Skip to main content

IWSG - Onward and Upward


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Still kinda hard to believe 2018 is over and we are in the beginnings of a new year. I hope everyone had a fun and wonderful holiday. Fresh into the new year, we kick off with the first IWSG post for 2019.

Last month I was feeling the writer blahs again, and because of that, I didn't get much done in the way of writing. I do seem to be coming out of my funk, and hope to get back in the swing of things in the coming days.

Best way to do that is to set my goals for 2019, something I've now done for the last two years. Nothing major, just a few action items. But before I can look ahead, I need to take a look back at what I did for 2018.

You can read up on last year's 'year in review' post and see what I set for the coming year. But if you don't feel like clicking the link, here is the break down.



  • Publish two books
  • Establish my 'publisher' name
  • Grow my fan base
  • Read all 25 books I bought
How did I do? Gotta say not so hot after looking at what I'd planned in preparation for this post. 

Publish two books

Only got one actually published this year. The Lists, which was the companion novella to Not Broken which I released in 2017. It was set free into the world on Nov. 23, the one year anniversary of its mate. 

Though I only published one book, I did complete three. That is HUGE for me because I'm a #turtlewriter so to take not one, but three books from start to finish all in the same year (okay so they were started toward the end of 2017, but still) is nothing to sneeze at. The reason the other two weren't published was because I took a trip through query land this year and those two found homes with publishers. I will have two books published in 2019, so I don't count this as a total fail.

Establish my 'publisher' name

As an indie, some will publish under their own 'imprint'. Different authors have their reasons for why they do this and I can't speak to those. For me, it was more about 1)setting up a 'company' now in case I ever sold enough to need those sort of tax requirements and 2) using a name that was the root so to speak of getting into writing. 

Chalk this up to another partial fail. While I did decide on a name (see point #2) I did not go through the LLC steps as of yet. I'm not making anywhere near enough monthly to need to worry about tax stuff and because of that, my laziness took hold. Setting up the LLC in my country requires trips to the courthouse and paperwork, and a whole slew of things I didn't want to be bothered with. LOL Just being honest. 

It's still on my to-do list, but not near the top.

Grow my fan base

I think this goal will always be a WIP. As it should. I can say I did gain a new fan or two. I judge this based on people that signed up for my newsletter because they wanted to, not because I did one of those magnet/giveaway things. My follower counts on Instagram and Twitter have increased. Numbers don't translate to sales, but something in my random ramblings intrigued them enough to hit the follow button. 

For IG, I'm convinced it's a combo of the pictures of my dogs, and the wine bottles I show off. Brand building and such is still a mystery to me. All my accounts are a hodge podge of things that make up me as a person and an author. 

Read all 25 books I bought

TOTAL. FAIL! LOL In December of 2017 I took part of *Indie-cember* (or something like that) where basically you bought one book from an indie author from Dec. 1-25. I bought the books, showcased them, promoted them, but haven't read them. I know, for shame. I have plans to, but got side tracked. 

The great thing about books though, they never expire. One day I will knock all these off my list. 

Now that we've seen where I was, let's look ahead to where I'd like to go. Marketing has been and continues to be a major struggle for me, therefore most of my efforts in the coming year will be centered on finding something that works for me and my budget. 


I've kicked off a few action items for the first on the list. This includes researching PR companies, finding swag that works for giveways, and other things.

I'm coming out of my writer's blah funk, my characters are whispering to me again. Will I get all four done? Hard to say. Two are planned novellas, and two are full-length books. I need one of the full-lengths to be finished so I can hit goal #3 since the two novellas are proposals for one of my publishers.

The social media thing, when I attended RWA one of the things that stuck with me was a time management class where she talked about not trying to do it all, all the time. This year will be an experiment in focus of a chosen platform to concentrate most of my efforts, and it ties back into goal #1.

That's it for me. Again I wish you a very happy New Year! I'm looking forward to another year of support and community from the IWSG family! 
 
Until next time,
~Meka



The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a home for writers in all stages; from unpublished to bestsellers. Our goal is to offer assistance and guidance. We want to help writers overcome their insecurities, and by offering encouragement we are creating a community of support.

The awesome co-hosts for the January 2 posting of the IWSG are: Patricia Lynne, Lisa Buie-Collard, Kim Lajevardi, and Fundy Blue!

Comments

  1. I hadn't heard of Indiecember (or whatever it's called.) I'm going to look into that a little more. You accomplished so much last year, Meka! Be proud! http://www.raimeygallant.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is hosted by Melanie Thurlow and the actual name is Dec The Shelves (LOL Indie-cember was something else). But that's the idea, buy 25 books by Indie authors.

      And thank you. Doesn't feel like a lot of forward progress, but every little bit helps.

      Thanks for stopping by and happy new year

      Delete
  2. Two books with publishers is definitely not a fail! That's awesome.
    #turtlewriter - I have to remember that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Hoping both do okay this year. And yes, we have an entire network on Twitter. All about support and encouragement for us slow poke writers.

      thanks for stopping by and happy new year

      Delete
  3. I'm definitely a turtle writer as well. I'd say finishing three books is a HUGE accomplishment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some days I wish I could write faster, but it's just not me. I would love to publish more than one book a year, one day maybe.

      thanks for stopping by and happy new year

      Delete
  4. I'm definitely a turtle writer, a often-distracted turtle writer. Sometimes life conspires against writing. But it sounds like you have your goals straight for the year! Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Slow and steady. I had to learn to be okay with not producing as fast as others. Life does conspire against you, but long as you have an anchor that keeps you from completely losing sight it will work out. I have my squad who are prepared to hold me accountable. We shall see how it goes.

      happy new year and thanks for stopping by

      Delete
  5. Wow, you are busy and organized. I wish you all the best this new year, especially finishing those wips! Four in one year? Wow again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha I came across as organized? Well that is a major accomplishment at the start of the year. I'm usually anything but. LOL Yeah, finishing those 4 is probably my loftiest goal. I'm counting on the fact that 2 are novellas that will be 25k or less. But we shall see. All have been started and are at various stages, I just have to find my focus.

      thanks for stopping by and happy new year.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Come Find Me - #MFRWauthor

Another week. Another post for the #MFRWauthor blog hop. This week will be a short and sweet post. It's all about my social media hangouts.

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might - #MFRWauthor

Welcome to week 16 of the #MFRWauthor blog hop. We've covered an array of topics over the last few weeks, with many more to come. This week is all about our biggest dreams.

IWSG - 2021 Let's Do This

Happy New Year! Man 2020 is finally over. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday season. It’s January so that means new month new IWSG blog post. To finish off the year, last month I posted about how well I did or didn’t hit the goals I’d set for myself.