I have something I need to confess and it’s embarrassing, considering my coaching background. It wasn’t until October 2017 that I set and shared goals for my writing and coaching business. I’ve created daily to-do lists, and set mini goals every day that work towards bigger things, but I’ve never sat down and created clear attainable goals for my writing. As a coach, I die a little as a share this. In previous businesses, I’ve made loose plans to create products, social media strategies, annual goals, but not with my writing. So In 2018, I’ve decided to treat my writing, both fiction and non-fiction as a business. Without further adieu, here are my creative and business goals for 2018.

Goal #2 – Build a Blog Audience for The Indie Authorpreneur Blog

In 2017, I wrote blog posts, messed around with SEO and hit publish. I promoted my blog posts on social media, but I had no strategy and was inconsistent with my promotions. As a result the views on the blog reflected this lack of strategy. I want to create an audience on purpose. I’ve set certain metrics for this goal which I will share at the end of the year or in 2019. At the end of the year I’ve exceeded this metric goal. This means working on an email list sign-up offer.

Over the last few weeks, I brainstormed a genre tropes cheat sheet which will serve as an offer. As per usual, its ambitious. So, it will take a while to create. I plan to work on it every week and email it out to my list as I create it. Eventually, it will be a PDF style eBook and a series of emails that coach writers through the next steps and how to use the cheat sheet. I’ve already created a sales page or squeeze page but I’m not sharing it until I have created the first few automated emails.

I’ve also created a writing tips newsletter which is sent out every Sunday, started from 7 January. In 2017, I avoided emailing my list because I didn’t think it was large enough which is ridiculous. Growing an audience isn’t about numbers. A few true fans who love my blog, content, and products are more important than 10,000 people on an email list.

Goal #3 – Create content in advance for my blogs, YouTube channel, and podcasts.

It’s time for me to get consistent and publish content in advance. I want to let go of that last minute posting and inconsistency. This goal also supports the previous goal of growing my audience. Consistency is key to audience growth. I’m restarting my Podcast and YouTube channel again on 18 January 2018. When I relaunch the podcast and YouTube Channel, I will have a certain number of videos and episodes in scheduled in advanced. This will help me when I’m travelling, get sick, or during unforeseen events.

In terms of my blogs, I’ve decided that I will post three times a week for the Indie Authorpreneur. And, once every two weeks for my author blog. Yes, I have two blogs. Actually, I have four blogs but I don’t use two of them. These changes will launch on 18 January 2018.

Goal #4 – Build a YouTube Audience

At the moment, I have a few subscribers for my YouTube Channel, Indie Authorpreneur life. This is because I’m struggling with fear around promoting it. I’m also struggling with my YouTube channel because I struggle to create videos. My struggle is one part perfectionism and one part, lack of skill. I’ve taken steps to become better with creating videos.

These steps are purchasing a teleprompter app for my talking head videos. I’ve also added a different style of video for my channel. This style of video is tutorials. Essentially, I will share my screen and talk people though, how to do various technical things involved in the business side of writing. I’m calling this tech for writers. But, to be honest I will improve over time if I stick to creating videos. The reasons behind my decision to stick with YouTube is for the personal challenge and it’s great for search engine optimisation.

In terms of metrics, I want to have 1,000 subs and 10,000 views by the end of 2018. I’ve researched how long other created have taken to reach these two metrics and it’s taken far less time than I’ve predicted. But, I’m doing this on purpose. For once, I want to exceed my goals in 2018.

Goal #5 – Write to a Series of short stories or Novellas to Market.

I want to write in a genre I love and is to a market. The reason I made this decision, was I wanted to give my first love, my James Lalonde Thrillers time to perfect. And, I use the word perfect loosely. I want this series to be loved by readers as much as I loved writing it.

If I release this series now, I feel like I’m putting too much pressure on it to succeed. The genre I’ve chosen is cozy mystery. The series will comprise short stories and novellas. I’ve also created the series protagonist, she’s a bookshop owner. This is all the information I have right now. I want to release the first two short stories or novellas by March 2018 and have the third on pre-order. The next step after this is to create a kindle box set and a print box set. I’ll keep writing this series as long as the readers love the books and want more.

Since cozy mysteries is in a similar classification to thrillers, I will use my pen name A.D. Hay to publish these books. The reason I said they’re similar is the genres aren’t different, like children’s and sci-fi, or children’s and erotica. I plan to soft launch these books until the fourth in the series then use advertising.

Goal #6 – Prepare Missing, Silence, and Immunity for Publishing by Oct 2018.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I want to give this series enough time to write. I don’t want to be in a hurry to press publish. I want to take my time and create a great series of books that readers will love. Between now and October 2018, I want to take the following steps with these three books:

• Continue revising
• Developmental edit
• Line edit
• Proofread
• Write Book Blurbs
• Submit to Amazon

I already have covers created and first drafts written for these books. All I have left is rewriting and editing.

Goal #7 – Monetise the Indie Authorpreneur Website by October 2018.

In a similar style to my business coaching website, I want to create and automate a sales funnel for the business side of the indie authorpreneur. There was a part of me that was hesitant to share this goal. So, that’s why I’m sharing it. There’s a part of me that has a money mindset issue with the indie authorpreneur blog. I aim to create courses and eBooks that serve the audience of my blog. These products will help solve a problem for my audience. The courses and eBooks I want to create are:

• How to Outline a Novel.
• The Heavy Fiction Edit.
• Evernote for Writers.
• From No Idea to Story Synopsis.
• How to build an author website using the Divi Theme.
• MailChimp for Authors: Beginner and Advanced strategies for building your email list

I’ve chosen to stick to smaller affordable courses that are available all year round. The reason for this is, I know how much effort goes into launching something like Self Publishing Formula. It’s a great course and I’m a huge fan. But, this model doesn’t suit my business at present. I’m still a one man band and I don’t have an army of people behind me to assist in a hard launch.

Goal #8 – Exceed my reading goal of 35 books

I know this is a super small number of books to read in a year, for a writer. But, once again I’m aiming low and giving myself room to exceed my expectations. Over the years, the way I read has changed. I used to read physical books but only during vacations, then I move to kindle in 2013. It wasn’t until 2016 that I tracked my reading progress, but it wasn’t accurate. In 2017, I read 26 books. My reading focus was on audible and kindle whispersync for voice because of the multitasking benefits. It was ambitious considering I planned an international wedding in the first half of the year. My beautiful wedding impacted my productivity for the year. So this year I want to read more thrillers, cozy mysteries, and writing related books.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve noticed that I’m often ambitious and often fail but in the process I also achieve a few goals. In 2018, I want to focus on setting more realistic goals and taking action. I want my success rate to be higher. So, those are my creative and business goals for 2018. As always, I have an important question for you. What are your goals for 2018? I want to hear from you. Come on over to the blog and share them below in the comments section.

Thank you for reading, commenting and sharing with such enthusiasm.

Happy writing and reading everybody, and we’ll talk soon.

Amelia xx