I cannot believe we are celebrating FOUR FREAKING YEARS of reading, dreaming, and make-believing at Next Chapter. When I think about that, I will admit that I have conflicting feelings. On the one hand, I am so incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished—there are so many goals both big and small that have been reached. On the other hand, the super critical voice in my head tells me if I had only “done this” or “done that” then maybe I could have accomplished even more. It’s really easy to be super critical of ourselves when it comes to the things and people in life that we love so deeply. But consider this blog post a big ole middle finger to that critical voice because today I am choosing to celebrate all the magic and triumphs that have occurred this year. Could I have done more in some aspects of my business this past year? Were there some big learning moments and things I can improve upon in 2026? Yes and yes. But I also worked my book-loving booty off and because of that work ethic (and you!!), it was a GREAT YEAR in a lot of ways.
Now that I’ve given myself a pep talk that none of you asked to witness, let’s dive into what made 2025 a great year for our bookish small business.
What 2025 Looked Like for Our Officially Licensed Book Merch Shop
In this section, we’re breaking down the 5 biggest wins for the shop this year (Not necessarily from a financial standpoint—although that is taken into account. It’s mainly just from my personal perspective of what felt really exciting this past year.)
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More Author Partnerships
The fact that Next Chapter is able to offer officially licensed book merch will always be what excites me the most. This year was a bit bittersweet in this department because (as many of you already know), Sarah J. Maas joined a new licensing team that broke off partnerships with tons of small businesses—mine included. But around that time, I also was able to gain licensure with Rachel Gillig AND Stephanie Garber. Sarah J. Maas’s works will always be dear to me, but turning this page has felt so right and I am hopeful that 2026 will bring about more author partnerships! Our very first officially licensed Rachel Gillig collection was wildly successful—I couldn’t have asked for a better launch, and we will have much more Rachel Gillig merch releasing in the new year!
We were also able to gain licensure with Stephanie Garber this year, so I’m very excited to announce that an officially licensed Once Upon a Broken Heart collection will be releasing in 2026!
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New Types of Merchandise + Mixing things up!
I could probably write an entire blog post about this topic alone! Wow, where to begin? In 2025 we launched our very first branded merch collection for Next Chapter and it was just so… validating. In late spring, I sat down with my friend Whitney (who also owns the print shop that brings much of your lovely book merch to life!) and she brought up the idea of Next Chapter providing branded merch. Based on her observations, she felt that I had cultivated a strong enough relationship with you all, that you would be excited to wear the Next Chapter brand. I was skeptical at first, I’m not going to lie. Throughout the shop’s existence, we’ve mostly stuck to fandom merch, but I figured why not give it a shot? In a business, you have to be willing to take some risks here and there or you’ll never grow. So in late August we did it, and you guys CAME THROUGH and surprised me in the best way. I just never dreamed so many people would want to wear our name on their clothing—it was so touching to see so many of you purchase from this collection. Here in just a couple of days we’ll be releasing a brand new branded merch collection, and I am even more obsessed with it than the first drop! None of this would be possible without the Next Chapter fam.
In 2025, we also expanded our catalog quite a bit by offering new items like bookmarks (that are SUPER high quality and durable thanks to my local print shop being the badasses that they are), as well as socks, art prints, luggage tags, and the BARTHOLOMEW PLUSHIE which was our top seller of the year! I am still blown away by the support on that one and even though we sold out of our first model, we WILL be bringing a new version of him back, so FEAR NOT, BARTHOLOMEW!
The last thing that I’ll touch on super briefly in this category is that we really stepped outside the box by offering merchandise with unique design placement and mixed mediums! The Meadowlark Crewneck is a prime example of this—not only does it combine both screen printing and embroidery for a truly special finished product, but it also features a wide screen printed design that spans the entire front width of the crewneck. This gives the design a “wraparound” effect when wearing it. It’s no wonder that this was one of our top sellers this past year and I’m happy to announce that it’s finally available again!
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The Sweetwater Peak Crewneck + Bottle Cap Creative Collab
The Sweetwater Peak Crewneck that we released in honor of Lyla Sage’s new book Soul Searching was our second best selling item of the year right behind the Bartholomew Plushie. I had to restock it THREE times! What really made this one special is the fact that Lyla’s book cover artist, Austin Drake, (aka. Bottle Cap Creative) designed it! This one still makes me want to pinch myself every now and then just to make sure I’m not dreaming. I was so incredibly honored to have Austin on board for this one and it turned out so perfect. I think we still have a few of these left in stock, but we’ll definitely be doing a reprint sometime in 2026, (probably around the time that book 2 is released) so stay tuned!
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The In-person Shopping Experiences
I say this so frequently because it’s just so true, but I never dreamed in-person shopping events would be even a little bit lucrative for me. When I started the shop back in 2022 I had this mindset that in-person shopping was dead and boy howdy was I WRONG. These events have propelled my business and its success in various ways—and not just monetarily. I would like to give a special thanks to the following Oklahoma bookstores for allowing me to come in and set up shop on several occasions throughout 2025: Book and Bloom (Broken Arrow), Second Story Books (OKC), Full Circle Bookstore (OKC), Lost and Bound Bookstore (OKC), Knights Nook (Yukon), Love Stories (OKC). Oklahoma has had a rocky relationship with books and censorship in the past few years, politically speaking, and I am so honored to stand by these bookstores and fight the good fight. I cannot wait to participate in more events with my local indie bookstores in 2026.
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Beyond Bookstagram—putting ourselves out there!
Something new and exciting that happened in the shop this year is that we got our very first magazine feature! You can read more about that and witness me getting deep into my feels in this blog post. In 2026, we’ll also be featured in Oklahoma Today and I am ecstatic. Expanding our reach in my home state has always been a big goal of mine, so I consider this an incredible honor that these reputable magazines want to feature us.
My Favorite Reads of 2025
In this section, I’m breaking down my top reads of 2025. I have told several people this recently, but the big irony of my business is that I started it out of a love for reading, but as we have grown, the busier I have become—which inevitably means less time for reading… *cries* As a result, this was one of my slowest reading years, BUT I did read some absolute bangers. Here were my faves of 2025, starting with my favorite.
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The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig (shocking, right?)
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Silver Elite by Dani Francis (this will be HUGE—wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually becomes a big movie phenomenon)
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One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (love, love LOVE! New obsession unlocked. Merch coming in 2026!)
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Wild & Wrangled by Lyla Sage (Loved getting to be back at Rebel Blue for one last ride with the Ryder family)
Honorable Mention:
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Good Spirits (reading it right now but I have a feeling it will be a 5 star for me!)
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Soul Searching by Lyla Sage (Brady is UP there when it comes to the best MMCs. He’s so dreamy, Bartholomew!)
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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (I do enjoy a good thriller every now and then and this one did not disappoint)
And there you have it! Those were some of the highlights of our year! I can’t wait for 2026, because we’ll be restocking some best sellers and continuing what we started in 2025, but we’ll also be stepping into brand new territory in several ways… So, here's to the chapter we're about to leave behind and the new one we are about to enter.
Wishing you an incredible next chapter in 2026.
