So………
Wow. 2020 sucked.
At the beginning of each year, I try to do a little reflection and then provide a forecast for what’s to come. I have been considering these two things for most of the past month, and for what felt like a long time, I wasn’t quite able to properly process much of anything.
Although I cannot claim that anything dramatic or terrible happened to me during 2020, it did seem to take a heavy toll. Especially towards the end. The broadest, simplest way I can put it is: my anxiety caused a lot of fucking problems.
At present, I’m currently pursuing a few new avenues to help alleviate that problem. And even though I couldn’t quite afford it, I ended up taking off a good solid week or so last month to try and settle down and get my head screwed back on right. From where I’m standing right now, I think it helped. I feel calmer, more focused, which is always a great thing.
So first, let’s reflect a little bit.
LOOKING BACK ON 2020
Near the end of 2019, I decided I was going to focus on Haven for 2020, and I succeeded there. It led to me having probably one of my best years, sales-wise. I finished out Haven in October and although I could have kept it going, I chose not to. There’s just too much else I want to do.
I also managed to start a new series for the first time in quite awhile in the form of Like A Fine Wine. I’m not completely sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, the people who do read it seem to like it. On the other, it isn’t selling well and there have also been some frustrations that it’s too plot and action-light. When I went into Like A Fine Wine, I did so with the idea that it was kind of an experiment for me. I wanted to see how I would fair nowadays with writing something closer to what I used to, something that was more fluff and sex than anything else. Personally, I think I’m better off writing more action/plot-heavy stuff. Nonetheless, I intend to finish Like A Fine Wine in short order.
I managed to get out another Demoness novel. Although I had fun writing it, I’ll admit that I’m kind of depressed at its reception. Though people really seemed to like Demoness in the beginning, not many people showed up this time.
Those were the major releases in terms of new novels. I also bumbled around a hell of a lot with bonus content and collections. This is what ultimately came of that bumbling:
I enrolled almost all of my collections in the Kindle Unlimited. People seem to like this.
I released Complete Series versions of Haven, Parasexual, and Alien Harem, as well as Demoness I - III Collected.
I reorganized all of my bonus shorts that were written for existing stories. Though some got added to the stories themselves, (for example, the bonus short for Parasexual 1 - 3 was an epilogue for Parasexual 2, so I just added it onto the actual story), or added them to the Complete Series/Trilogy Collections, but many of them were released for free on the website. This includes brand new sequels to each of my free shorts, (Snakeskin, The Pale Redhead, etc.). You can find a complete breakdown of what happened in this post.
I also created a comprehensive Chronological Order Reading List that encompasses all four of the shared universes and includes every single piece of content generated. In short, it tells you the best order to read everything in.
Finally, I got started on what will (hopefully) become my largest series to date: A Warm Place. But considering that that’s upcoming, I’ll speak more about it below.
So that was 2020 in a nutshell. It was a difficult year, and I don’t necessarily live with the delusion that 2021 will be nothing but sunshine and rainbows, but I’m hoping it’ll be better.
LOOKING FORWARD AT 2021
My primary focus for this upcoming year will be A WARM PLACE.
For those who don’t know, back in 2019 I launched an experimental pen name and wrote a 12-part serial fiction called A Warm Place. I liked it very much, and the people who read it responded quite well to it. Although I took down the pen name and all associated work with it near the end of 2019, I knew I had something special with A Warm Place. I began working on the series mid-2020 in the background and am finally ready to launch it.
So what is it?
In short, it’s a series of post-apocalyptic survival novels with an emphasis on sexual encounters and relationships. In 2038, the world is a frozen wasteland, and most of humanity has died off as a result. Those that remain live among small towns or isolated enclaves, but some choose to wander the desolate hinterlands between the bastions of civilization. Chris Weston, a man oddly suited for survival in this new world, is one such person.
You can read A WARM PLACE - PRELUDE, a 34,000 word novella prequel that helps set the stage for the series, here. However, it is not required reading. If you want to just jump right in, you can read A WARM PLACE right here.
At present, I intend A Warm Place to be nine novels long. I have a rough layout of the series and I intend to release one new novel at the beginning of each month. (We will see how this holds up, though. I’ve never attempted something like this.) I also intend to release triple pack collections with bonus content. At present, I’m not sure if I’ll release a Complete Series version of it. The primary reason for this is because I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series beyond the initial nine-novel run. I have a few ideas and if it’s wildly successful, I’ll admit I’d be compelled to keep it going. Not forever, but for a bit longer. Basically for as long as I have ideas.
So, with the spotlight being focused on A Warm Place, what else is going to happen?
First and foremost, I intend to finish Like A Fine Wine. I had hoped to get the fourth novel out before now, but that was one of the sacrifices I had to make for the sake of my mental health. I should have Like A Fine Wine 4 done and out soon, hopefully within the next week or two. Definitely before the end of January. After that, I intend to immediately plunge on into Like A Fine Wine 5, as at present I do have the cover art for it. I’m hoping that while I am working on 5, I’ll be able to get my hands on the final cover for 6. Even if I can’t do so in a reasonable amount of time, I might go ahead and just write and release it with reused assets anyway, then just update the cover later, since readers care more about the words than the cover art. If all goes according to plan, I will be able to post The Complete Series version of Like A Fine Wine in March. We’ll see how that works out.
After that?
I want to try an experiment. I’ve mentioned that I’ve waffled back and forth for awhile now on whether or not I want to launch a new serial fiction. It’s a surprisingly difficult decision. I think one of the biggest problems is that one week it will make perfect sense for me to do it, but then the next week, I’ll have a great reason not to do it. Seriously, I have alternated between for sure doing it and for sure not doing it several times over the past several months. Here is what I have ultimately decided: I’m going to do one and treat it like an experiment.
I’ll talk more about it as we get closer to launch, which will hopefully be in either March or April. But here’s what I will say about it: It takes place in my Fantasy Universe, though it’s basically completely set apart from anything else written so far, and it’s a town-building monster girl harem. Going heavy and hard on the monster girls this time, so sort of a return to form. In short, imagine the plot of Demoness IV but the setting of Demoness V. I’m looking forward to it. I hope to release a new episode once a week, with a Complete Season (very old school) being released every fifth episode.
Those three things will be my primary focus for 2021. That being said, if I do find myself with spare time, I am going to be focusing on something else, which is: generating content for my website.
Something that was really heavily emphasized for me in 2018 was: if your job requires you to sell something through a big retailer, never fully trust them and try to draw people to a space you control. Amazon tried to kill my career in 2018, so naturally I’d like to have a backup in place. That’s why I have a Patreon & a Ko-Fi. However, something I’ve wanted to do for awhile now is to set up a store on this site, so that my fans can have the option to buy directly from me. In much the same way I found myself in the ‘golden handcuffs’ back during 2018 where I was attempting to make the transition from writing serial fiction to writing novels, I now find myself in a similar situation. In order to keep my head above water, financially, I need to produce content at a rather breakneck pace. Which doesn’t leave much room for anything else. The only real solution, unfortunately, is: write more, write faster. Which I’m not as good at as I’d like to be, even six years in.
This year, I’d like to actually set up a store on my site. I’d be selling incest erotica through this store, primarily, since I can’t really sell it anywhere else. Occasionally, I might write something else, something that takes place in one of my universes, that I can sell both through the site and Amazon, and elsewhere on the internet, just not through the KU. I would also like to write and release (for free, obviously) erotic fan fiction. I’ve got a lot of ideas. But that’s definitely lowest on the list of priorities.
That’s it, really. That’s what I’ve got lined up for 2021. Let’s recap in a nice, neat, bulleted list.
Write (at least) nine novels for A Warm Place.
Finish Like A Fine Wine.
Launch (and maybe finish) an experimental Fantasy serial fiction.
Launch a store for my website, write some incest erotica and some erotic fan fiction.
I’ve got other plans and ideas, and who knows? Maybe 2021 will be the year I manage to get my shit together and keep it together, allowing me previously unexplored writing output. If that’s the case, I’ll probably write the next Post-Apocalyptic Universe series. Looking forward to that one.
Either way, lots of new material coming. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope 2021 is better for all of us.