Celebrating my Author Wins of 2025…

And much to my surprise… there were many of them.

Everyone should be taking the time to celebrate their wins. It doesn’t matter how “small” or “insignificant” it might feel, it’s imperative (especially as an indie author) to claim all your victories and achievements. Being an indie author is no joke—it can be isolating and carry a sense of defeat and/or worse, imposter syndrome.

So as we close out the year, I’d like to take the time to celebrate my author-related wins for 2025.

In April, I attended my first ever in-person author event.

And literally cried. (And of course, my husband who works in the area where the event took place popped over on his lunch break to witness it all in real time.) I sobbed while signing books for a good twenty minutes.

(Yet another sidebar: I’m a crier. I cry so damn easily. Mad? Cry. Happy? Cry. Hear a song that just hits right? You got it, cry.)

As a small, unknown author, I did not expect the support I received. The doors opened for the romance lovers at Romance in CNY and my table immediately had a line.

A LINE. PEOPLE WAITING FOR ME AND MY WORK.

:insert record scratch sound here:

WHAT?

I expected to have a few people wander up throughout the day. Instead I had a steady line until about an hour before the event ended. Several people were like “yeah, we saw the line and decided we’d try back later only to see there was still a line.” I took 100 hardcover and 100 paperback copies of As Above, So Below with me (as that was the only book I’d published at the time, but I did have a proof copy of As Within, So Without so people could get an exclusive sneak peek) and I came home with 20 hardcover and 10 paperback.

Here I am minutes before the doors opened at Romance in CNY. Major shout-out to my friend and official in-person event assistant, Andi, for taking the photo and dealing with my emotional, anxiety-ridden arse.

Some of you might be asking what all was on my table… Obviously book 1 in my trilogy. I also offered free stickers (as is the way for most authors at these events.) But in addition to those things…

I collaborated with an amazing black-woman-owned business to create candles and room sprays based on characters and locations from The Four Realms.

Raeven, the owner and creator at The Witchy Wax Co., designed the amazing scents I only offer at in-person events. Scent profiles were created based on Ves, Ryc, Lilith, Eve, Ember and Ashes, and Ollora. And at Romance in CNY in April 2026, I’ll have them again.

While they didn’t do as well as I’d hoped at my first event, they did phenomenal at the Grown-Up Book Fair I attended later in November. But honestly, even if they don’t find homes, I’m more than happy to keep them all because they’re just that amazing.

The Witchy Wax Co. & D.M. Darcy
Fated Celestials Fragrance Line

Ves — eucalyptus, lemongrass, moss, juniper
Ryc — saffron, smoke, leather, amber
Eve — sage, lavender, honey, patchouli
Lilith — peach, carnation, sandalwood, white tea
Embers and Ashes — cranberry, amaretto, tonka bean, oud
Ollora — green floral, earth, embers, dark musk

In July, I broke 20k pages read on KU.

Following a quasi-viral video about my book on TikTok, As Above, So Below had a surge of readers on KU. Prior to that, my highest monthly page reads was in March with 17k.

Come September, As Within, So Without had more preorders than
As Above, So Below the year before.

When I published my debut novel in September 2024, I was elated to have 10 ebook preorders. Ten people, not entirely comprised of family and friends, were invested enough in my storytelling ability to advance order my book. So when preorders opened for As Within, So Without (the ebook through Amazon, signed copies through me, and the audiobook through Paige & PJ Productions were offered) I didn’t expect to smash that record.

Between what can loosely becalled marketing on social media, following the release of As Above, So Below, I managed to amass a decent sized following and a fair number of reviews. I do believe being an attending author at Romance in CNY earlier in the year greatly helped in this, as did having Paige and PJ do TikTok Lives of the audiobook recording process.

Across all versions of the book, there were well over sixty preorders. Way more than I could have ever anticipated and it made my silly little author heart swell.

(Sidebar: I may or may not have made the mistake of sending someone book 2 in the trilogy when in reality they ordered book 1 during launch week. Spoiler: I totally did. I reached out to them to correct the mistake, and thankfully they wanted book 2 to begin with—I still sent them book 1 at no cost because that’s what the order in the system was for. Could I have simply corrected the inventory? Sure. But why not have a matching signed copy of book 1?)

In November, I attended my second in-person event.

And I did significantly better than I could have ever anticipated. The Grown-Up Book Fair took place in Watertown, NY which is a rather conservative area. I didn’t believe my dark fantasy romance would have much of a local readership. (I reside in the greater Watertown area and never market locally.) To make the event wilder, an adoring reader (and overall amazing person) drove up from Maryland to meet me and gifted me a Kirby blind box because she knows how obsessed with Kirby I am. It was mind-blowing to see so much support once again, meet so many new and returning readers, and other amazing local authors as well.

The two in-person events I attended in 2025 could not have been better had I dreamed it.

And while I did apply to attend other bookish events (and was ultimately wait-listed on all accounts), I’m okay with that. If I only do one in-person event a year (Romance in CNY), I’ll be happy.

But then in December, I shattered my previous KU record with 50k.

Again, following a truly viral post (the one I talked about in my previous blog entry), my numbers soared. In a way, it’s disheartening to learn indie authors have to hope for lightning in a bottle to spread word of their work. Usually marketing on socials goes a little like this:

Indie Author: Hey, here’s my book! I think you’ll like it.
Social Media Algorithm: Fuck your book, brah. <200 views

And for the first time ever, I saw royalty numbers that could pay 1-2 of my bills. Am I anywhere near breaking even to what I put into this journey thus far? No. Not even close. But it is trending upward and I do hope the momentum will carry into the new year (once I’m able to distribute my ebook again.) Read more on that here.

I would dare call 2025 a successful year as an indie author.
So, what are my author aspirations for 2026?

Well, to keep it short (this post is starting to reach the longer side), here’s a list:
+ Finish drafting As the Universe, So the Soul;
+ Attend my first ever solo in-person signing (Tats & Tomes in collaboration with Pride and Glory Tattoo Co.);
+ Have an amazing time at Romance in CNY 2026;
+ Continue to reach the right readers who will love Ves, Eve, Ryc, and The Four Realms as much as I do;
+ Hire Paige and PJ to produce and record the As the Universe, So the Soul audiobook;
+ Celebrate more unexpected wins.