There’s clearly something wrong with the space-time continuum because it seems like only five minutes ago that we were complaining about the summer heat. Now, it’s chuffing cold, and Noddy Holder is haunting my dreams. 2022 really has flown by.
On the writing front, I was hoping to publish three books in 2022, but I didn’t quite make it. I published The Strange Appeal of Dougie Neil in March, and Clement made his return in Eminence back in August. And, talking of returns, I’m 80% through a brand new novel featuring Mungo Thunk, titled The Way We Thunk. All being well, our peculiar friend will arrive on Amazon in February.
One reason I didn’t quite hit my three-book target was that I’ve had to clear a backlog of audiobooks.
Long story short, I signed over the rights of my first eight books to one of the UK’s largest audiobook publishers. At the time, it felt like validation because we indie authors aren’t considered ‘proper’ authors until we’ve signed a publishing deal. It turns out that there’s bugger-all money in traditional publishing – I think they give it all to Richard Osman.
Anyway, I decided not to sign away any more of my rights and to manage the production of my own audiobooks. Each one is an expensive and time-consuming task, but I managed to release four this year, and I’m now up to date, thank God! If audiobooks are your thing, you can find ALL of mine on Audible and iTunes.
Looking forward to 2023, Mungo will arrive in February, and then I’m planning to write a new time-travel novel set in the 1980s (no surprise there). I’m still kicking a few ideas around, but the reason I don’t just write time-travel novels is that it’s not easy coming up with genuinely original ideas. I love the nostalgic elements in all my books, but I don’t want to rely on that nostalgia in lieu of a compelling story. Once I’ve nailed an idea I’m happy with, I’ll post more info, and that’s likely to be in March.
Regarding Clement, the feedback on Eminence has been fantastic, and I’m so grateful/relieved that the vast majority of readers enjoyed his return. However, sales haven’t been quite as good as I had hoped, so I’ve decided to delay the second book in the series (Catfished) until the sales hit a certain target. The reason for that is simple – when an author releases books in a series, the market is limited to people who’ve read the first book in that series. With a standalone book, your target is literally anyone and everyone. Taking all this into account, I’m quietly confident that the next Clement book will land in 2023, but it’ll be towards the end of the year.
I think that’s about it for now, but no doubt I’ll have more to say next year.
All that remains is for me to wish you a fantastic Christmas and a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023. As always, my eternal thanks for your ongoing support and kindness – as I’ve said many times before, I wouldn’t be writing this update (or anything much) if it wasn’t for you.
Best wishes
Keith
