Get More Readers? A New Year To-Do List

Today, I’m going to speak (or technically, write) writer-to-writer (and to heck with Myren, my recalcitrant chauffeur who doesn’t give a twit about the writing life or business—or come to think of it—he doesn’t care much about chauffeuring either. Hmm. But I digress. As usual.) And because I’m a writer and a list junkie, I’m going to share my writing to-do list.

Readers (and others like Myren, although I doubt any of you lovely readers out there are anything like Myren) may or may not be interested in this little peak into the behind-the-scenes of the writing business, and I apologize if not. But look at it this way, it could come in handy if you ever decide to write a book. Or maybe—more likely—it’ll help you decide you were right not to become a writer after all.

It’s not an easy business—and it IS a business.

If you don’t believe me, take a gander at my list of things to do and tell me if it doesn’t smack of production, sales strategy and marketing. Maybe you can relate.

So here’s what writers think about around the New Year when they decide to put their pens down for a minute and contemplate what the heck they’re doing and why and how to do it better—as in how to reach more readers.

SQ’s Must Do List for Writing Success in 2017

1. Re-Launch backlist books originally published more than 5 years ago, overhauled in style, cover and content.
2. Write and publish 280,000-300,000 words worth of full-length novels, publishing 90 days apart. That’s four full length novels around 70-75k words each. That’s an average of about 7,000 words a week for 42 weeks.
3. Have cover specially and professionally designed for these books according to genre best practice.
4. Focus specifically on writing the above-mentioned novels in a series
5. Make sure book prices are appropriate level for genre and word count
6. Research ads for effectiveness and run ads likely to break even or better.
7. Actively work to expand mailing list using targeted services or promotions & commit to sending regular newsletters with valuable, entertaining content.
8. Study the genre including titles, covers and themes of top sellers, at least once a month. Made adjustments to the above-noted books if appropriate.

Whew.

What’s on YOUR list?

Looking Forward By Looking Back — Jill James

Looking Forward by Looking Back   by Jill James
(article first published in Black Diamond RWA Chapter newsletter 2010, updated for blog 2012)

Sometimes it seems in the writing world everyone is looking forward. Deadlines for manuscripts written, asking what your next project will be, asking where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years. We are trained to say, “When I get published, not if I get published”. Always looking forward to the prize on the horizon.

I use the end of the year as a time to look back and see what I’ve accomplished, not only this year, but every year I’ve been seriously writing.

Day by day, if we are serious about our craft, we will see improvement. But, will we recognize how far we have come if we don’t take time to look back at our beginnings? I’m sure everyone has heard a writer, maybe even you yourself, talk about that first awful manuscript, the one gathering dust bunnies under the bed, or languishing on a hard drive never to be seen. Or in my case, on floppies I’m unable to read, sits Passion’s Price. LOL The question to ask is, are they really that bad and are you brave enough to dig them out and compare to today’s work?

Recently, I did just that. I dug out the twelve years-old children’s story I wrote for my son’s then-2^nd grade class.  “The Story of Sammy Bootlebutt”.  I wrote and illustrated a story of Sammy the frog finding his place in the world. Even though my RWA chaptermates’s comments were encouraging and they liked it, that wasn’t why I dragged it out of the closet. I wanted to show myself just how far I’ve come. Sammy is an okay story, but simple. It was fun to write, but so are my stories I write today. Everything I’ve learned along the way goes into each and every story I write.

All the classes, workshops, critiques, and conferences add up to where my writing is today. I’ve learned POV, GMC, layering, subtext, using back story to build character’s, being organized, how to plot, using astrology for characters, world-building, treating this as a business, and a dozen more workshops I’m sure I forgot. Today, I can add formatting, self-editing, what I do and do not want in cover art, and uploading to vendors. Learning from the self-published who came before me, reading Indies to see what is out there, and studying covers to see what works and what doesn’t, and a dozen more things I’m sure I learned.

So, I “look forward” to where I want my writing to be in the future by “looking back” to today so I can marvel how far I’ve come.

So, as I look back at year’s end I see a year ago I had one small-press published book that had sold 57 copies in almost a year. I had one self-published novella that was starting to take off. I might be sad at that if I couldn’t compare it to this year and what I’ve accomplished. I have one small-press published book that is doing well by being an excerpt in the back of my Indie books. I have 3 novellas and 1 book bundle of the novellas, which will be in print (hopefully) by New Year’s, and a full-length paranormal novel in eBook and print.

Now, I might be sad at my numbers this year if I hadn’t looked back and seen just how far I’ve come in a year.

So, look back and tell us, what have you accomplished this year?

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

The Lake Willowbee Series Books 1 – 3
Available in eBook and soon in print.