I’m thinking both of the personal level and the broader publishing world.
The most obvious and notable feature of 2024 for me personally was that I read almost nothing. I didn’t keep track, but I’d be surprised if I read more than, say, two dozen books during the entire year. At least half a dozen were beta reads for other authors, too. This counts re-reads. It counts everything. What a ridiculously non-reading year 2024 was!
In 2025, I’d like to actually read more books. Maybe I’ll aim for one book per week. Or maybe not, because honestly, if I’m super engaged with writing, I just don’t want to read anything. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.
The other most obvious and notable feature of 2024 was that I wrote about 620,000 words, and published about 745,000 words: Marag, Rihasi, and Silver Circle #1, #2, and #3.
The difference is because I wrote some of Silver Circle last year. I don’t remember exactly how much, and in fact I will never know because I wrote Silver Circle chapters wildly out of order. I believe the very last chapters I wrote were chapters 2, 4, and 11 in SC #3 — those are Natividad chapters. Oh, I wrote some of the subsidiary scenes after that — I mean the brief other-pov scenes that are included in various chapters. The VERY last scene I wrote was the one with Sheriff Pearson setting up an anti-Human Purity operation with that friend of his.
Writing chapters out of order does make revision more complicated, btw. Nevertheless, that’s how I did it.
I’m writing chapters out of order for “Midwinter,” too, but this is SO MUCH SIMPLER as a story, so it won’t be a problem.
Sharon Shinn says she’s writing a couple of novellas this year that don’t include any action to speak of. I’ve got one of them now — it’s a Donnal and Kirra story from the Twelve Houses world — though I haven’t read it yet. The other will be an Elemental Blessings story. The reason I mention this is that it’s occurred to me that “Midwinter” also doesn’t contain any action to speak of. Or at all. It’s a really quiet story, as you’ve already seen, of course, if you’ve read the part that I’ve put on Patreon so far (same as the part that’s gone into my newsletter so far.) There won’t be a lot of action in “Sekaran” either. Apparently slice-of-life stories are my jam right now. Maybe I’m just recovering from the extreme action of Silver Circle.
I don’t really know what I’ll complete in 2025. “Midwinter” for sure, “Sekaran” probably, Tano’s next book for sure, but then what? [Insert shrug here.] Quite a few possibilities. I’m not going to worry about it just yet. I’m guessing that I will probably be publishing four or five books in 2025, counting “Midwinter,” but maybe not counting “Sekaran” — I’ll need to see how that looks, how long it goes, before I can make a decision about that. I don’t want to push the timing so hard for anything in 2025 as I did for Silver Circle. Nevertheless, even with a more sensibly relaxed pace, I do think four is about the minimum and five or or even six is plausible.
Meanwhile! What else is going on in the broader world?
Here is a post at Jane Friedman’s blog, My 2024 Year-End Review: Most Notable Publishing Industry Developments
The bestselling nonfiction title on TikTok, The Shadow Work Journal by Keila Shaheen, was picked up this year by Simon & Schuster as part of a five-book deal. Shaheen reportedly received a seven-figure advance and a 50-50 profit share. Indie cookbook authors, too, have been avidly signed; an example is Matthew Bounds, who I interviewed in August.
When I started digging further into the trend, I found that nearly every bestselling self-published romance author has an agent and a track record of subsidiary rights deals with traditional publishers; authors are able to retain ebook and audiobook rights if they wish. New literary agencies outside of New York City have sprung up to support these authors as well.
I believe it’s by far one of the best industry developments I’ve seen in recent years: good for authors, good for publishers, and possibly great for the future of the author-publisher relationship.
This does sound positive. It would be nice if this started happened for non-romance authors. I suspect space opera might be next. Or cozy mysteries. Those seem like categories where this new kind of hybrid publishing might be workable. Jane Friedman also points to other new hybrid models, particularly Authors Equity, which is, essentially, a traditional publisher that offers zero advances but a share of royalties much more comparable to Amazon than to the low royalties offered to authors by prior traditional publishing models.
I wonder what else 2025 will bring us in that department? I don’t mean scammers like Spines, who are remarkably open about being scammers. I mean legitimate, useful hybrid options. It seems likely, not to say inevitable, that options will expand and that this will be a good thing for serious authors.
AND
What was your favorite book that you read in 2024? If any leap out at you, please drop the title in the comments.
What are you most looking forward to in 2025? If any upcoming title has you especially excited, please drop that title in the comments, too!
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Haha the best book(s) of 2024 for me were from the Tuyo series! If I had to choose one, I think Marag would be my favourite, but keeping in mind I’d read all the other ones prior and was familiar with the characters and culture already. Tuyo and Tarashana are probably my top books otherwise. I liked Suelen also, as a cozy side novella.
For 2025, besides the upcoming Tuyo books (so exciting! I love prolific indie authors :D), I’m looking forward to the next installment of the Sunbolt Chronicles by Intisar Khanani (who unfortunately is nowhere as prolific, but I really like that series).
An unusual and very good book I read in 2024 was called “What you’re looking for is in the Library” by Michiko Aoyama, translated from Japanese. It’s a slice of life story collection, each featuring the same formidable and potentially fantastical librarian… and there’s other connections that emerge as you go along. Very cool.
I’ve got What You’re Looking for on my TBR pile, undoubtedly because you or someone else here mentioned it last fall. It sounds delightful!
And, thank you!
For books by writers I know I like, new to me in 2024, favorite is probably Marag.
For favorite by writer new to me, Year of the Reaper. Nothing else by a new writer has been half as memorable. Runner up a YA/middle-grade, I’m not sure what it was; Song of Mysteries by S.A. Patrick. took the Pied Piper tale and did a lot with it, a story of friendships, no romance.
I liked yours. A lot. Most of the others that I both liked and will remember I discovered in audio format.
Most recently, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. A girl bonds with a dragon and must then attend a mandated academy. (I usually really like this trope). But so much better than Iron Flame, or whatever that uber popular series is. The girl is a member of a native people who have been conquered and oppressed by expanding “civilized” nations. Obviously modeled on Native American and European history but a fascinating magic system and interesting twists in the culture.
A Gentleman in Moscow. I kept waiting for this book to turn dark and tragic. Because Russia? But it didn’t. It was certainly sad, in parts. However, the characters were lovely and it made me happy to listen to it.
The Covenant of Water. My sister recommended it to me. Warning – I found myself sobbing in the car, several times (I listen while driving to and from work). But it was beautiful. Gut wrenching, but beautiful. And I have never had a desire to go to India – I hate heat and damp. Listening to this changed my mind, and made me marvel at a country and culture I know regrettably little about.
The Women, by Kristin Hannah. Even if I wasn’t a nurse, and had not been in the Army Nurse Corps, and didn’t know people who served in Vietnam, I would have been deeply moved by this. But because of those factors, I found it very personally riveting.
Finally, I discovered that I really enjoy listening to Will Wheaton narrate science fiction – I listened to John Scalzi’s Starter Villain and really liked both the story and the narration. Was what made me move on to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Both were pretty light, but a lot of fun to listen to.
There was no one book that called out to me over the rest this past year, but I did find an author I liked: Chloe Garner. She has a bunch of series and the ones I liked best were the Hill Chargers, the Queen’s Chair, and the Tell Detective books. I like her world building, and it’s pretty low stress.