State of the Fordy 2022

Seems to be a bit de rigueur at the minute for people tell you what they’ve been up in an end of year announcement, and there isn’t a bandwagon I won’t jump on so here we go. Also, I haven’t posted on this blog since *checks notes* June last year, so we’re probably overdue…

February saw the release of Engines of Empire! It even sealed a Kirkus Starred review, which I’m led to believe is pretty prestigious. Sales have been… okay. According to my publisher author portal it’s done just over 10k across all formats, which I don’t think is bad, but it’s also not lighting up the charts. A lot of that could be due to the lack of a UK publisher, but I’m still holding out for a heroic commissioning editor to ride in on their chariot and save the day. Nevertheless, book two – Engines of Chaos – is written, edited and ready to go in April next year, so hopefully that will persuade reticent readers to jump on board.

Despite also having rather disappointing initial sales, my historical fiction novel, Oath Bound, managed to get itself longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. It didn’t get shortlisted, and with the competition it was up against I knew it had no chance of winning, but it was encouraging nonetheless. Oath Bound was my first foray into histfic, and to make the final 12 for a prize like that (chosen by librarians no less, from just under 130 entrants) was real validation that I can make a go of the genre.

It’s sequel, Shield Breaker, also came out this year, also to the sound of crickets. Richard Cullen is a new name in the genre and it might take time to build up a following. However, in conjunction with the publisher, we ran a promo at the start of October, and gave away a lot of free ebooks. Since then, sales have actually been quite steady (according to my author central figures). Let’s hope by the time book three hits the shelves more people will want to jump on board.

Since I haven’t managed to hit any bestseller lists (again – it’s an occupational hazard I’m afraid) I took on some narrative design work in March to keep the lights on, which has seen me busy for most of the year. Kaidan is a samurai inspired transmedia brand, dripping with cosmic horror. Along with writer Steve Savile, we’ve produced some novellas, and mine should be available next year.

Recently, I also had the rights to the Steelhaven trilogy reverted back to me. I’ve relaunched the ebooks independently, and I’m currently trying to sort audiobooks for Herald of the Storm and The Shattered Crown. Will I be writing more in the series? Well, I always intended to, so I guess we’ll just have to see how well the relaunch goes when I smash the FB and AMS advertising next year.

And speaking of next year… I obviously still have two novels to produce to complete the Age of Uprising and Wolf of Kings series. Due to these commitments I’ll be stepping away from the contract work and concentrating fully on the writing of Engines of War and Winter Warrior. That’ll take me up to July next year, and luckily I have enough in the war chest to keep a roof over my head until then. Beyond that…

Quite frankly, I have no idea. There are very popular authors who’ve recently announced they’re having to take deals with smaller publishers, or that they’re leaving the writing game behind altogether. And these are authors with much-lauded novels out there. It’s tough in the industry at the moment, advances and royalties are being squeezed, particularly in the trad industry (unless you’re already a celebrity household name), and more authors are turning to indy. I’ll certainly be flexing those indy muscles and testing the waters, but there could also be more to come from my current publishers – I just don’t know yet.

I’ll end by saying a massive thanks to anyone who’s read and reviewed any of my books over this year. Particular thanks to booktuber Elliot Brooks who single handedly did more to spread the word about Engines of Empire than anyone. Hope you all have a cracking festive period and next year brings you a little closer to whatever it is you’re chasing.

Cheers

Rich