I'd like to say to start that I made it home to Las Vegas safely on Thursday afternoon. Everything at home is fine and now I'm doing the last bit of touchup before my daughter and son-in-law arrive here today. Cooking those blackeye peas and getting New Year's dinner ready.
I was going to just list my accomplishments for 2021, but then I heard about Betty White passing and just had to pause and think about what accomplishment really looks like--not just in longevity, but in a career and life that was superlative. RIP Betty.
Now to that little bit of accomplishment I managed this year. I put nineteen new books up on Bookapy (author Devon Layne and author Nathan Everett). Fifteen were republished in that they were older books that had never been released on Bookapy. Still trying to catch up with that.
The new books were The Assassin, Team Manager SWISH!, and Team Manager SPRINT! by Devon Layne and Jackie the Beanstalk by Nathan Everett. Those books also posted for free on SOL and in advance release to my patrons. And speaking of patrons, I released thirty-six books from my backlist as special editions exclusively given to my patrons. I love giving stuff away, and patrons make that possible.
SWISH! set a new sales record for me with over 900 copies sold on Bookapy, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble this year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those of you who have supported my writing through these sales. I hope you continue to enjoy my work.
I also released on SOL and on my personal websites, ten short stories. I'm enjoying digging through my paper archives and reworking stories that I wrote fifty years ago!
In writing new stuff, I produced a phenomenal (for me) 1,174,089 words this year. A little over 136,000 were words on my various blogs. 150,157 were the words of my NaNoWriMo project, Bob's Memoir: 4000 Years as a Free Demon. That book will be out this spring both as an SOL serial and as an eBook. I'm currently rewriting it and sending it out to editors.
So, I'd guess you'd say I've had a pretty good year in terms of using my isolation for the betterment of mankind. Or at least for the entertainment of the masses.
I now have 141 patrons on Patreon and they are beloved. I try to keep producing as much material as I can to keep their voracious appetites sated. And they provide for my needs in return. Their contributions are what keep me able to produce stories for free on SOL and on my websites. I am overwhelmed by their gracious generosity.
So there you have my year in words and stories. Here's hoping for a whole bunch more in 2022. I hope yours (and mine) is happy, healthy, and safe.
author Devon Layne aka Nathan Everett, aroslav, Wayzgoose