Author Recap of 2017 and Goals for 2018

It is about this time each year when I begin to reflect on my past year’s accomplishments as an author. I have been a self-published writer for four and a half years as of this month – originally published in May of 2013. A lot has happened in that time. As of this writing, I have twenty-six books in print, in four different genres.

As I have stated in my recaps in the past, I like to set goals for the upcoming year rather than making New Year’s resolutions. Some of these goals I achieve, some I set aside and some roll-over to become renewed goals because they were just so ‘darn good’ in the first place.

Marketing is always a challenge for an indie-author, and I tried many new things this year, which I would like to share. Some worked. Some did not. I try to keep in mind that in 2015 (the most recent year they have stats) Bowker, the folks who issue ISBN numbers, stated there were over 700,000 books self-published. It is hard to stand out in such a huge crowd. Marketing your books is like Dory’s advice in the Pixar film, ‘just keep swimming.’

Baring the Bones of Proofreading and Editing

October of 2015 I opened up shop as Affordable Proofreading & Editing Service, LLC. Why did I do this? I was already a published author in my own right. I certainly did not have a wealth of time on my hands. I hold down an 8-5 job and am caregiver to my elderly father - and still must find time to write. What was my motivation to give up what little free time I did have?

I’ll tell you what… The need to see polished work in the self-publishing field. Manuscripts that are of a better quality assist all of us in sales, not just the author of the particular book.

Thinks about this…

A reader sees an ad on social media, be it Facebook, Google+, Twitter, wherever… They are intrigued by the cover and click on the link… The blurb for the book sounds interesting and the price is reasonable… (Anything 99 cents to $3.99 is reasonable.) They think, ‘heck, that’s only the cost of a fancy coffee.’