New Year Notch

Howdy, folks!

I don’t believe in big, dramatic New Year’s resolutions. I’m an expert-level disappointer when it comes to sweeping gestures and changes, so I try to keep things more manageable. Baby-steps and growth by notches instead of bounding leaps, if you will.

2025 is right around the corner and I am clutching my trepidation tight. Skipping anything political, the future is fraught with the need for change. In 2024 I wrote a book, published it as an eBook (relatively effortless), and then published a paperback version (markedly more tedious). I’ve sold a few copies to friends and family, and I am eternally grateful for their kind patronage. But, that’s not enough. I need to sell more copies to people who are not so easily inclined toward kindness. Many, many more copies will have to move if I am going to make it big—or, indeed, even marginal. I need to broaden my network and market myself and the book. I need disciples, or barring that, I need fans.

I could try to do this slowly, inserting lines and phrases of subliminal mind-control into each book, bit-by-painstaking-bit building a brainwashed army of customers, but I suspect that is too slow-burning an enterprise to be sustainable. So I’m going to need to develop myself some and learn how to socially network. 2025 will be the year that I try to fold myself into the batter that is civilization. I’m gonna @ people on Bluesky. I’m going to figure out what niche thing I can talk about on YouTube. Maybe tabletop gaming lore or reviews. Or maybe I’ll play games and let people watch and comment. That’s not overdone yet, is it? Regardless, I’m gonna continue to avoid the dumpster-fire that is Twitter (currently masquerading as X).

One other avenue I’m trying to explore is book clubs. I’ve heard good things about pre-built communities of readers who want to socialize over a common topic. I would very much like to be the subject of some conversation and/or adoration. Most of this whole publishing process has been self-study on my part, but if you have any resources you’d like to point me toward or a book club you’d like to talk about, make sure you hit me up!

Oh, and I’m still chugging along with Hell Donkey and a few sidetracks that tie HEPH and Hell Donkey together, thematically if not serially.

So that’s the plan for 2025. I hope you’re all hale, hearty, and healthy going into the new year, and that our better devils guide us all down well-paved paths.