2011 was a very special year for me. It was the year when all my hard work over the past five years started to pay off and I was able to quit my day job and venture into the unknown murky waters of being a full-time writer. So far, it has paid off, partly because of my own focused determination to succeed and continue to publish top quality paranormal romance books and partly because I have the most amazing readers, and some of them are awesome enough to help spread the word about my books to their friends, through reviews, or through sharing posts on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you to everyone who has done something for me in 2011, has been a friend, or supported me in some way. Without you, I would be sitting here writing for myself.
It was also a year where I achieved more than I had dreamed possible as an author, and now that I know what I'm capable of, I can set crazy targets for the coming year. Here's a few of my goals for 2012.
As a Reader
I read 24 books in 2011 through the Goodreads challenge. Considering I probably read around 3 the year before, this was a substantial and welcome leap for me. I joined the challenge late in March, but still managed to reach my goal.In 2012, I am upping my game and challenging myself to read 36 books. That's a lot when you're a writer too! I've already read one, and I'm on my second. There's a huge TBR pile on my bookshelf just screaming at me to read them all.
As a Writer
My goals as a writer are quite big this year, and some might think they're a bit crazy, but I think with a little grim determination and hard work they are completely possible.- Sell 250,000 books in total in 2012 (not including free books)
- Write 400,000 words, and track progress on my blog in sidebar
- Achieve a NY Times / USA Today best seller
- Win an award for my books
- Overhaul the Vampires Realm series website
- Create the Her Angel series website
I also intend to change my Vampires Realm series over to my main author name of Felicity Heaton to help promote sales of my books and make it clearer that they're both by me, and remove some of my older books from sale so I can read them and decide whether to do a second edition of them, or whether to just trim the fat on my backlist a little.
The other thing I want to do is really get my brand sorted and working for me, and put together a three year plan for my business.
So, what are your goals for 2012? I already know that some of you plan to read a huge amount of books that has left me in complete awe!
What an exciting year you've had, Felicity! Thank you for sharing. I find it so encouraging and grounding in a way to read your goals for this year. I like how you are holding yourself accountable for your word count goal too. Now you have me thinking of joining in and putting one on my blog. It serves as a great motivator. Especially when I am diddle daddling around on the blog instead of writing. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis past year I read 103 books for review and I was left with a spinning head! I don't think I could do that again. Add to that all ten craft books and workshops I devoured and it's a wonder I don't need glasses. That is why I have reduced my number of books this year to 36 also. Three a month and that will give me time for writing, blogging and leisure reading with a few craft books added in there as well.
I absolutely know you will hit your goal of either the NYT or USA Today's list. I believe in your work and your talent enough to say that whole heartily!
I am looking forward to seeing what you create for your HA Series! And since you stared me out on paranormal romance way back when I can't wait to see what you do with your Vampire Realms site. Are you going to re-vamp the covers. (lol...no pun intended)
Here's to you, myself and to all others that have goals to reach this year! ~Talina
You had quite a few achievements and those are very worthy goals for the year. I look forward to watching you achieve them.
ReplyDeleteMy own reading goals are high as I am not a full-time writer with books and blogs to keep up with, but I have two writing goals- have 2 books edited and in print and to hit 300K words this year.
Best of luck for the New Year!
Talina - I could never imagine reading more than 36 books in a year. Like you said, that's three a month, and that's more than enough for me! I guess it's more difficult for you as you're a reviewer, so people expect you to read and review more, but I know you're also a writer and that you want to spend more time on your writing. It's so hard to find that balance isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSophia - 2011 blew me away but I'm always one to challenge myself. I love having targets as I find it helps me get on with things and really pushes me to achieve. Otherwise, I would be content doing nothing. lol. Good luck with your writing target! I only wrote 280,000 words last year but it was an editig year. This year will be a writing year.
How many books did you put out those first two years?
ReplyDeleteHi Carla, I'll need more info to answer correctly. Which two years? I've been indie since 2006, so the first two years for me would be 2006 and 2007. Are you asking about since being able to publish on Amazon, etc?
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess it'd be 2 questions - What did you see in 2006 and 2007, and then what did you start with on Amazon? I just hit a one-year anniversary with one pen name, so I'm curious. Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't keep too close a track on sales back in 2006 and 2007 because the ebook market was very small, in its infancy. Put it this way, I was hitting number 1 best seller spots on Fictionwise (back then that was pretty much the only ebook retailer) with sales of around 900 copies per quarter, and that book stayed in the number 1 spot for five weeks running. I think the average ebook back then was probably selling no more than 100 copies a month, max. If your book was selling more than that, you were amazing.
ReplyDeleteAgain, with Amazon, it's probably quite impossible to compare figures with when I first put my books on there in 2010, to now. I was slow to filter my backlist onto Amazon and spread it out over the first 6 months of 2010. I had my first "new" release in August that year, and that was Her Dark Angel. I followed that with the next two in the series, and then Vampire for Christmas. So effectively I had 4 new releases in 2010. In 2011, I had 6 new releases on Amazon. That brings my total up to 33 books. I also added a couple of my older books to Amazon in 2011 too.
It's hard to compare sales numbers for the years though. This is an emerging market. But if you want my opinion for this year, I don't think we'll see the same sky-rocket rise as last year experienced. I would imagine that most people are going to see around a 35% rise in sales up to around 65%. It all depends on where you're ranked and how well your book was performing before Christmas. It was different last winter. Sales almost tripled. This year they've doubled.
In terms of making a success of yourself, backlist is key, and producing quality, well-edited and well-written books. It's important to get your name associated with quality professional work, that way readers trust you more and you'll develop a group of readers who will follow you and add you to their auto-buy list. I've always preached being professional, and approaching writing in that way, offering the best book you can regardless of how long it takes to get it into shape. I think it's the key thing that so many authors are overlooking in their rush to get their books out and make money.
Hope this helped!
33! No wonder!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do my best. Been at this 2 years overall, though I've watched longer. January's holding nice since the bump for the last week of December. Amazon gave me one amazing month in 2011, but the Apple readers are my most steady income.
Heres' to a great year Felicity !! I can see you acheiving everything you want and more !!
ReplyDeleteBig congrads on all your success !!
kat !
You make me jealous, haha. In a good way. Considering I've been following you since the days when you did Spike & Buffy fan fiction, I'm really excited for you! You've got some awesome books (a few that I even have on my Nook right now) and I'm just in awe.
ReplyDeleteIt's at this time that I'm finding myself wanting to actually sit down and write the novel that has been sitting in my head since 2006. And I am realizing that I'm so out of the loop writing wise that I'm not even sure where to start. Any ideas?
Hi Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI always say to start by reading great books on writing before diving back into writing again. I often read books on writing, and I've found that those in the Write Great Fiction and Writer's Digest series are really good, and offer a solid foundation in writing. They have little test type things at the end of the chapters too, so you can try out what you've learned. The other side to writing is to read books in the genre you want to write. I've only really paid attention to that one in the past couple of years because I was so busy writing before then that I didn't have time to read. I make time for reading now.
It's great to see you on here though, and to know I still have some people from my Spuffy days that are interested in my books and what I'm doing. I can't believe how long it has been since I was writing fanfiction. Those were awesome times though.
Hasn't it though? I did a lot of King Arthur (2004's movie with the yummy Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd in it) and still have those, haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how much romance I actually read and how much I really take with me when I'm done with the book. Thanks for the advice!