Here I am with another year under my belt. I was first published in May of 2013 so, this marks the end of three and a half years of self-publishing and marketing. It just seems easier to reflect on past achievements around this time of year when most people are making New Year’s resolutions. I prefer to set goals. Some I manage to meet, some I set aside, and some roll-over to become renewed goals because they were just so ‘darn good’ in the first place.
I would like to state one large, general observation I made this past year – almost an epiphany. ‘I am only in competition with myself.’ I need not make comparisons of my goals to others goals or achievements made by other authors. If I don’t get something published on my timeline, it doesn’t matter. It is ‘my’ timeline. Life raises its ugly head sometimes and it demands that deadlines and goals be set aside. With that said, I feel very accomplished at the close of this year. I have twenty-two books in print and four more written, waiting to be polished and published.
In 2016, I chose to focus on social media platforms that worked best for me and let others drop. I was spreading myself too thin and feeling stressed and pressured. I decided to stay with Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. I post to Pinterest and Instagram when the mood strikes me.
I established a routine of an hour in the morning and two hours at night for interacting with my friends and followers. This leaves me time to write and still keep up with work and family duties. I can’t be on all the platforms, as I thought I could at one time. I am not Wonder Woman, as much as I would like to be. I have seen too many authors burn themselves out this past year - some totally deserting social media. I want to be read therefore, I will persevere even if I need to cut back at times, or say I will be off for a few days writing or editing.
I reached, what I consider, awesome figures this year on social media. I have over 50,000 friends and followers on Twitter, over 400,000 views on my four blogs - with almost 5,000 views each month, and almost 7,000 on Facebook. I know numbers are not everything, but they do help to spread the word if you stay active and social. I really appreciate all my friends who share my posts and help me promote my work. I love to chat and Farloft enjoys his once a month appearance on Twitter.
Years ago, I signed up for one of my Twitter friends email newsletters. He is a full-time indie author and I admired his story of how he did it and how long it took before he could quit his 8-5 grind. We even exchanged email addresses and corresponded lightly. He was very helpful to me in the beginning with much needed advice.
This year he said in one of his newsletters that he was going to experiment with something, he was going to post his next novel chapter-by-chapter on Wattpad. He wanted input and had come up with this unique way of sharing. I did have to smile. I have been posting my novels on my blog as series stories for over twenty years. I post a new chapter each Saturday and if you are reading, you are most likely seeing the first draft of a future book. I love the comments I receive. It is also a place where I can introduce my writing to new readers with links to published works with the same characters, in case they get involved and want to read more.
Once again, the year proved that marketing your indie published books is a bit like gardening, everyone has an opinion on how to do it correctly, but you must find your own path. I guess I am okay with that because my other passion is gardening. I will find a way to make my books bloom.
Now let’s recap the 2016 Goals and see how I did:
1. I would still like to quit my 8-5 job in another year, but I am not sure the writing will allow me the luxury just yet. The book sales are doing better. I have three now that made the Amazon #1 Bestseller list, “Shifting in The Realms,” “Farloft’s Storybook,” and “We 3.” It was a big surprise and one worth talking about. I will continue to strive toward quitting the 8-5, but the reality is, this ‘business’ of being an author is very much like a small business ownership and will most likely take 5-8 years to come to fruition.
2. I had my website done by a professional. I think he did an outstanding job. I would give him credit here except that he is no longer doing web design, so I don’t want folks knocking on his door when he is trying to keep his own head down and do a bit of writing. I have seen an increase in sales and I attribute most of that to the slick new site.
3. I did work hard on promoting my new Affordable Proofreading & Editing Service, LLC. I assisted seventeen authors to improve their work. I look forward to helping even more shine this coming year.
4. I didn’t add counseling to the site as I intended. Between proofreading, writing and publishing my own work, I just wouldn’t have had time. Adjustments were made.
5. I published two books, but wrote three more. I was so busy proofing other author’s work that I must admit I let mine slide a bit. That was okay with me. It was something I planned for as I worked on establishing my proofreading service.
6. I did not produce any more of my books in audio. Instead, I ended up experimenting with ‘paid’ advertising. I wanted to see what sort of advertising worked for me. I think I have that figured out and will pursue it further in 2017.
Now for the 2017 Goals:
1. I will continue to assist other authors in polishing their own work. I enjoy proofreading and editing. All my customers have been pleased with my work. I think this is a great service and it gives me additional money I can use to advertise my own work.
2. I joined the Society for Children’s Books Authors and Illustrators. I hope to become active in the local chapter, attend some meetings and perhaps find a new writing group. I have missed my group since it broke up due to moves and family demands.
3. Farloft, my dragon muse, decided he wants to be a movie star this past year. He was very hurt that Elliot, from Pete’s Dragon, did not contact him for a part in his movie or at least to do some stand-in work. After all, he pointed out to me, he is the original Pacific NW dragon. Elliot is an import from a Maine fishing village. Farloft asked me to create a Facebook page for him. He is receiving a lot of attention over the idea. I can only hope he manages to pull off some ‘dragonly’ awesome deal with some well-known studio.
4. I have several books in first draft and intend to polish them and release them over the coming year.
a. The final two novellas are completed in the ‘Shifting’ books of the Twin Cities Series. These will finish up this cast of characters and I will move on to another group and setting in The Realms in 2018. I intend to do a dual release of these. I haven’t seen that done before and wonder how it might work for sales. I will find out.
b. I intend to publish ‘Farloft – the Younger Years.’ This was a goal for last year, but I just finished the book in November. I just didn’t have time to polish, format and publish properly before the holidays.
c. I put the first three Star Traveler books in a collection this past fall and that book is doing very well. I always felt this needed to be done. ‘The Helavite War’ was my first novel and I really never thought I would write another, so it has a definitive end to it. However, putting them in a collection shows the reader it is a series and shows how my writing style solidified by Book 3. This move accomplishing just what I thought it would – once the reader finishes the first three they are hooked on the series. I see sales ‘dominoing’ on down through the series of six books. It has brought sales to a platform I previously did not sell on…iBook. I fully intend to release book #7 of that series this year. It has been a long time in coming, but I am finally ready to let it go. It is a bit more adult than the previous volumes, but still mature YA.
d. David Stevens and I produced the second in the ‘In2Minds’ series this past fall. We will complete the trilogy in the coming year. I had new covers designed for this series. I never liked the dark/pixelated look of the previous Book 1 cover. Now they are bright & eye catching.
e. And in the back of my mind there are two more books I would like to finish up, another edition of ‘We 3’ and a collection of ‘longish’ scifi short stories with a kick-ass gal as the main character.
That is a lot to produce in one year, so most likely I won’t get it all finished, but it is good for me to have things lined up and waiting in the wings. It’s a bit like exercising, it keeps me stretching further then I might otherwise.
5. Audio, Audio, Audio. I need to get the rest of the Farloft Chronicles in audio. For that I need a woman to commit to doing the last four volumes. I want the same voice for all since they are from the same character’s point of view. I will work on trying to find that special voice. I would still like to read ‘We 3’ myself and have already starting putting samples on my SoundCloud channel.
6. I made a video for my YouTube channel each month this past summer. The garden gives me a little something different to talk about other than books.
7. I was pleased and thankful for all the offers I received this year to do interviews, guest blog posts and short story postings. These are always welcome and something that is invaluable for spreading the word about my work as an author, and also a proofreader. Thanks to all who helped me do that.
Last, but not least, I want to thank all the wonderful people who sent me fanart this past year. The wall at work grows. I have started moving art to the two side walls now. I am always thrilled to think that someone would draw, or have a piece commissioned for me. Big hugs to you all.
Here’s too great things in 2017! I have a feeling it is going to be a ‘banner’ year.
I would like to state one large, general observation I made this past year – almost an epiphany. ‘I am only in competition with myself.’ I need not make comparisons of my goals to others goals or achievements made by other authors. If I don’t get something published on my timeline, it doesn’t matter. It is ‘my’ timeline. Life raises its ugly head sometimes and it demands that deadlines and goals be set aside. With that said, I feel very accomplished at the close of this year. I have twenty-two books in print and four more written, waiting to be polished and published.
In 2016, I chose to focus on social media platforms that worked best for me and let others drop. I was spreading myself too thin and feeling stressed and pressured. I decided to stay with Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. I post to Pinterest and Instagram when the mood strikes me.
I established a routine of an hour in the morning and two hours at night for interacting with my friends and followers. This leaves me time to write and still keep up with work and family duties. I can’t be on all the platforms, as I thought I could at one time. I am not Wonder Woman, as much as I would like to be. I have seen too many authors burn themselves out this past year - some totally deserting social media. I want to be read therefore, I will persevere even if I need to cut back at times, or say I will be off for a few days writing or editing.
I reached, what I consider, awesome figures this year on social media. I have over 50,000 friends and followers on Twitter, over 400,000 views on my four blogs - with almost 5,000 views each month, and almost 7,000 on Facebook. I know numbers are not everything, but they do help to spread the word if you stay active and social. I really appreciate all my friends who share my posts and help me promote my work. I love to chat and Farloft enjoys his once a month appearance on Twitter.
Years ago, I signed up for one of my Twitter friends email newsletters. He is a full-time indie author and I admired his story of how he did it and how long it took before he could quit his 8-5 grind. We even exchanged email addresses and corresponded lightly. He was very helpful to me in the beginning with much needed advice.
This year he said in one of his newsletters that he was going to experiment with something, he was going to post his next novel chapter-by-chapter on Wattpad. He wanted input and had come up with this unique way of sharing. I did have to smile. I have been posting my novels on my blog as series stories for over twenty years. I post a new chapter each Saturday and if you are reading, you are most likely seeing the first draft of a future book. I love the comments I receive. It is also a place where I can introduce my writing to new readers with links to published works with the same characters, in case they get involved and want to read more.
Once again, the year proved that marketing your indie published books is a bit like gardening, everyone has an opinion on how to do it correctly, but you must find your own path. I guess I am okay with that because my other passion is gardening. I will find a way to make my books bloom.
Now let’s recap the 2016 Goals and see how I did:
1. I would still like to quit my 8-5 job in another year, but I am not sure the writing will allow me the luxury just yet. The book sales are doing better. I have three now that made the Amazon #1 Bestseller list, “Shifting in The Realms,” “Farloft’s Storybook,” and “We 3.” It was a big surprise and one worth talking about. I will continue to strive toward quitting the 8-5, but the reality is, this ‘business’ of being an author is very much like a small business ownership and will most likely take 5-8 years to come to fruition.
2. I had my website done by a professional. I think he did an outstanding job. I would give him credit here except that he is no longer doing web design, so I don’t want folks knocking on his door when he is trying to keep his own head down and do a bit of writing. I have seen an increase in sales and I attribute most of that to the slick new site.
3. I did work hard on promoting my new Affordable Proofreading & Editing Service, LLC. I assisted seventeen authors to improve their work. I look forward to helping even more shine this coming year.
4. I didn’t add counseling to the site as I intended. Between proofreading, writing and publishing my own work, I just wouldn’t have had time. Adjustments were made.
5. I published two books, but wrote three more. I was so busy proofing other author’s work that I must admit I let mine slide a bit. That was okay with me. It was something I planned for as I worked on establishing my proofreading service.
6. I did not produce any more of my books in audio. Instead, I ended up experimenting with ‘paid’ advertising. I wanted to see what sort of advertising worked for me. I think I have that figured out and will pursue it further in 2017.
Now for the 2017 Goals:
1. I will continue to assist other authors in polishing their own work. I enjoy proofreading and editing. All my customers have been pleased with my work. I think this is a great service and it gives me additional money I can use to advertise my own work.
2. I joined the Society for Children’s Books Authors and Illustrators. I hope to become active in the local chapter, attend some meetings and perhaps find a new writing group. I have missed my group since it broke up due to moves and family demands.
3. Farloft, my dragon muse, decided he wants to be a movie star this past year. He was very hurt that Elliot, from Pete’s Dragon, did not contact him for a part in his movie or at least to do some stand-in work. After all, he pointed out to me, he is the original Pacific NW dragon. Elliot is an import from a Maine fishing village. Farloft asked me to create a Facebook page for him. He is receiving a lot of attention over the idea. I can only hope he manages to pull off some ‘dragonly’ awesome deal with some well-known studio.
4. I have several books in first draft and intend to polish them and release them over the coming year.
a. The final two novellas are completed in the ‘Shifting’ books of the Twin Cities Series. These will finish up this cast of characters and I will move on to another group and setting in The Realms in 2018. I intend to do a dual release of these. I haven’t seen that done before and wonder how it might work for sales. I will find out.
b. I intend to publish ‘Farloft – the Younger Years.’ This was a goal for last year, but I just finished the book in November. I just didn’t have time to polish, format and publish properly before the holidays.
c. I put the first three Star Traveler books in a collection this past fall and that book is doing very well. I always felt this needed to be done. ‘The Helavite War’ was my first novel and I really never thought I would write another, so it has a definitive end to it. However, putting them in a collection shows the reader it is a series and shows how my writing style solidified by Book 3. This move accomplishing just what I thought it would – once the reader finishes the first three they are hooked on the series. I see sales ‘dominoing’ on down through the series of six books. It has brought sales to a platform I previously did not sell on…iBook. I fully intend to release book #7 of that series this year. It has been a long time in coming, but I am finally ready to let it go. It is a bit more adult than the previous volumes, but still mature YA.
d. David Stevens and I produced the second in the ‘In2Minds’ series this past fall. We will complete the trilogy in the coming year. I had new covers designed for this series. I never liked the dark/pixelated look of the previous Book 1 cover. Now they are bright & eye catching.
e. And in the back of my mind there are two more books I would like to finish up, another edition of ‘We 3’ and a collection of ‘longish’ scifi short stories with a kick-ass gal as the main character.
That is a lot to produce in one year, so most likely I won’t get it all finished, but it is good for me to have things lined up and waiting in the wings. It’s a bit like exercising, it keeps me stretching further then I might otherwise.
5. Audio, Audio, Audio. I need to get the rest of the Farloft Chronicles in audio. For that I need a woman to commit to doing the last four volumes. I want the same voice for all since they are from the same character’s point of view. I will work on trying to find that special voice. I would still like to read ‘We 3’ myself and have already starting putting samples on my SoundCloud channel.
6. I made a video for my YouTube channel each month this past summer. The garden gives me a little something different to talk about other than books.
7. I was pleased and thankful for all the offers I received this year to do interviews, guest blog posts and short story postings. These are always welcome and something that is invaluable for spreading the word about my work as an author, and also a proofreader. Thanks to all who helped me do that.
Last, but not least, I want to thank all the wonderful people who sent me fanart this past year. The wall at work grows. I have started moving art to the two side walls now. I am always thrilled to think that someone would draw, or have a piece commissioned for me. Big hugs to you all.
Here’s too great things in 2017! I have a feeling it is going to be a ‘banner’ year.
Dragon wall at work - Fall 2016
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