Author Goals Update
Hi everyone, this week I thought I’d update you on the author goals I set way back in January 2023. How I’m doing with them all, how many I’ve met or whether I’ve got any goals left to meet now we’ve hit September.
1. Publish my 3rd novel in my series
Excitingly, just over two months ago, I hit this goal! My small press published The Reckoning of Rheged, back at the end of June. The publication process ended up being almost two years, so it has been wonderful to finally hold the book in my hands. The actual launch was a bit mixed as the ebook was delayed, but even so, it was great to meet this goal back in June.
2. Author Goals – Submit Book 4
The 2nd of my author goals I set myself is to get the 4th novel in my series ready for submission to my publishers. I’m not sure I’ll be able to meet this one – I recently started the latest round of edits and there’s still a fair bit that needs tightening before I move to proofreading. Still, I’m happy with my progress and how the story is shaping up so far. The novel is a bit different, as it’s set about 15 years after book 3. It also has a dual POV between Daniel, my MC for books 1-3 and Imogen, who is a central character in book 3.
We’ve also had some big personal changes, like my hubs getting a new vicar job and us moving house, so I took off a couple of weeks for that. I also had a freelance editing contract come in, which was great to do, so that was my focus for a couple of months as well.
3. Carry on writing Book 5
Last November, for the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge, I wrote the first 50k of what I hope to be book 5 in my series. My goal at the beginning of the year was to hopefuly complete the manuscript. Well, in April 2023, I wrote another 20k words, bringing the grand total up to 70k. The first draft is pretty much complete – it’s at the stage where I could definitely add or tighten a few things, but it’s starting to blur the line into editing. I might work a bit more of book 5 before the end of the year, but my focus is on book 4 for the time being.
4. Author Goals – Try Amazon Author Ads
The next of my author goals was to try Amazon Author ads. I’ll be honest, I’d been putting off this one for a while, as it seemed quite a daunting process. I had thought about signing up to Bryan Cohen’s free challenge in April, but it ended up happening when I was away. Finally, I ended up taking the plunge in July. As I’m not self-published, not every aspect of it was relevant, but it was a great for learning the basics of the different kinds of ads. I’m hoping to run a couple more ads this month.
5. Build Back an Online Author Presence
In the latter half of 2022, I went offline a little bit. There was some tricky real life stuff, so my blog posts and newsletter both dwindled and I was on social media a lot more sporadically. So, one of my author goals for this year was to build back an online presence.
So far, so good with this one – I’m trying to send out blog posts and newsletters more consistently, as well as being online more on social media. I haven’t been on Twitter/X as regularly, but I have been on Instgram and my Facebook page a lot more. Earlier this year, I also joined TikTok! I was wary initially of joining the platform, but I knew the ‘booktok’ community was massive. I’m actually really enjoying creating content on there and networking with other authors, as well as potential new readers.
In other news, I’ve also made some progress with ‘real life’ networking too, with getting my books and doing a talk with some local libraries, as well as hopefully getting my books into an indie bookshop in Northumberland.
6. Author Goals – Read 20 books in 2023
The last of my author goals back in January was to read 20 books in 2023. So far, I’ve read 14, according to my list on GoodReads! These are mostly other indie books, with a couple of traditional books thrown in.
I’ve slowed down in the last few months and had a bit of a reading slump, but I’ve got a few books I’m really excited to read in the TBR pile, so I should reach this goal. I’ll let you know how I get on!
Thanks for Reading
Thanks so much for reading! So, these are my goals for 2023. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made on them so far, as well as making progress this year in a couple of other ways.
How are you doing with your writing or reading goals? I’d love to connect with you! Why not drop a comment or hit the social media icons below? You can also head to my contact me page to get in touch.
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Till next time,
Maria 🙂