Yearly Look Ahead 2025
To address the elephant in the… room?... blog?... anyway, usually these get posted around the actual new year, however y’all might notice that this year’s is being posted at the end of January. Was it due to some awesome secret deal that Drew can only now divulge?
Sadly, no. The short answer for the delay is: the flu. The longer answer is the fact that I’ve got a compromised immune system thanks to the treatment for my psoriatic-arthritis, so even smaller colds knock me down for a day or so, and this month I definitely got more than small colds.
But after ample rest and lots of meds, I am officially back and running, at least enough to be able to sit down and type out a blog. Which means its time to turn out eyes toward 2025… almost.
As long-time readers know, I like to take a moment first and reflect back on everything that came the year before. And whoa nelly, was 2024 ever a year for releases. The Autumn of Drew was in full swing, with back-to-back books for most months in the last half of the year. We had Villains’ Code #3: Chilling Reflections, Roverpowered #1, A Decade of Death & Decisions, and Roverpowered #2.
Now there were a few books that were expected to make that list which didn’t, and I’ll touch on those shortly, but overall that amounts to a heck of a good year. Not only was it amazing to see A Decade of Death & Decisions reach a larger audience, but I was floored by the positive reception to Roverpowered. Wading into a new genre, especially one where I have as little standing as YA, I was prepared to have to fight my way uphill with that one; only to find you folks showing up enthusiastically. I wanted to take a moment and call that out with gratitude, having the support of a steadfast audience is part of what allows me to take these risks and try new stories.
That said, grand as 2024 might have been, it is now in the rearview mirror as we turn our eyes toward what lies ahead in 2025.
1. Publish the e-book and print versions of 5-Minute Sherlock #3 – The Case of the Felonious Faire: This is one that got pushed from last year. My original plan was to release it in late summer, but y’all might notice that got crammed full of other books due to a glut of releases hitting at once. It was initially moved back to November, but got lost in the shuffle of illness (get used to that well, I get shoved down it a lot) and holidays.
Thankfully, things are in process, and this one should be up any day now. I’ll do a big release announcement when it’s finally ready.
2. Publish Fred #9, the final Fred the Vampire Accountant book: Another holdover from last year’s list, this one also got delayed, though in this case it was due to what might be the most boring reason of all: red tape. I’m currently in the process of regaining the rights to the older books from REUTS publishing, who did the first 5 titles. In order to run promos on the older books or any sort of collected editions, that’s a necessary step to check off, and unfortunately it is taking a lot longer than anticipated.
That said, things are slowly moving, and one way or another the matter is getting settled this year. So Fred #9 is on the docket, though I don’t have as clear-cut a delivery window as with The Case of the Felonious Faire above.
3. Publish Villains’ Vignettes: Volume 2: For anyone following along on my Patreon, you know the content for this one has kept going at a steady pace. This one is pretty much entirely written, though of course we’ve still got ample editing ahead.
My goal with this one is to publish it on or near the audiobook release date for Villains’ Code #3: Chilling Reflections (6/24), that way every audience gets some new content in that world around the same time. We’ll see if life lines up that conveniently, but that’s at least the general window I’m aiming for.
4. Write and Publish Roverpowered #3 and #4: Technically speaking, I only need to write #4 at this point, as #3 is in edits and has a pre-order page already setup. That seemed like a small delineation to make a separate entry over though, so they’re both combined here.
I’m confident that #4 will be written this year, and barring some shocking scheduling issues, I imagine Aethon will be able to publish it in that time as well. That’s the great thing about the series being the size it is, there’s always room to squeeze these into the work-schedule as needed.
5. Write Spells, Swords, & Stealth #6: Switching gears to a differently sized project, I’ve actually already started work on SS&S #6. This one is my “big” book project for the year, and I expect to be able to finish it within 2025 without any major issues. I’m hoping, planning, and praying this one comes is notably shorter than Noble Roots, which was supposed to be 160k instead of the 240k it ended up. Even if it does run over though, I’ve started early enough in the year that this one should absolutely be done.
Publication will probably take until 2026, as the bigger books need longer in reviews, edits, and so forth, but I don’t expect it will be too late next year.
6. Write 5-Minute Sherlock #4: It’s too long without a case, but this year The World’s Greatest Detective will hit the page once again! I’m really excited for this entry, it’s one I’ve known we were working our way toward since the series inception. You all know I don’t give out spoilers, but I will say that folks hoping for movement on the series larger plot are going to be very excited about this one.
7. Continue with weekly Patreon content: Since I technically labeled last year as an experiment, thought I should make a point of stating that I’ve been really happy with this new arrangement. It gives me a place to share the stories that might be harder to package in a traditional market, and seems like folks have enjoyed the array of content. I think we’ve got a good thing rolling, and my only notions are to see how I can expand or improve things in the year to come.
8. Work on the Super Powereds webcomic: Although it was featured on last year’s list, this one actually isn’t a push, we’re just looking at a project on a very long timeline. That said, we’ve started to see some of the books-turned-comics that started development earlier debut, and they are looking awesome! I’ll share what I can on this as its allowed, just again keep in mind this is lengthy process.
9. TV/Movie Deal: At this point keeping my final goal as the TV or Movie deal is tradition. Not the likeliest goal on here by a wide margin, but it never hurts to try.
And that’s the plan for 2025! We’re looking at another stacked year for releases, and the writing of some fan favorites series getting their next entries. Hopefully you’ve got a fun 2025 planned as well, feel free to drop by the Discord or let us know in the comments below!