Five Years as an Independent Author

This November marks my fifth anniversary as an independent author. Hall of Bones came out in November 2020 and it’s difficult now for me to recall a time when writing hasn’t been an all-consuming passion. I’ve written creatively for two decades and always enjoyed this as a relaxing hobby. However, something definitely changed when I took the step of releasing my first book. The last five years have been amazing, although I’ve certainly experienced both highs and lows during that time.

It's also the anniversary of The Brotherhood of the Eagle series reaching its conclusion after four books with the publication of Broken Brotherhood in November 2024. That series has been a feature of my writing life since 2011, and 2025 marked an extended goodbye to the characters who inhabited that world.

Firstly, my solo work was featured on audio for the first time, with the talented RJ Bayley narrating Hall of Bones and my short story collection A Roll of the Dice. A considerable part of 2024 was spent crowdfunding both those projects and then working with RJ to record and proof the stories themselves. This was such a rewarding collaboration, allowing me to reappraise my work and experience something that was probably as close to reading my book for the first time as you can get when you’re the author. I loved RJ’s amazing interpretation of my stories, which brought real depth and emotion to the characters and their journey. I hope I’ll be able to work with him again to produce more audiobooks in the series.

With the audio release of Hall of Bones this spring, I then turned my attention to putting out an omnibus edition of The Brotherhood of the Eagle. I also wanted to offer my readers something new, so this contains four short stories to help flesh out the world and characters, together with new maps drawn by the brilliant Dewi Hargreaves which really show off the fantasy world I’ve created. I’m aiming to release this before the end of the year.

I took the opportunity to proof the whole series for the final time whilst working on this, allowing me to do one last polish of the text and also ensure the short stories were consistent with how the series had developed. Proofing over 600,000 words was no small undertaking and took many more months than I’d planned, but I’m glad I did it. It gave me a proper appreciation of the full story and the development of the characters I’d created. Imposter syndrome will always whisper in your ear that something isn’t good enough, but I am very proud of this body of work.

Whilst the omnibus was slow going due to its length I think the main reason it took so long was because 2024 had been such a frantic year. Finishing a series is technically challenging as you have to close down so many different story arcs to give the reader the resolution and payoff they have been waiting for, whilst also telling a story that is gripping and entertaining in its own right. Based on my reviews, I’m pretty sure I pulled that off, but I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and get it right. By the end of 2024 I was creatively spent – hence the focus on alternative formats and book collections.

Looking back, I’ve also pushed myself outside my main series. For many of my readers my standalone novel, A Quiet Vengeance, is actually their favourite. In some respects, I think it represents the purest expression of my writing style. Brotherhood was written partly to entertain, whilst A Quiet Vengeance was a project purely for me, when I really needed a break from that series. It came out in 2023 and a follow-up is long overdue, but this post is already long enough, so I’ll save my thoughts on that for next year.

Putting my work out there also led to some amazing collaborative projects with other authors. I was able to experiment with gaslamp fantasy horror for the first time when I contributed a story to The Anatomy of Fear. I also had the opportunity to expand the world and lore of The Brotherhood of the Eagle setting with my short story for The Advent of Winter. The latter is such a beautiful book, and I was quite moved to discover my story, A Cold Broad River, inspired the artwork for the endpapers of the special hardback edition. Moments like that are the ones to treasure, but the really great part of those projects was being invited to take part and getting to know so many amazingly gifted writers.

Overall, it’s been an intense five years. I was older than most of my peers when I first decided to go independent, and I think that motivated me not to waste a moment once I set out on that path. When the chance to do something new came up, I invariably said yes rather than no and I’ve never been busier! As I said earlier, I was trying to take it easy this year as I’d been burning the candle at both ends for quite a while. However, one opportunity arose which I simply couldn't turn down.

Sci-fi author, director and actor Emily Inkpen asked me if I would be interested in providing some commentary for a book she was releasing, which brought together her collected scripts for the second season of her audio drama, The Dex Legacy. I’m a huge fan of this award-winning sci-fi podcast, so it was a real privilege to be able to provide the listener’s perspective, alongside those of the cast members, the show’s producer and Emily as the series writer. It’s fair to say The Dex Legacy has revived my long-dormant interest in audio drama, opening up a whole new world to me. Having the chance to be included in a project like this was an unexpected bonus in 2025!

So was all that hard work worth it? Independent authors usually struggle with sales and I’m no different. I’ll be including a detailed breakdown of the more commercial side of how 2025 went for me in my wrap up blog in January, so I won’t repeat all that information here. Over the past five years I’ve sold over 3,000 books and given away plenty more through promotional activities. My readership is there, and it’s slowly growing, but I’m under no illusions that I’m a small fish in a very large literary pond. The positive to draw from that is that there’s plenty of scope to grow and sell more copies!

Sales are one metric of success, but I would say that by far the biggest benefit of doing this has been the community of readers, writers, reviewers, bloggers, editors, artists, agents and podcasters I’ve met along the way. Many of them are now my closest friends and I wouldn’t have made it this far without them and my awesome online writing group. Being immersed in a world briming with unique, interesting fiction created by imaginative authors buzzing with new ideas has been good for the soul and enriched my outlook on life immeasurably.

I consider myself to be fortunate in so many ways. Independently releasing Hall of Bones in 2020 was a baffling, nerve-wracking experience, and I made lots of mistakes with the launch of that first book. The thing is, despite my perfectionist tendencies, it didn’t matter. I’m a firm believer in finding time to do those things which are close to your heart and bring you joy. In my experience, the rewards of taking that step far outweigh the risks.

That thing you’ve always wanted to do but keep putting it off? Get out there and do it!

Writing this blog has made me realise I’ve come so far since 2020. It’s easy to forget your achievements and all the good things that have happened when the focus is always on the next thing. It’ll be interesting to see what the next five years brings!