by Amanda S. Green
As the year draws to an end, I’ve seen a lot of blog posts and news articles about the “Year in Review”. I guess I could do one of those today but, frankly, I’d rather not. I’ve written all I could ever want to about the Borders bankruptcy and what locally owned bookstores need to do, in my opinion, to survive. I’ve been vocal in my opinions concerning those who automatically damn Amazon for doing things other retailers have been doing for years. After all, it is so easy to attack the 800 lb. gorilla. My thoughts on the ability for authors to release their back-lists or publish their books on their own through programs like KDP from Amazon and PubIt from Barnes & Noble are well-known. So, what to blog about today?
I guess I could blog about writing resolutions for the New Year. The only problem is, I hate resolutions. They are so easy to break. So how about some writing plans for the New Year? Why plans instead of resolutions? That’s simple. As writers we have so much more control over our careers now that we have to plan. It isn’t enough to just write anymore. So, what should we, as writers, plan for?
First, we have to write. Whether you set a word count by day/week/month or butt in chair time, you have to write. That’s a given.
Going hand-in-hand with writing is the need to finish. It is so easy to just write, jumping from project to project without ever finishing one. So, that is the second plan or goal. Something has to be finished. Preferably seveeral somethings.
Then there is the need to know what to do with that finished project. It is very easy to say, “I’m just going to self-publish all my work instead of going the traditional route.” While I’m not saying don’t do this, I am suggesting you consider all your options. There are good and bad points to both traditionally publishing your work and self-publishing it. So research and determine which route will work best for you.
Edit. Whether you are submitting through traditional routes or not, your work needs to be edited. And this comes after the beta readers.
Promote. Tell your friends what you’re doing. Blog about it. Tweet. Facebook. You get the idea. If you aren’t getting word of your book or story out there — and it needs to be beyond your immediate circle of friends — your chances of making back your initial investment (which includes your time to write it) decline.
Research — not only your market and publishing options but research what you are writing as well. Whether you are writing romance, fantasy, historicals or whatever, there is always research involved. It can be making sure you know what a certain restaurant serves for dinner or the history of a region. Believe me, if you make a mistake, someone is going to tell you — usually AFTER the book or short story has come out.
Study — study the market, and not just the numbers put out by Publishers Weekly or the best sellers lists from the New York Times. Study what readers are saying in different fora. Study what is selling in hard copy v. what is selling in digital version. Study what other authors are doing to promote their work.
Learn — learn where your local indie bookstores are and who the owners/managers are. Go in and talk with them. Build a relationship with them and then brainstorm ways you can help one another.
Learn – how to build your own e-books that are properly formatted for all the major e-book readers as well as smart phones. That means remembering that just because something looks good on paper — or looks “pretty” — that doesn’t mean it will translate well for an e-book reader. (I’ll start the “How to” series on e-publishing Sunday).
Network — Get out of your house and to cons that are both writing oriented and also fan oriented. The writing oriented cons are necessary to meet and greet — and brainstorm with — other writers and editors. Even with publishing in the upheaval it’s in, this is still necessary, especially if you are considering keeping a foot in the traditional segment of publishing. The fan cons are necessary to connect with the fans and in getting word of your work out to them. (If you haven’t been to a con before, and especially if you haven’t attended as an author, find Sarah’s post about con behavior. It’s a must read.)
Write. Yes, I know I’ve already mentioned it. But this is the base of how we earn money. So, along with all the other things we have to do — and I haven’t mentioned family, “real” jobs, sleeping and eating, just to mention a few — this is the one thing we have to do all the time. So, write. Then write some more.
Set a goal. My goal for this upcoming year is enough to make my head spin. I have at least one title, either short or long, due every month. It means I have to force myself to be disciplined enough to do my work for NRP and to find time for writing as well. Do I sometimes wonder if I’ve gone crazy? Nah, I’m a writer. That means I’m halfway there anyway.
So, what are your goals for this upcoming year and what steps are you going to take to meet those goals?
Mad Genius Club 
11 responses to “Goals for the New Year”
Goals? Survive buying a house (first time) with something resembling sanity, survive moving with something vaguely approximating sanity, survive the job without going postal (or worse, Vlad), try to squeak some writing in around the edges, keep praying to any deity that will listen for the lottery people to draw our damn numbers so there’s a little less need to juggle the eternal chaos.
Oh, yes. Try to a) get the place clean, and b) keep it that way. Those who wish to place bets should be aware that the likelihood of this happening is slightly less than my chances of cracking the lottery.
Kate, clean? What is this clean of the house you speak of? It must be related to the clean of the garage certain members of my household are suddenly demanding. Sigh. Silly people. Don’t they know I have other things to do, better things, like writing?
Finish, edit, polish are high on my list. In fact the list of novels in need of same is impressively long. I mean, why do the hard parts of novels four, five, and six until the the first of the series is sold? I can thank KDP for that goal.
And once published, promoting and networking. Ugg. Worse than polishing. But I’l have to do it anyway.
Writing? I’ve never yet found anything that can stop me from writing; it’s usually the other way around. I doubt this will change that.
Pam, that sounds so very familiar. The only thing is, you can’t leave the promotion until after publishing, especially if you are doing the KDP route. Look at the thousands of books that have come out free this past month. Add in all the thousands that haven’t come out free. Now, how do you make sure your books are found? Promotion in the form of blogs, tweets, etc., and all done before your title goes live. Good luck!
Amanda, I hate to not have the product immediately available for spur of the moment purchase before I start pushing it. I’m not known well enough to be able to count on people remembering two days later that my book will be available that day. And I don’t have to worry about it being pulled from the bookstore in a few short weeks.
Pam, what you have to remember is the old advertising adage. Folks need to hear about something 7 times — iirc — to remember it. So, when you are dealing with several hundred books being released for free every day and most people simply going through the list, you need something to make them stop and read the description. IF they’ve seen mention of the title before, there’s a better chance of them stopping and at least reading the description or clicking on through to Amazon. That’s especially true when so many of the free titles don’t have reviews to recommend them.
Ah. You never experienced agents. #2 stopped from writing for six months. Visualize what would do that to me.
No, only experienced the agents who said “thanks but no thanks”, including one who did so less than ten minutes after receiving my submission.
An agent capable of that is truly frightening. What it would have to do to you to have that effect is even scarier.
My goals for the year — finish books under contract by end of January. Then go through my almost completed old stuff and finish a novel a month (at least.) Put them up, as well as my backlog of short stories.
I don’t wanna go to conventions. Don’t wanna.
But you will…all of the above. Bwahahaha. And then I will think of other books and stories for you to write. Why, you ask? Because I can. Bwahahahahahaha.