2023 Wrap-Up
It’s December, so I’m taking stock of the year.
In January, in a fit of optimism, I set up three preorders for myself on Amazon. These deadlines, if you’re unfamiliar with them, must be kept, or Amazon becomes very cross with you. Since I hate conflict of any sort (even with the impersonal Amazon business algorithms!) this makes the deadlines pretty binding for me. The rest of 2023 was an exercise in remembering how to work to deadlines! My writing has been half-business/half-hobby for a long time, and this year definitely stretched my business muscles.
So, without further ado, in 2023 I published:
the Austen Ensemble box set (digital)Starch & Strategy (digital and print)From Pemberley with Luck (digital and print)Propriety & Piquet (digital and print)(For those who don’t know, I have three Jane Austen series. Austen Ensemble is purely based on Pride and Prejudice characters. The Highbury Variation combines Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park, and the Sweet Regency Saga is Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion.)
In addition to the books I wrote, a small publisher contacted me about translation rights, and so four of my books are currently being translated into Spanish, French, German, and Italian. It’s a royalty-share for five years, then rights return to me. I’ve no idea if it’ll be lucrative, but it is exciting to try!
I also had two Bookbub featured deals, which was very exciting! Bookbub is a selective book newsletter which is usually worth every (expensive) penny to advertise in, if you manage the right level of desperation, luck, and prayer to get chosen. 
For furthering my education, I signed up for Mark Dawson’s Ads for Authors course, and delved into the 20Booksto50k community. Both are great resources for indie writers making the jump from hobby to business.
In personal news, we had to rehome our cattle dog. That was sad, but thankfully our kids understood and he ended up with more experienced owners than us–and less of a herd of kids to confuse his instincts. After a few months, we got a cat instead, and she is the new queen of the house.
And that’s it! Thanks to Gabriella West of Edit for Indies for all the editing work, and thanks to all of my friends and readers for the love, support and encouragement this year!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays,
Corrie
