Author Goals – Reflecting on 2023
Hi everyone, this week on the blog I thought I’d do some reflecting on 2023 and the author goals I set at the beginning of the year. It’s been a busy year, including moving house and participating in three NaNoWriMo events! Without further ado, here’s how I got on with my author goals this year.
1. My Dark Ages series
It’s been a good year for my historical fiction series! The third novel in my series, The Reckoning of Rheged, came out at the end of June. I’ll be honest, the sales side of things has been a bit mixed – issues with delaying the Ebook didn’t help – but this was still a great step.
I’ve also done a couple of rounds of editing for book 4 in my series. There’s still more editing to do, more focussing on grammar and catching pesky typos – but I think I’m pretty happy with the story development. I hope to get the book finished in 2024. I’ve also written mostly a first draft of book 5, which is exciting. Watch this space!
2. Author Goals – Build back an online presence
One of my other main goals for 2023 was building back an online presence (I ended up not doing much online towards the end of 2022, so I wanted to build that back up). I think I’ve ended up achieving this goal – I’ve joined TikTok and tried to be more regular on Instagram. However, it can still be tricky trying to do all the things! I’ve sent out my newsletters and blog posts fairly regularly. I know my Twitter/X activity has grown a lot less, but I think it has for most people. I’m about to try BlueSky, too, so that’s a new avenue where I could connect with other writers and potential readers.
I also finally achieved a goal of setting up Amazon Ads. Which is going okay, but it’s not very effective at the moment, I think I need to explore how to optimise keywords etc, so that will be a 2024 goal.
3. Read 20 indie books in 2023
One of my main goals for 2023 was to read 20 indie books. I haven’t quite hit this goal as I have read at least 20 books this year, but not all of them have been indie. This is partly because I’ve joined a lovely local historical fiction book group. I’ve therefore had at least one traditional book to get through the last couple of months. I’ve still got most of December, though, so I’m hoping to read a couple more indie books before 2023 is over.
Reflecting on my 2023 author goals
So, those are my author goals for 2023! I think overall it’s been a good year. I’ve had book 3 in my series published, book 4 has had major edits and book 5 is drafted, pretty much. I’ve joined Tiktok and tried (mostly) to be consistent with my social media, blog posts and newsletters, as well as finally trying out Amazon Ads. I know I could be more consistent and effective with my online presence, so that’s something I’m going to think about going into 2024.
As well as these other goals, one other development with 2023 has been more freelance editing work, too, which I’ve really enjoyed. (If you’re on the hunt for a developmental editor, feel free to get in touch!) I’m hoping establish that a bit more in 2024 too.
Thanks so much for reading!
Thanks so much for reading! Have you had any writing or reading goals for 2023? Why not let me know? I’d love to connect with you! You can drop a comment, hit the social media icons below or head to my contact me page.
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Till next time,
Maria.