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In every way, this was the worst year of my adult life.
And it was the hands down stankin' best.
I say it was the worst because the old Jasmine had to die for the new to really live.
You know, many people in the book industry are surprised when I tell them "Jasmine Young" isn't my real name. When I created it back as a naive young'un in 2019, I knew even then that I wanted to create a separate identity for myself. A new identity cut off from the mainstream reality of Industrial Age ideals embedded inside a 20s-year-old kid who was super messed up.
Over the years, I've had occasional identity crises between my real name and my "Jasmine Young" name, because it often felt like I was one gal living two very different lives.
One Jasmine was the outwardly successful VP... who was crippled by anxiety and self-doubt. That Jasmine went through horrible cycles of depression and hopelessness, the feeling that no matter what she did, she was never in control.
The other Jasmine was the up-and-coming baby author that, over time, was starting to gain industry notice and influence.
Nowhere was that more true in 2024.
After I published A Breaking of Realms last fall, I finally started seeing the results I had worked so hard toward, really since I dreamed of publishing books as a teen.
And it became bizarre, keeping my growing "Jasmine Young" life from my corporate work life and some of my closest colleagues.
It's funny because nowadays, when people call me "Jasmine Young," my brain automatically perks up to attention. It didn't used to do that. JY used to feel phony or "other." Damm, I even had trouble telling people I was a writer (cough, imposter syndrome.) But JY has fundamentally become a part of my soul now, fusing irreversibly with my born JC identity.
In fact, when people call me "JC," it brings the reverse effect now.
It feels foreign, like they're talking about a Jasmine from a different lifetime ago. The Jasmine that died this January to live into her soul identity.
That's the impact my author business - and you, my priceless readers and supporters - have been to me. "Life-changing" sounds like a cliche understatement, as it's been so much more than that this year.
In January, I faced my first layoff, something I naively thought I would never undergo. Ten years of climbing the corporate ladder from an entry-level nobody to VP felt like it was all crashing down. Oh, the existential crises came. My soul was struggling with a tug-o-war between my JY and JC identities.
That's what made 2024 such a terrible year.
The only routine I knew, the identity my parents, school, and society had bred into me all my life had completely fallen apart.
In the days and months that followed, I went through so much self-reflection. Life lessons I'd heard other successful entrepreneurs talk about were suddenly sinking in, and new paradigms I previously misunderstood and even scorned became my new lifeline.
I'll discuss them in my Top 10 Life Lessons section, because I believe so much in sharing our lessons with each other. Truly, I've come to understand and accept that there is no such thing as failure, only opportunities and blessings.
Suffice to say, I've seen over and over again that the things you think are your greatest tragedy can end up becoming your greatest blessings. They're meant to redirect you on the path you were born for, if you accept the grief and pain, and let them guide you forward.
But I'll get back to that in a moment!
To conclude this foreword, the internal change I've gone through has directly impacted my business's exponential growth this year. And though I missed my 2023 wrap up, I know I need to continue documenting my journey. I want those of you who are still with me, to see how I've progressed - from messy and hopeless, to someone who's seeing the seeds of success.
Because as always, as it was from the beginning, I fight for you. I fight to show you what's possible your own dreams when you have the courage to claim what's in your heart.
Alright then, let's go!
2024 Books & Sold Rights
Dragonfyre Books published three books this year:
You can probably guess that of them all, A Building of Empires was my biggest launch of 2024.
It was also the biggest launch of my author career, and skyrocketed the Realm Breaker series into one of the top sustained dragon rider fantasies in the entire Amazon US store. In all honesty, I went from hating book launches to kind of loving them because of that book.
For any readers here that are aspiring or up-and-coming authors, rest assured. If your first two books in the series are drawing interest, it's the third that will skyrocket the rest of the series. (I think there's actually even a name for it called "The Magic 3 Rule" or something!)
Here's a quick summary for volume moved in 2024:
3 books published
10,891 books fulfilled*
6,063,562 KENP pages read
"Books fulfilled" includes books that were downloaded during free days. About half of that number was sold.
Dragonfyre Books also sold rights for the first time!
Specifically in this case, Podium Audio purchased the audiobook rights for Realm Breaker 1-3 and 1.5.
A dear author friend I can't currently name is the whole reason behind why I got connected with Podium in the first place.
They're a first-class company and it was kind of a dream come true sitting through a meeting that catapulted Realm Breaker into my first series to have any sort of rights purchased.
Podium plans to release A Breaking of Realms in March 2025, with the preorder coming up in Q1. What's even more exciting for readers is that they're pairing A Quest of Rangers with the audiobook, so you'll essentially be getting two books for one credit - because we want to bring you as much value as we can.
There's currently no ETA yet for when A Banishing of Kings and A Building of Empires will be released, but I know the cast (who is extremely talented) is hard at work with the recordings. There's also no ETA on if/when Podium will purchase audio rights to the remaining books, but most likely they will (unless disaster strikes and the whole series tanks.)
2024 New Initiatives
With more time granted from my layoff, this year also resulted in a ton of new initiatives, both planned and unexpected, as a result.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's the sheer importance of diversifying your income.
I always knew this principle deep down inside, as I'd seen at my corporate day job over and over again the way independent contractors would fail face-first when they "put all their eggs in one basket"... And the golden goose that laid the eggs died.
Don't put your eggs all in one basket.
I don't think there's a lot of mainstream info in the book industry about following an author path outside of Amazon. Or maybe that's just my own perception. But for me, the hard@ss traditionalist, to say that she's abandoning Amazon as her one and only path, is a big deal.
I still plan to keep Kindle and KDP my main source of income, at least in 2025, but here are the new things Dragonfyre Books also branched into for the first time...
Founded the Dragon Riders Guild Facebook Group
Funded first Kickstarter campaign
Profited from direct sales from new Shopify store
Joined my first author mastermind
Each of these things, combined together, have 10X'ed my business. And I'm so grateful for all the incredible new readers and authors I've met as a result!
2025 Release Schedule
I'm always overeager when it comes to planning my release schedules, and you can never predict what life plans to throw at you. But here is my tentative plan...
On conventional (Amazon) releases...
The Olden Spire (Tentatively, Q1)
I'm going to be completely honest.
The release I'm most worried about of the bunch is The Olden Spire (Four Kingdoms: Origins 3). When I got laid off, I overestimated how much I would be able to write. But the thing is, the muses come when they will, and I can't always force books to meet my release schedule, at least, not without hitting my minimum standard quality.
It's highly likely Spire won't release on the current January 29th preorder date, but it's actively being written and I am pushing for a 2025 release.
A Battling of Continents (Tentatively, early-mid Q3)
Of course, my one and biggest focus is A Battling of Continents. This one is also turning out to take longer than anticipated, so I can't say for sure when it will be released. The July tentative date remains, but as usual, I'll continue to keep the community updated.
A Sea of Scars (Tentatively, early-mid Q3)
A Sea of Scars is a short story (potentially novella) WIP taking Vharyn Morghul's perspective. I'm planning to release it after ABoC, as a companion, in the weeks following ABOC's launch.
A Season of Steel (Tentatively, Q4)
And lastly, for conventional releases, my goal is to get A Season of Steel tentatively launched on December 26, 2025.
Please don't hold me to it, as I'm already being pretty ambitious with our release schedule. And I'm not sure the muses will continue shining down on me. But I'm several chapters in. This full-length novel, two years n the making, will take Soren's child perspective and follow how he became the Were King.
As for non-conventional releases (Kickstarters)...
It'll be a busy year as I expand deeper into the Kickstarter world!
Q1-Q2 will be dedicated to fulfilling the A Breaking of Realms: Special Edition Kickstarter. With the unexpected upgrades we hit through our stretch goals, I'm moving to an overseas printer that will be able to do a print run for approx. 350 books.
The plan is to finalize the interior by end of January, along with the three short stories commissioned from the Kickstarter tiers. The full shipment itself should arrive sometime in April latest, which means I'll be able to start fulfilling everything from then on.
The fullillment plan is broken down in more detail on Kickstarter here: Update #10.
And in case you haven't heard the news, I'm hosting my first anthology with co-editor Robert Zangari! It's titled Reign of Dragons, and it'll feature some of the best indie dragon authors and artists, with Todd McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern) as a guest contributor!
My contribution to this anthology is going to be a short story titled, A Birth of Breakers, which reveals the lore behind where the Realm-Breakers of its series namesake came from. Our contract requires us to keep our stories exclusive to the anthology for 6 months, but after that time, I'll be able to publish A Birth of Breakers as an independent story in ebook format!
As for release, we are planning to launch this in late March 2025. You can learn more about it by following the Kickstarter prelaunch page here.
And lastly, I'm aiming to get a second Kickstarter done for the A Banishing of Kings Special Edition. I'd love to get this done well before Christmas so that folks can buy the pretty books for their family and kids before the holidays.
Again, I tend to overestimate how much time I have to complete everything, but I already have artists commissioned, beginning next spring.
2025 Top 10 Initiatives
Outside of releases, what can you expect for 2025?
First, new book formats will be coming to you in 2025, including the audio formats I alluded to earlier!
Additionally, I think it's important for the Dragon Riders Guild community to know what exactly Dragonfyre Books is going to be focused on. The objective remains to expand and diversify readership outside Amazon (not in any particular order)...
break 1,000 amazon reviews
3x readership
release foreign translations
expand direct sales revenue
expand audiobook presence
build tiktok presence
fund 2 new kickstarters
study the romantasy niche
find my 2-3 author launch circle
hit weights min. 3x/week (to sustain endurance)
I'll have more solid timelines along the way, but if you want to stay closely updated, I encourage you to follow our Dragon Riders Guild biweekly newsletter here.
And before we can close!
The Top 10 lessons of 2024 I promised you...
Top 10 Lessons of 2024:
I'll preface by saying I spent a few hours writing down all the things 2024's punches taught me. As you probably know, it's hard for me to keep things short, SO.
I'm going to deliver even more value and give you... drumroll... FORTY!
This is pulled out of my blood and soul, and I hope it helps someone in our Guild...
The true meaning of “making an impact” isn’t to save the world, but to just live out the best version of yourself and see what that organically does for others. You might be surprised.
You’re always making progress. So don't measure yourself by your ideals.
When Linkin Park sang about how “in the end, it doesn’t even matter,” he was talking about glamorous corporate titles.
You will be right for the right people.
Successful book marketing starts with understanding the root trope of what your niche wants on the psychological and emotional (and sometimes unconscious) level.
Amazon KDP isn’t the end all be all for a successful author career. Get brazen about exploring new avenues.
Stay true to your values… The readers are watching. (*big eyed emoji*)
Most people are afraid of negotiating—so get good at pushing for what you want.
Birds make the best children.
Zoloft is man’s greatest invention for the human embodiment of an anxious dumpster fire. Propanolol might be a close second.
Let go of the idealistic expectations you have for people and accept them as they are. If you can’t do that, then perhaps they’re someone you need to cut from your life.
If you need to block a family member to protect your mental health, do it. It’s okay. You can unblock them when you’re ready. Or you don’t have to at all.
People are desperate to be seen, heard, and valued. So see, hear, and value them, even if it means just freaking being a human and responding to their comments. (This doesn’t include trolls asking why you use AI art for the 3,201 different ads you’re testing on FB because you don’t know which one will land.)
Major life disasters might be leading and/or preparing you for bigger things to come.
Money comes easily if you let it.
For my lazy achievers: braiding your hair is waaaaay better than a messy bun.
Good and humane corporations do exist out there.
Stop comparing the velocity of someone else’s progress against yours.
Don’t make assumptions. If you think you know why they did what they did, you’re making an assumption.
If you need to take a damned break, take a damned break.
You don’t need to apologize or justify for what you believe in. If the righteous crusaders can’t handle it, that’s their problem. (See #4)
People think shopping at Whole Foods is bougie and I dun care no more. Thou shalt not take away my my organic chicken breast value pack.
I’m usually a rebel when it comes to hype, but… Fourth Wing is worth the hype.
And earthing sheets are worth the money.
After you hit 30, your body does this strange rearranging where your fat leaves your legs and climbs up to your belly. It's kinda awesome.
30s really are the new 20s.
Sometimes, you’re going to f**k up. Real badly. That’s part of the human experience. We all do. When you’ve recovered from the mental equivalent of a nuclear meltdown, acknowledge that you did what you did, make the appropriate apologies, forgive yourself, and move on.
Forgive and release any negative emotions as quickly as you can. Sometimes, you're not just doing it for the other person or situation. You’re doing it for you.
Everything you do DOES compound… so be mindful of your daily development habits. Your brain is your biggest investment.
Your life and business model needs to be uniquely tailored to you. Just because something worked really well for someone else doesn’t mean it will for you, or that you need to do all the things. Relax, seek, and accept what’s working for YOU.
Don’t take things so seriously. Just bought a $400 bird to deal with a looming layoff? It’ll be fine. Someone left you the nastiest public review on the planet? Nothing’s on fire. Just keep swimming.
If someone’s being nasty, it’s because they’re working through their own personal issues. Or they’re not and doomed to stay the same... forever. Cue: ominous music. (See #31)
The right friendships are one of the greatest investments you can make, even for a hermit.
For the writers: You can make money as an indie author. Lots and lots of it. You just have to know what the heck you’re doing. (Never assume you do! Heck, I still don't.)
When news outlets overhype a hurricane, it’s actually going to be fine. When they don’t overhype, get the f**k out of Florida.
Salads become bearable in the wintertime if you dunk them in pesto.
Everyone secretly wants to be a hermit.
But really, most of us secretly want someone to believe in us and give us a chance to show the world that we can fly.
Sometimes, your own bed really is better than traveling in glamor.
You have permission to do whatever the heck you want. You’re responsible for the consequences, but still. You have permission not to answer the phone if you’re feeling extra hermity and just don’t want to.
Any of these jive with you... or am I just crazy?
In Closing...
It's been a heck of a crazy, amazing year, and I want to end this by saying thank you.
Thank you so much for your support, for sticking with me, for walking alongside me on this journey.
Five years ago, when I had no readership, I told the world I was going forth anyway to see what I could do, so that I could bring hope to others who had a dormant dream they were afraid to chase.
I struggled. I've been through depressions. I've been through moments when I sobbed to God, telling him I was too exhausted to go on existing.
I get it.
And so I don't take a SINGLE one of you for granted.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again--this isn't just my business, my journey, my story. It stopped being mine when the first reader picked up my book, and we spoke into each other's souls through the power of story.
You are the shared legacy of what we're building, just for believing and being here.
So once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Oh, and to live into the theme of 2024, just one more thing I wanted to remind you, sweet community and friends...
When you think you’re not making progress and feel like giving up, hang in there—because you ARE making progress. You’re always making progress.
Cheers to an even better year ahead! Happiest of New Years to you all!
Your friend,
Jasmine
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