A pivotal year of my career will soon come to an end. But as I look back on the promises I made at the beginning of the year in my previous “2022 In Review, 2023 In Theory” blog post, I am left disappointed in myself. But that’s nothing new.
But I can take some comfort in the fact that I simply couldn’t have foreseen a great deal of what came to pass this year. I could have changed things. I could have handled some creative problems I encountered differently. But the past needs to stay in the past. So with this post, I fully intend to put 2023 behind me and focus on what I pray will be a busy and prosperous 2024.
But if I don’t remember the past, I am doomed to repeat it. And that’s what this post is about: Remembering our mistakes and, bizarrely enough, celebrating them. Learning is hard, and it only comes with failure. So, I treat each and every one of my mistakes with the reverence and respect they deserve. Each taught me a valuable lesson, and that can’t be ignored.
That said, I can not forget the good things that happened and the progress I made toward my goal of a lifetime author career in 2023. Although this can be hard for me, I need to celebrate the good and the bad things that happened in equal measure. If all I do is look back on my mistakes, I’ll feel like all I do is make mistakes. And the hardest part is that, while some dreams came crashing down, others flourished despite my creative and personal tribulations. I would not say the distribution was equal, but the seeds have been planted to tip the scales. I just have to keep my head on straight long enough to tend to those seeds and watch them flourish.
I am in a far better place mentally than I was even a couple months ago, and the creative work has begun again. So, let’s dive into what went wrong, what went right, and what we can expect from the future.
But this year, I will make only one promise. More on that later.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Failures
Last year, I started the post with my accomplishments and saved failures for later in the article. This year, I want to end things on more positive terms. Plus, I enjoy getting the hardest part of anything I do out of the way first. So, with that in mind, let’s dive in.
I promised at the beginning of the year that I would try to publish six novels in 2023. As you can see, only one book made it into your hands. The reasons for this are two-fold:
One: Life just got away from me. I tried to make more happen than I could, and I crashed. I got a lot done, but not enough to make that ambitious goal happen. I was doomed from the start, and I’ve learned a great deal from this mistake. But, strangely, it was a blessing in disguise because…
Two: The Beast of Big Timber needed room to breathe. That little book did far better than I thought it would, and even early in the year I knew I had something special on my hands when pre-order numbers shot past any book I’d published before it. And, when it just kept doing better and better, I gave it some breathing room. That room gave me time to evaluate exactly what I did right and contemplate how I might repeat it. Plus, I knew that putting out a new book when my latest was getting all the attention might swing the almighty algorithms in a direction that would take readers’ eyes off Beast. That new book might be just as good, if not better, but as Jason Long would no-doubt say, “don’t leave fish to find fish.” As in, don’t put out a new book when the one you have is still doing very well. So I waited at first, and then I found myself in a position where I couldn’t write or edit a new book even if I wanted to.
But, all that said, I’ll give a brief update on some of those projects I announced in the previous post:
One of these novels I shelved indefinitely, that being The Anubis Contingency. That novel was part of a trilogy that I still love, but that I want to dedicate more significant research and world-building time to. So, for now, that whole trilogy is on the back burner.
Asher Bryant 2 is still in the works, and I would love it if I could pencil it in as my next project. But for the last year I’ve taken a step back from that sequel because, to be honest, the first book sold well but didn’t receive as many reviews as I had hoped. Feedback on that novel was minimal, which was surprising because a lot of readers picked it up. When the book finally got reviewed, though, the response was positive. The novel currently boasts a solid 5 stars on Amazon, but that’s only with 2 ratings. I really don’t know what happened here, and it’s made me nervous to continue the series when initial sales were good, but feedback has been slow. It makes me think something is wrong, and it could be a lot of things. It could be my marketing, the characters, the cover, the ending, and literally anything in-between. I just don’t know, so I’ve only chipped away at the second novel and shelved my original plan for writing 5 of them until I know for sure what readers like and don’t like about the series.
Feedback is so important to writers, and readers should never belittle how much good an honest review can do for a writer’s career, and for that reader’s future enjoyment should they return to that author’s work. Authors need to know what readers want, and if readers don’t tell them, all we can do is give it our best shot. Sometimes, that’s not enough. Without further input on the series from readers, I’m worried I was just “nose blind” after that year of writing the novel and couldn’t see my own flaws. When no one tells me anything, I can’t get better. Maybe the series is fine, but I just don’t know and want to give it more time before I write another book.
But I have written a new Asher Bryant Adventure. It’s just not a novel.
Early this year, I was asked to take part in the Desert Writers Guild’s 2023 anthology. The theme was History: Past and Future, and I could think of no one better than Asher Bryant to take on a short historical adventure out here in the desert. Plus, I’d been looking for an outlet to experiment more with him as a protagonist and see what I could improve, so I took the plunge. I got to work crafting a story about a lost Mohave artifact supposedly hidden in Wonder Valley, California that climaxes on a hill I hiked on and lived in the shadow of in 2020. Just as I was about to complete the story, I found out that I had been told the wrong guidelines for the collection. I swear I had originally been told the story needed to be under 5,000 words, which I was already struggling to achieve. But the limit was actually 1,500 words, if I recall correctly. So, I put that story aside, not sure if I’d ever return since there wasn’t an obvious outlet for it. But recently, Asher started calling out once again, so I completed Draft 1 of the story at nearly 9,000 words, which I feel serves the story better, as 5,000 words would have been far too short as it was. So, there is a new story I need to revise, during which time it will probably accordion into and out of the 10,000 word range repeatedly, but I don’t know what to do with it yet. Maybe I’ll publish it on its own, or pair it with the previously published Asher Bryant story The Golden Key and another story or two I could write, creating a collection.
Anyway, that’s what Asher is up to. We’ll see how things change and evolve as the year begins.
Last year, I also announced that I would write Swim 2. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you a lot about the plans for that novel as negotiations are ongoing. However, I can give a reason for the delay: Faryl, the co-author of the first novel, has taken an extended break from their creative life. Before they made this decision, we completed a thorough outline for Book 2 that I am thrilled with and a rough outline for book 3, but the future of the series remains unclear. They would like to see the book written and the series continue through, and possibly beyond, our 4 book plan. But negotiations on that front are ongoing. When I know more, I will pass any updates along just as soon as I can.
Lastly, the DenCom stories have flipped in publication order. The Benedict prequel will now come out first, and the DenCom cryptid spinoff will come later. Continuity wise, it changes nothing since the prequel takes place so far in the past and already had almost nothing to do with the cryptid story anyway, so no worries there. But neither story will be ready this year. The prequel could have been if I’d done my job, though. The editor came back with fantastic (and thorough) notes after their first pass, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get back to work until far later in the year. But now, it’s back with the editor for the final round, albeit a few months later than expected. We’ll talk more about the future of this book later in this post.
The books themselves aside, I feel like I’ve failed to connect with my audience this year. Social media has been a tough beast to tackle for me, but I’m doing what I can to get over it. That said, I still feel like I’m just screaming into the void sometimes with no hope of being heard beyond a few loyal followers the algorithm thinks deserve to see what I have to say. I appreciate everyone who follows my page, not just the high-engagement crowd, and I want to make sure everyone gets to see what I post regardless of how often they engage. And this is coming from someone who rarely engages with his favorite artists and is frequently punished by Facebook for this himself. No joke, my favorite band put out a new album this year, and I totally missed the news because I wasn’t liking their posts! I think liking the page should be enough to let these sites know you want to see someone’s content, but I guess I’m in the minority.
But all that said, I’ve tried to diversify how readers can find me and interact with me, but that also proved to be fraught with failures this year.
One such failure that may (or may not) be apparent is that Publisher’s Cluttered House, a podcast which I co-hosted, didn’t release an episode all year. This stems from the same issue that has held up production of Swim 2. My co-host (and co-author of Swim) is taking an extended break from their creative life, and that meant Publisher’s Cluttered House went on hold. This was particularly hard for me, as I really enjoyed hosting the show, but thankfully it’s not dead.
Just like with Swim 2, Faryl wants to see the show continue, and so do I. But they are not interested in staying on for the time being, and officially left the show earlier this year, leaving the podcast firmly in my hands. However, I’m not confident in my abilities as a lone host, and while I might experiment with that option in the coming months, I’m currently on the hunt for a co-host. Maybe more than one if the chemistry is there in practice recordings. So, if you are a creator that knows me (or doesn’t) shoot me a DM and maybe we can schedule a call or a “pilot” episode to see how things go.
Once I know the future of the show is solid, I’ll update everyone once we’ve decided on a release model.
Another failure, which admittedly fits in more with connecting with fellow authors rather than readers, was that I had to cancel my trip to 20BooksVegas at the last minute. For those that don’t know, 20BooksVegas is one of if not the largest self-publishing conferences in the USA. I’m lumping this in here because, as I’ve said before, I’m not confident in my ability to communicate with readers. I was looking forward to learning a great deal about the industry and new ways I could reach new and current readers alike. Sadly, a few days before, I found out my house sitter wouldn’t be able to make it, and with only days to find someone else to watch my animals here in the desert, I knew it was a lost cause. However, I’m told there will be a new convention in 2024, and I will see if I can’t make it this year depending on how things go.
And I guess the last semi-failure of the year was YouTube. I preface it with “semi” because I didn’t really try to be active on that platform on purpose. I love making YouTube videos, but they’re just to time consuming. I’d like to give it another shot in 2024, but uploads will probably be sparse, and that’s if I post anything at all. But I do plan on doing a release party/livestream for whatever my 10th book happens to be. I just don’t know if it’ll be on YouTube. But if it goes well, maybe we’ll make it a tradition.
And that is all the failures I can recall at the moment. But now that I’m good and depressed, it should make the next section of this post far more enjoyable.
Let’s dive in.
Accomplishments
The Beast of Big Timber killed it this year.
More eyes are on my work than ever before. New readers are finding my work thanks to Beast, and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s done. And now that the amazing audiobook hit shelves, listeners are loving the book just as much as readers are! This has been the little book that could, and it’s done so well that…
The Batsquatch of Yellowstone, the sequel to The Beast of Big Timber, is almost done! This is the first thing I’ve written almost entirely after my creative funk, and I think it’s a worthy follow-up that readers will love! My plan was to get it to Alpha and Beta readers before Christmas, but I decided to hold off on that until the new year since everyone is so busy right now. This book will probably come out after the DenCom prequel novella, but it could always snag that 10th slot. We’ll just have to wait and see on that one.
Speaking of which, that DenCom novella (almost novel length now) is due back from the editor in January. I really think readers will love what I’ve done here. It’s my first time telling a first-person story in The Opus, and I could think of no better character to attempt in first-person than Benedict. This first story about his past takes us to a haunted house on the beaches of northern California during a pivotal point in Benedict’s life. It’s an emotional journey that finally gives fans more of the supernatural side of DenCom they have been craving.
And, speaking of more DenCom, we’re finally getting that Hail to the King audiobook! Keegan Reese, who narrated The Beast of Big Timber, has signed on to narrate Hail. I approved the first 15 minutes a few weeks ago and I couldn’t be happier! We’re hoping to have it ready sometime in the summer of 2024!
On the anthology front, I appeared in 2 new collections, one of which I had the honor of organizing.
In Conclusion was the third and final in a series I worked on with the Write Stuff Authors Group of Canton, Ohio. The theme this time around was one I am still proud of: Write from your deathbed. If you were dying, what would be the last thing you ever wrote?
We presented the concept long before Covid, but the pandemic lead to some truly moving and raw submissions that were left largely un-edited on purpose. Sadly, I will admit that everything that happened this year, coupled with communications issues with the group that I’m now 2000+ miles removed from, lead to a far more time-consuming and frustrating venture than I was ready to take on at the time. Had I known what was coming, I never would have taken this on, and doubt I will again anytime soon. But, with this already being planned as the final anthology in the series, I did all I could to get it out, and while I failed many times along the way, I am still proud of the collection.
Mr. Ridding, We Collapse is a loosely DenCom-adjacent story I wrote that was published within In Conclusion. I wanted to tell a story about how I would feel if I could never finish The Opus. I then paired that concept with my thoughts and reflections on something that is often overlooked about Covid: the friendships and connections that it, and our opinions of it, took from us. The collection is print exclusive, but I do plan to re-publish my story later, as all authors kept immediate re-print rights. Where it will go, I do not know yet. But I do plan on making it more widely available, perhaps in a collection of DenCom stories later on. It could also possibly appear in an upcoming horror collection, but I’m not sold on that idea yet. We’ll see what feels right at the time.
Shortly after In Conclusion came out, the Desert Writers Guild released History: Past and Future, which my story The Hangman’s Tears appears within. As you read earlier in this post, I originally started an Asher Bryant story for this collection, but when I learned the true word limit, it forced me to change my plans. Luckily, I once again found inspiration in the desert.
Early this year, our car broke down in Las Vegas while we were in town for a wedding. Since we had no way home and a hotel was out of the question since we had dogs waiting for us (we lived close to Vegas, but not Uber close (trust me, we tried)), we rented a car and drove back. However, over the course of the following two weeks, we had to make two additional trips to Vegas, and during each visit we’d stop at the Kelso Depot, an old train-station turned visitors’ center for the Mojave Preserve. It was between some of these trips that I wanted to learn more about the building. It wasn’t long before its haunted past came up and I started reading about the supposed “ghost zombie” that haunts the halls. After some additional research, I knew I had to write about it, and the resulting story made it into the anthology.
The Hangman’s Tears is currently available in paperback form within the Desert Writers Guild’s 2023 anthology listed above, but I will republish it in time. There are 2 collections I’m currently preparing that it could appear in.
And, for my final accomplishment of the year, I made my first public appearance since Covid-19!
As a member of the Desert Writers Guild, they invited me to join them and sell my books at the 29 Palms Book Festival. It went incredibly well, better than any first show I’ve had the honor of attending before! And, to top it off, I shockingly made the cover of the local paper’s article talking about the event! I joked that it was the first time I’ve been in the newspaper without “Wanted: Dead or Alive” written under my name, but I was truly shocked and honored that it happened. Fun fact: I didn’t even know about it until my grandparents called to tell me they got the paper that morning and saw my face in it!
Oh, and I almost forgot: I also made a guest appearance on the Atomic Shaman Sweatlodge podcast! Although I could tell my podcast skills were a little rusty (and that’s assuming I ever had any) I had a great time and I hope that I can join them again someday. And Keegan Reese, the narrator of The Beast of Big Timber and the upcoming Hail to the King audiobook, also was a guest pretty recently, so go check both episodes out if you haven’t already!
And that’s all that’s coming to mind right now. I can’t thank everyone enough for supporting me this year!
Now, let’s dive into our last topic of the post…
What’s Next?
Since Christmas just came and went, I’ll start off by saying I’m trying to figure out how to release the DenCom Christmas story I’ve worked on for a few years.
For those that don’t know, I spent roughly six Christmas seasons chipping away at a fun, non-cannon story about Benedict visiting Michael and Aron for Christmas. He gets into some corny Hallmark-movie style fun along the way, and Santa Claus even shows up!
Not really…
Maybe.
But a year or two back, that tradition came to an end with the completion of the one and only DenCom Christmas story, tentatively titled A DenCom Christmas.
Or so I thought…
This year, some of our friends at DenCom started calling out, and I took time out of Christmas Eve to write two more short DenCom Christmas stories. One centers around Michael Ridding stopping a terrorist attack in Palm Springs and is appropriately titled Michael Ridding Saves Christmas, while the other is a currently untitled story about the DenCom Knights being sent off on a special Christmas Eve mission. And there’s still one more story about the cryptid hunters in the upcoming spinoff novel I want to write, but it’s hard finding anything Christmas related that could be considered a cryptid that isn’t copyrighted. Once I figure out what that cryptid story will be, I think I’ll compile all of them into a collection.
However, I wanted to figure out a way to sell it with all the proceeds going directly to charity. I’m currently still searching for a platform that has this option built-in. Sure, I could list it on Amazon and send the funds myself like some authors do, but I would rather the money just go directly where it needs to go. Plus, Amazon takes a while to pay out, so I’d rather find an alternative that would avoid lengthy processing times. Oh, and Amazon would likely take a large cut of the earnings. I know there will always be processing fees to contend with, but I want to be sure I can donate as much of the proceeds as possible, and I’m not convinced working with Amazon is the way to go here. But I doubt they’ll make all these changes anytime soon, if ever, so I’m still looking for the right platform. And once I know that platform exists, I’ll start revising the stories and see if I can publish them the following Christmas!
But in the more immediate future, The DenCom prequel story about Benedict will probably come next, then The Batsquatch of Yellowstone. The cover for the prequel still needs work, but I did receive the final version of the Batsquatch cover recently. It honestly blew me away. A.A. Medina, the designer, went above and beyond to make this cover pop right off the screen! Keep your eyes pealed for that reveal sometime following the launch of the Benedict prequel novella. Unless Batsquatch gets bumped up, of course.
After those two, I think it’ll either be that horror short story collection, or a standalone creature-feature I’ve been working on. But I’ve been toying with sending the latter off to a publisher. I have 2 publishers in mind it could work for, and I’d like more of my work to reach small presses so that I don’t keep all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. But if need be, I have a cover ready, so I might just put it out myself and try to submit a different book if this one isn’t what they are looking for.
Admittedly, the DenCom cryptid story could be next after the prequel novella or Batsquatch. I completed work on it and plan to send it to the editor right after they’re finished with the Benedict novella, but the cryptid story is quite a bit longer than my typical novel and will likely require far more time to edit.
There’s also a chance I could finish the final novel in the Godqueen Trilogy and publish that, since Primal Publishing has officially asked me to write it. But they haven’t given me a deadline. Primal Publishing is really laid back, which is the reason I really like working with them. So it’ll get done when it’s ready. But that said, I’d like to get the bulk of the work on that finale done this year so I can be sure I’m putting a bow on it before readers forget what the first two books were about (lol).
But I’m not promising that any of those books will come out next year.
Yes, the DenCom prequel should be ready. So should the Batsquatch book. But I’d like to think I’ve finally learned my lesson about making promises. I can have all my ducks in a row, but that’s not enough anymore. It never was.
So, here’s what I’m promising:
More books.
Sometime.
Someday.
Maybe this year, maybe not.
But there will be more books unless I drop dead first. I just don’t know when anymore, and I don’t want to say when I think they’ll come out because that’s almost always doomed the book to being late, or just getting shelved all together.
So, that’s what we’re looking at as far as new books are concerned.
When it comes to previous releases, there’s going to be some re-branding taking place. I recently had the cover of Siron re-done and it’s gained some visibility from this change, so I plan to rebrand Michael Ridding and Hail to the King next. This is partially out of desperation, since I lost the original files I need to create the new audiobook cover for Hail, and I’ve tried to use the old style for the Cryptid book and the Benedict novella to no avail, so I’m changing things up.
I’d also like to dive into some more short stories this year. I’ve got a cover secured for that new horror collection, and a few of the stories are ready. The title story still needs to be finished, but I’m only a few days of hard work away from completing it, and I’m thrilled with what’s on the page so far. I think it’ll be a fun addition to my backlist.
I also have another monster-themed collection in the works that will (hopefully) include a sequel to the first Sheriff Riker story, T-REX. There are actually two stories about him that I want to write, but I don’t know which one would be the better first choice. But a few other monster stories are almost ready to publish alongside it. I just need to decide which novella will act as the tent-pole for that particular circus.
Stand-alone stories in other anthologies and magazines are always a possibility. However, I like to keep my re-print rights, and that’s not always an option. I don’t mind signing away exclusivity rights for a few years, but I eventually want the story to fall back under my control.
Otherwise, I look forward to what my creative future has in store.
Conclusions
A promise made is a promise broken. I’m tired of making promises to people I can’t keep, and vice versa. But I can only keep up my end of it, should I offer to in the first place. So, in the end, 2023 was the year I learned to be honest. I hope.
There are just some things I can’t do, and I know that now.
So, for now, I’m going with the flow. Books will come when they’re ready, and when it makes sense to publish them. I’ll continue to fight to expand the books I already have into new markets like audiobooks and physical bookstores, but I won’t let it dominate the time I have to create. I will do all I can to use my time wisely, and I will fail. But maybe along the way I’ll do something that makes every failure feel like a footnote.
Anyway, 2023 was a year. But it’s unfortunately, and thankfully, almost over. Good and bad are a seamless continuum, and I expect nothing more and nothing less out of 2024. I’ll see you there.
And, as always, I’ll see you in time,
-S.T. Hoover
