The State of the Tales by Bob Empire 2025
TRANSPARENCYMONTHLY RECAPMILESTONESTATE OF THE TALES BY BOB EMPIRE
2024. Man. What a year.
There were a lot of highlights, and on the whole let me just say starting out: it was a good year from a business perspective. I will say though, like almost every creative I have talked to over the past year, 2024 was a rough one for keeping the creative juices flowing. Things are finally turning around for me on that front it seems thankfully! Anywho lets, at the turning of the year, take a look at the State of the Tales by Bob Empire.
A Look Back
You may remember I set out to use the 12 Week Year planning method for 2024. I can safely say that shit the bed completely by around week 3. In theory I love the concept, but until this is my full time job it's just not really viable. But because I had planned to use that method, my goals for the year ended up being a bit ambitious. Which led to a lot of failed goals, which added to my stress. That, coupled with the LadyWife having to have some fairly major surgery, and some other life events, just meant I was pretty damn stressed much of the year. Which...isn't conducive to being a creative, at least for me. But yeah, here is how the year went:
Publishing
So I didn't release any fiction novels, which...was not the move I will admit. What I ended up publishing was Create Your Way To Freedom, my little self help book for creatives. It's technically the second edition, as I published an admittedly fairly trash version of it many years ago. But now I am actually quite proud of it, even if I never expect it to sell all that well.
I also stood up my publishing company officially, Bearded Bard Inkworks. The idea behind it is a micro-press that publishes books, and rpgs based on those books. Granted, the bulk of the books published will be, well, just my own books. But the plan is to start putting out the occasional anthology. The first products it published besides Create Your Way to Freedom were the five rpg zines I put out this year (which you can get for 'pay what you want' on itch.io right now.
Also, while I technically got the offer at the end of 2023, I actually signed my publishing deal with Falstaff Dread at Chattacon back in January. That's obviously huge, but really that's 2023 news lol.
Events
The big success here was that I was an official Attending Professional at Dragon Con. That made me so, so happy. Beyond that, I did more events, and refined my selling and setup as usual. And it paid off, by basically doubling my in person sales. I also did my first event in Tennessee, unfortunately it was in Knoxville (boo hiss, Roll Tide!). Also threw my big art festival again, which I think was a success, but dear god did it add to my overall stress levels to the nth degree.
I also got to teach a bunch of workshops and the like, and got paid to do so. I taught at the Atlanta Self Publishing Conference, the Alabama and Atlanta Writing Workshops, the Kelly Gallery, and a few online workshops. I also got to speak to a book club and a couple of writing groups!
Podcasting
It wasn't a great year, but it was better than 2023! A few episodes of Books, Beards, Booze came out, but the big thing that happened was I have been laying the groundwork to really kick off a TBB Podcast Network with a few new shows. There are lots of exciting things in the works, that I am just not ready to talk about yet.
Collaborations
I have big dreams. To get there I will need to do some collabs to fill the gaps in my ability for sure. There are two I feel comfortable talking about that are underway:
I have made an agreement to launch a once a month show on GoIndieNow called Page Numbers! Each month I will interview a creative and get the inside scoop on the actual numbers: their socials, their sales, the works.
A real deal screenwriter reached out to me and asked if we could work together on trying to get a Jubal County pilot shopped around. They have written the script and have been pitching it in meetings with production companies. I am realistic, I realize that there is little chance it actually gets made, but I am reasonably optimistic that it could get at least optioned. We shall see.
Assorted Little Victories
I held my first Possum Posse Gather! I call my fans the Possum Posse. I figured Dragon Con had enough people at it, that there was a reasonable chance that if I put out the word that there I could set up a 30 minute hang out in the Westin Bar and someone might show up. I even had custom stickers made for anyone who came out. The folks I came with all showed, which was legit pretty great. But then 4 fans showed up! A whole convention of amazing things going on, and they chose to spend some time with me!
I got to be on some incredible podcasts and youtube shows. Especially over on the GoIndieNow network. You can see all that I have gotten up to HERE.
I got blurbed by a big name author. I have only announced who it is on my Patreon (perk of signing up yall), but the rest of the world will know pretty soon.
I had my first 'intern' at a con. Author Sydney Reames came out to the Huntsville Comic and Pop Culture Expo and essentially shadowed me and Ben to learn how to hand sell. It's funny, she sells a lot more books than me online I am sure, but she had just never done an in person event and wanted to learn the ropes. It was a lot of fun! If you want to read about my offer (its free) click HERE.
At ConCarolinas I won a bad dad joke contest. Because you're damn right I did.
I was put on main programming at conventions a few times, specifically ConCarolinas and JordanCon!
I got in the paper! The Montgomery Advertiser did a big write up on me (It was called 'Mullet Magic' which I love so much).
Last Years Goals
Here are the goals I set for 2024, with their status:
Finish books 2 (started, Q1) and 3 (maybe half done, Q2) of my Jubal County horror trilogy. They are on the shorter side, and may wind up as novellas of some sort if they don’t end up hitting full book length. They probably won’t release until 2025 however. Status: MIXED. I did finish book 2, and am a bit more than halfway done with book 3 I suspect. They will be releasing in 2025.
I want to write a novella or short novel I am calling Blackwater Requiem in Q3. Status: NOPE! I have sort of idly started it as one of my 'phone writing' projects.
In Q4 I will start the next six book arc of Howard Marsh books. Status: NOPE! Yeah, getting behind schedule on the horror project fucked me up for this.
I want to release one or two already written short story collections, one horror, one steampunk. They just need some pretty major edits. Tentatively they are getting edited in Q1 and Q3. Status: NOPE! This didn't even come close to happening. I hate editing, so this is always going to be a hard lift for me. Digging through trunk stories to find the gems, then editing them? Oof.
In each quarter I want to lay out one small RPG zine. They will likely just get published in pdf initially, but long term there will be a print version. Status: YES! Though not in the way I had planned. I did end up releasing 5 rpg zines! So one more than expected, and they are all available in print if you catch me at events.
I plan to re-release all my books with new fancy interior layouts, slightly refined covers (just the spines really), and improved back matter. With this, I think I may finally make the plunge and go ‘wide,’ meaning I would no longer be exclusive to Amazon. Status: MIXED. The covers are all pretty much done, as is the back matter. I am currently doing the interior layouts while I wait on blurbs to add to the back cover. So expect to see all those soonish.
Audiobooks. I have a verbal commitment from a narrator, we are supposed to be starting in late Q1, early Q2 on getting book 1 done. So fingers crossed that at least 1 if not 2 and 3 come out in 2024! Status: YES! Books 1 and 2 in the Jubal County Saga are out on Audible!
Refine my business: switch to mailerlite, stand up my small press, go wide (probably, as I said). Status: MIXED. I did stand up my small press! And I did switch to mailerlite. And while I am technically wide with Create Your Way to Freedom, the real intent was to get the rest of the print books I publish to go wide. That isn't going to happen for at least another month for most of them however.
A Look Ahead
So shaking my magic 8 ball what do I see for TBB in 2025? Specific goals will go in the next section, but here are more 'big picture' type things:
Publishing
I have figured out how I can scratch my 'I want to write this side books' itch while getting the main projects written that I have to write. In 2025 if I am at a computer writing I am either writing Crimson Horror, or Jubal County Saga. Full stop. Anything else I want to write I will write on my phone while I am sitting around in my car/the waiting room/etc. And all those projects will go on my Patreon first. So there will be chapters of Blackwater Requiem (Jubal County Horror that's Jaws meets Deliverance), The Librarian (Jubal County Cozy Fantasy), and maybe The Sworn Statement of Thomas Richmond (Jubal County Horror/UF) coming to Patreon, one a week, for all of 2025.
Events
I am cutting back on the number of big out of town events I do, to an average of one a month. But I am looking to be more selective with them, picking the cream of the crop, or at least the ones that make the most sense for me. I am looking to try and do a few more local(ish) events though, especially simple one day events that are only an hour or two away at most. Because let's face it: I like being married. I love my family and my cats. And I don't want to spend all my weekends away from them. This isn't my full time job (yet) so while I can I will work to maintain more balance.
Life in General
The biggest change I am looking to make I have started implementing. I am working to better structure my life to have fewer distractions. Part of that is setting up my office in a new way, with some new gear to help with that. Part of it will be restricting my video game playing. Maybe some productivity tools on my phone to cut down on distractions. I have time enough to hit every goal I have made for 2025...if I can focus. So lets cross our fingers there!
Collabs
I want to kick off some more collabs. I mean, how cool would it be to have a Jubal County Comic? Or some cool related music, rpgs, puppets, art, film, etc. This is a lot more nebulous, and outside of my control mostly. But I am opening myself up to it, because you never know just what might come from it.
Next Years Goals
So what do I plan to achieve in 2025?
I will finish book 3 in my Crimson Horror trilogy and publish all three books. Hoping to send all three to my editor at the end of February.
I will start writing the next arc of the Howard Marsh books in the Jubal County Saga. Soft goal for having the next book out by Christmas.
I will put out at least three more rpg zines.
Hit 5,000 books sold.
Officially launch the Tales by Bob Podcast Network. Tentatively set for June.
I want to put out one short story anthology. I don't care what. Either steampunk, southern horror, or fantasy. Safe money says southern horror.
I want to start the groundwork in earnest for putting out the first multi-author Jubal County short story collection through Bearded Bard Inkworks. The plan is for it to be invitation only for this first anthology, probably ten authors besides me.
By god all my books will be wide in print, with new covers, interiors, blurbs, back matter, etc.
