posts, especially as this is all so positive. With my hunger for writing and commitment to making my work sustainable, I don’t think 2024 can fail to be another good year.

With that said, tomorrow I will raise a glass to the year gone by and another in hope that more good things will come next year. Have a great one everyone and thank you to all of you that have supported me this year!