December is a time of year in the writing and book communities that writers look forward to and despise equally. So, you put out a book this year. It was your best work yet. All the effort to put it on the page was tremendous, transformative; the act of getting it published even more-so. And maybe it sold well, too. Or maybe it didn’t. But you did all the things you could to try and get it into reader’s hands just short of giving them all away for free and now…

Now come the Best Of lists…

You’ve seen them. All the major online book review places are churning them out right now, determined to shove their top picks for best books of the year down your gullet in time for the holidays so you’ll buy and read and give them to all your friends and then recommend them in turn.

And no one seems to be including your book on any of these lists.

How many books are published in a year? I’ll answer that with the right number: a literal fuck-ton and then a literal fuck-ton on top of that. There are so many books out there that I put on my list to read this year because I was genuinely excited about dropping down into their spiraling stories and I just never got around to them. And hundreds more that if I’d even heard of them and read their synopsis, I’d be all the more sad that I didn’t get to them.

There’s just so many books out there and so many amazing authors writing them and even more books coming out as we speak.

And in the middle of all of these amazing and awesome books is yours.

Now, I can understand the frustration and the sadness that comes with not finding your book on any end-of-year lists. I’ve been there many times. Each time, I lament the system of the traditionally published book world and how it overpowers those who have chosen to publish their works with indie presses or even self-publish. Even if we do our utmost to ensure that our work is seen, read, and marketed, these lists will still be dominated by books published by the big 5, books that have insane marketing budgets, and especially by authors who’s names are better known and passed around via word of mouth.

Here is where it’s up to you to turn it into resolve and to find joy.

Undoubtedly, when you’re in this business, you network with a ton of other authors and make friends with several. More than that, you read. And you likely read some of the books that are ending up on these lists because that author gave it their all, too! They cranked out something incredible, put all of their heart into this and now they are getting some well-deserved recognition for what they’ve done.

Be happy for them. Shout them out when you see their accomplishments. Share the love. And know that even if you didn’t end up on someone’s public best of list, there are readers out there who definitely read your book and enjoyed it this year. And it may have been their favorite of the year, too. It may have been something that lifted them up in a time of need. It might have been something that profoundly changed their way of thinking. And there’s still time for people to find it and read it. There’s no expiration date on books, thank God.

The other thing to remember is that many of these lists are put together by one person and what they read in a year. I’m sure they had so many more that they wanted to read and just couldn’t get around to like me or like you. There’s so many wonderful books to read and yours is among them.

Keep going. Keep writing. Keep reading. Keep shouting out the books you loved. You are a part of this Paying-It-Forward goodness that makes this community what it is and what it needs infinitely more of is kindness, care, and love.

No, I haven’t made lists. I’m okay with that. I saw plenty of friends who did and I’m so full of joy for them that I want it to burst out of me like a light. You guys are incredible!

And for those of you who didn’t make a list, so are you. Don’t forget that.

-Kat