Looking Back on 2025: Reflecting on My Nonfiction Writing

After its launch, 2025 was my first full year building my nonfiction brand. My top priority was publishing Branding for Authorpreneurs: How to Craft Your Author Persona and Tell Your Brand Story to Your Audience. As I mentioned before, I’ve worked on this guide for years. The plan was to release it in the spring. But in February, right before sending it to my editor, I decided I wasn’t happy with the draft. I rewrote the entire thing through late summer and aimed for an October release.

Then came the final read-through. While the content was solid, a few sections, especially in phrasing, structure, and clarity, bothered me. Some of those details that most readers might never notice, but that define a professional standard. Fixing them meant postponing the launch by a few weeks.

A major lesson

You might wonder: If I teach branding, platform building, and book marketing, shouldn’t I be able to stick to my launch schedule? Absolutely. And delaying a launch less than two weeks before release isn’t great for anyone’s reputation.

The decision also reflects one of the core principles of my branding: respect. I owe it to you, and to myself, to deliver work that meets the standard I teach. That’s why I rescheduled it. Not because the earlier version was bad, but because I knew I could push it further. Quality matters! It’s better to pause and/or postpone a project than publish something you know isn’t your best.

The entire experience reinforces a lesson every author learns eventually: Writer’s block, harsh feedback/reviews, slow sales—setbacks are inevitable. In my case, it was a last-minute delay. But I believe that how we handle those challenges defines our reputation more than the setbacks themselves. 

After several intense, sleep-deprived weeks, I finished the revisions in time to launch Branding for Authorpreneurs in November. Since then, sales have been steady, though I could always use more reviews—hopefully positive ones.

Non-fiction content strategy

I made big improvements to my content strategy in 2024, so I entered 2025 with high expectations. And mostly, I hit my goals. I stuck to a schedule—even if it didn’t work quite as well as I had hoped. A big part of that was the time I spent writing and rewriting my guide.

I also invested countless hours updating older articles, not just the text but the visuals, too. I reworked every image in every fiction and nonfiction article—sometimes even twice. Although developing a coherent visual identity was necessary, it took far more time than I’d expected.

Another challenge was my focus on long-form content. I wrote long blog posts, long emails, long everything. No surprise: that eats up time fast. So yes, I still have room to improve. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to think of ways to refine my workflow. I’m also going to evaluate what content performed well—and what didn’t.

Growing platform

The good news? A glance at the analytics gives me hope. Since relaunching my website 1.5 years ago, traffic has grown exponentially. Since September alone, page visits and impressions have jumped over 400 percent. Maybe it’s a fluke—but I’d like to think consistent content is finally pushing my SEO in the right direction.

The number of people signing up for my email list is also growing. Equally important is the steady increase in my open rates.

However, I struggle to gain followers and interactions on social media. That’s not unexpected, though, since I focus my content strategy on blogging and email marketing.

Wrapping up nonfiction reflections

As I mentioned above, there’s always room to grow, but I’m proud of the progress I made with Essentials for Authorpreneurs. For that, I owe you a genuine “Thank You”. Your support—whether you brought Branding for Authorpreneurs, joined my email list, or followed me on social media—was invaluable, particularly during challenging times. Thank you!

Now, as we close out 2025, I hope you enjoy the holiday season and step into 2026 with energy, optimism, and much creativity!

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My goal is to make our interactions both educational and entertaining. And “interactions” means I want to get to know you, too. If you have questions, thoughts, or just want to chat, reach out anytime.

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