01/01/2026 RECAP OF 2025

Candace Nola
5 days ago
4 min read

Overall, it’s safe to say that 2025 was productive for myself as well as Uncomfortably Dark. Yes, there were many challenges, both personally and professionally, health challenges, financial challenges, learning curves and more. I’m very proud of what I have accomplished so far both personally in my own writing and with the Uncomfortably Dark Publishing House.

There is still much to learn, and I will spend 2026 learning those things that got a bit jumbled in 2025, streamlining my process for getting things done in a timely manner and getting big orders out faster, as well as learning the different distribution channels issues and their shortcomings for better planning of orders and deliveries in the future.

I’m deeply appreciative of my family, including my found family, my review team and my street teams and spend every day honored and grateful that they choose to help me in this crazy dream of mine because they believe in it as much as I do.

UNCOMFORTABLY DARK HORROR PUBLISHING RECAP 2025

UDH published 25 titles in 2025 & filled more than 13k orders via Amazon.

Biggest selling titles of 2025, per amazon reports:

SUBJECT A – BISHOP – THE VET – CUCKOO

Highest page reads for 2025, per amazon reports:

CUCKOO – FULL THROTTLE – TRANSFORMATION – BAKER’S DOZEN

Highest pre-orders for 2025, per amazon & UDH shop orders:

MOLTING – THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE… - THIS IS HOW A VILLAIN IS MADE – ONE FRIGHT ONLY

Our authors include M. Ennenbach, Nikolas P. Robinson, P.M. Raymond, Aaron Lebold, Michael R. Collins, Peter O’Keefe, Rei Alyssa Murray, Brian Bowyer, Patrick Tumblety, Jason Nickey, Radar DeBoard, David Bernstein, Amanda Headlee, Fredrick Niles, Frank Duffy, Nathan Ludwig, and Kathryn Tennison.

I am extremely proud of each of these wonderful authors and all they’ve done in 2025 and what they have coming out in 2026. I fully appreciate their individual voices, perspectives, and creative range and I look forward to working with them throughout this next year and beyond.

CANDACE NOLA PERSONAL RECAP FOR 2025

In regard to my personal releases for the year, I had been spending most of the last 3 months of the year feeling like I had not written much at all this year, since I focused so heavily on the publishing house. It took my daughter and I to sit down to make a list of my releases as well as scouring my emails to really see what I had written, what contracts I had signed and had been published or when they released, in order to come up with what I think is a full list below.

Personal and/or self-published Releases

IVY LEAGUE - CLOWNSHOES - BLUSH & BONE – NUBS - VIOLENT NIGHTS

HANK FLYNN: THE RETURN

AT MIDNIGHT, THEY FEAST (mini anthology with Cassandra Celia & Cat Delani).

FULL THROTTLE: A Dark Dozen anthology

THE BARISTA

Written Works with other Presses and Publishers

*Wrote the foreword for PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER by Kandisha Press

*Wrote the introduction for DARK ROADS TRAVELED by Tony Tremblay

*Wrote the introduction for PUSH: An Anthology of Childbirth Horror, edited by Ruth Anna Evans.

*Poem, TEACUPS & short story, PICK UP THE PIECES, in GOOD FOR HER anthology from Nefarious Bat Press.

*Wrote the introduction to Beautiful Tragedies IV, published by Hellbound Books, LLC & had 3 poems included, SILENT SCREAMS, NOTHING MORE, ECHOES.

*Personal essay, Growing Up Horror and short story, THE TRUNK, included in POISONED SOUP anthology from Brigid’s Gate Press.

*CLAIMS REPORT short story included in the GHOSTS anthology from KJK Publishing.

*Blurbed over a dozen novels and novellas written by my peers.

*Edited 33 novels, novellas, and anthologies written by my peers.

*Still have a novel, and 7 short stories sold that are coming out in 2026, along with 3 completed works for contracts signed in 2025, that are also due out in 2026. (This list does not include my planned self-published works for 2026).

Social Media Content:

I also handle a variety of the content creation for all the social media platforms that I maintain for myself and for Uncomfortably Dark. The review team does contribute to much of what is posted on the UDH blog, while I handle wrap-ups and special reports on a bi-monthly basis, but most of the content on other sites, I either write or handle the direct posting of, when the authors are able to contribute. This content includes flash fiction, short stories, poetry, essays, and more on each of these platforms, with each platform being geared toward a slightly different vibe and type of content.

Find us on all the below platforms:

PATREON – SUBSTACK -PERSONAL WEBSITE BLOG -UNCOMFORTABLY DARK BLOG

TikTok – Instagram – Facebook.

My plan for 2026 is simply to learn more and to do better in all aspects for my team, for my authors, my editing clients, and for my community as we expand our support outward to include the indie film and graphic novel community as well as the horror gaming community in our reviews, interviews, and features.

Here’s to a wonderful 2026 for all!