When Is Your Next Book Coming Out?

By Rebecca Warner

“What are your writing now?” “When is your next book coming out?” For me, an author who has hung up her spurs and has no plans to get back in the saddle, these questions bring up a sense of anxiety. A slight feeling of failure. A touch of guilt. It’s getting easier now to articulate why I have lost the desire to publish again. It goes something like this: 

I love to write, but I don’t like the publishing and marketing aspects of the writing business. So now I just write for myself.

I self-published my first three books, then stumbled into a punitive publisher with my fourth book. My first book won an award, and I went to Miami to accept it during the Miami International Book Festival in 2015. It was an exciting validation that inspired me to write another book, which was solicited for inclusion in a romance anthology with nine other authors. While the anthology did well, the book did not. The third book isn’t worth talking about.

In 2017, I became a contributor (non-paid) for HuffPost. I had a great editor who allowed me write about a broad array of topics, including women’s rights and health issues, politics, and even an expose on Wells Fargo, which was published on the front page of the financial section. This was a fulfilling way to write and be published quickly, with no downside. 

Until 2018, I had no interest in writing another book. Then inspiration struck. I followed through and finished the book in 2019. Now, to get it published. Through the years, I had become friends with a number of generous-spirited authors. Some steered me to agents who might be interested in my book about caregiving, but one after another told me they didn’t think they could sell My Dad My Dog. So, I submitted directly to a small publishing house, and two weeks later I signed a contract. I hired a PR agent who did an excellent job of getting the book exposure, and the book did fairly well, hitting #1 in all three of its categories on Amazon multiple times. It was featured three times on BookBub. But throughout, I was in constant disagreements with my publisher. 

I’m not the only author for whom that was true. One privately messaged me to say he felt he must have done something terrible to the publisher in a former life for him to treat him so poorly in this one.

When the publisher asked me for another book, I hesitated. I told him I was working on another, but it wasn’t finished. We talked about a submission date, and I received a contract which had less favorable terms than the first one! When I tried to negotiate, I was stonewalled. When I wouldn’t sign, he pulled the plug on the promotion of my book. 

Disheartened, I watched the sales rankings fall. I stopped writing my next book. My heart and soul felt depleted. I’ve since finished it, and have considered trying to find an agent and better publisher. But I’ve heard from successful authors about the increasingly difficult aspects of today’s publishing world. 

Undaunted, these authors negotiate the changes and difficulties like the professionals they are. 

They keep writing and publishing good books. Some publish a book a year. Others, every two years. In between, they are expending time, money and energy traveling to author events, posting on multiple social media sites, generously reviewing or writing blurbs for other authors, all the while writing their next book. They are dedicated authors, doing what they were intended to do in this one precious life. 

Other authors stall in their efforts. I’m one of them. For the purposes of this article, I wanted to get an idea of how many authors in the above-mentioned anthology, published in 2015, persevered. Only two, besides me, continued publishing after 2016. One, who has enjoyed having an agent and publisher since 2014, has written 15 books, the last one published in 2024. Another is a prolific author, valued by her small publisher, who has published 21 books, the next coming out in 2025. Combined, we ten authors wrote 83 books, yet only three of us published beyond 2016.  

While you might not call them successful, you could never call them failures. First, they dared to write, and more than one book. They put tens of thousands of words together to craft a finished product, and self-published on an exploding platform. Amazon releases over 1.4 million self-published books through KDP every year.

It’s difficult to make headway in a surge that strong. I can’t speak for them, but for me, the effort outweighed the reward. 

I cherish the books I’ve written. Each one is a testament to an idea that sparked in my mind and the effort I poured into bringing it to life. Though my books never found as wide an audience as I would have liked, I have no regrets because I wrote good books. Dozens of readers took the time to let me know, via my author email, of the pleasure, the solace, or the inspiration they found in my writing. 

My love for writing remains unshaken. Now my words exist solely for me, and there is a quiet, undeniable comfort in that. I write for the sheer joy of creation. My hunger for achievement has diminished, replaced by something most fulfilling—the knowledge that, through every word I write, I’m nourishing my heart and soul.

—

Following a successful career in banking, Rebecca pursued her lifelong dream of writing. Her first novel, Moral Infidelity, won the Readers’ Favorite Bronze Medal in Thrillers. Moral Infidelity was republished on January 11, 2022 by Black Rose Writing.

Rebecca’s second novel, Doubling Back To Love, was included in Goodreads’ third most popular romantic anthology of all time, Peace, Love & Romance.

Her most recent book, My Dad My Dog, which is based on her experiences of being a caregiver to her parents and elderly dogs, has been an Amazon #1 bestselling book multiple times in all three of its categories.

When she’s not writing or reading, Rebecca loves to explore the great outdoors in and around beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and their feisty Blue Heeler. Please visit her website at www.rebeccajwarner.com

MY DAD MY DOG

“A love letter to caregivers and their canine companions. This is Warner at her best!” –Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer of Songbirds

“Warner writes smart, sensitive fiction, capturing commitment and sacrifice, and the rare, unconditional love that accompanies it.” –Rochelle Weinstein, USA Today and Amazon bestselling author

“Rebecca Warner writes a beautiful, poignant story of love and sacrifice and loss.” –Lori N. Spielman, New York Times bestselling author of The Life List

When she moves her Alzheimer’s-afflicted dad into the home she shares with her husband and elderly dog, Rachel Morgan expects some complications, but she never imagines the biggest one will occur on the first day, threatening her best-intentioned caregiving plans.

Her normally sweet-natured dad—a former mailman who experienced too many run-ins with biting dogs—is adamant about wanting nothing to do with her big black Labrador. But as Rachel tends to the escalating physical and emotional needs of each, she notices the striking similarities in their aging processes, and realizes these two souls whom she loves deeply are on the same journey.

With time working against her, Rachel must find a way to transform their uneasy truce into a trusting companionship. In doing so, she hopes to make their shared journey less lonely and frightening—and more bearable for those who must someday let them go.

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