OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
Here we are again! The year rushes by and we stand at the end wondering what we achieved in the last 12 months!
This is one of the reasons I love blogging – the passing of time is actually trackable. We all change, our goals change, but at least by writing out what we want to achieve and then measuring that, we can keep ourselves heading in the right direction!
Here's what I set out to do this year as documented on 1 Jan 2014, and what I managed to achieve:
I didn't quite create as many new books as I intended, but here's what I did publish in 2014
- Public Speaking for Authors, creatives and other introverts. In ebook and print formats.
- Day of the Vikings. ARKANE #5. In ebook, print and audiobook formats. I'm also giving this away for free on JFPenn.com at the moment if you want to try it.
- Delirium, London Psychic Book 2. In ebook, print and audiobook formats.
- Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur. In ebook, print and audiobook formats.
- Updated Second Edition of How to Market a Book
I have done quite a bit of research and networking on the screenplay side of things, but I will be leaving that until 2016 as well. I want to write a screenplay but because it's such a new skill, I'll be waiting until I am more settled with my fiction production process.
(1b) Become a better writer
The focus on the craft is ongoing of course, but this year I have done a couple of things to invest in becoming a better writer:
- Masterclass at Thrillerfest with David Morrell – a fantastic full day on thriller writing specifically.
- 4 day STORY conference with Robert McKee
- Courses with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Rusch on productivity, which has included ‘getting out of my own way.' Necessary for someone who still has problems with self-censorship.
- And I have found the right editor, Jen Blood, who both gets my writing style and kicks my ass when I need it. Jen also happens to write great thrillers 🙂 Working with Jen has enabled me to learn more about effective story structure and improve my craft.
(2) Exploit more rights and focus on global territories
As part of 50:50% royalty split, I published the following books. Desecration-Verletzung was published by Ullstein-Midnight for digital rights and we retain print and audiobook rights.
- GERMAN: Pentecost, Ein ARKANE thriller in ebook and print; Desecration-Verletzung in ebook and print
- SPANISH: Pentecostés in ebook and print
- ITALIAN: Profanazione in ebook and print
If you read any of these languages and would like a review copy, please contact me 🙂
This has added a great new income stream to the business, and I urge you to consider audiobooks if you haven't done so already.
So even though I ‘only' wrote 4 new individual books, I actually produced 19 new products for my author business, each bringing in a new income stream. This is the magic of publishing and intellectual property rights, and if the penny hasn't dropped for you on this yet, read this post.
(3) Professional speaking
My aim was to develop my speaking in 2014 and take it further than before. Things have definitely shifted as because of demand, I have had to decline a number of events. I love to help people but events have to serve one of two other purposes now: revenue or expenses paid international travel, and preferably both of these!
In 2014, I have spoken internationally in New York on a Thrillerfest panel, Toronto at Kobo HQ, Stockholm, Sweden for an event on self-publishing, Frankfurt Book Fair and Auckland, New Zealand. I've also spoken at a number of events in the UK, plus I've also run my own full day events on book marketing as well as how to make a living from your writing, which I hope to repeat in 2015.
(4) Focus more on creative entrepreneurship on the blog, podcast and YouTube channel
I've definitely shifted focus this year, posting regularly on the creative entrepreneurship side of things, to go alongside my own development and the writing of Business for Authors book.
You can find a roundup of the entrepreneurial posts here.
I decided to remove guest posts in April, and am really happy with that decision because it focuses the blog on my personal take on the fast-changing indie world, and I continue to share other people's thoughts through the podcast and interviews.
The Creative Penn podcast
I was also in a couple of other box-sets – The Indie PowerPack, Thrill Ride and Dark Trinity – and will continue to look for collaboration opportunities in 2015.
Overall, I feel that 2014 has been a pivotal year in my creative career and I've stepped up a rung on the ladder in terms of my professionalism as an author, and in my maturity as a writer and creative entrepreneur. I am certain this is what I want to do with my life – it's now about developing my craft and developing my business over time. And of course, loving the journey!
I'm ready to step it up again in 2015 – I hope you will join me!
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1 2 3 Next »It's so exciting to see all that you've accomplished this year (and a little bit daunting as well!). I actually just found you in the middle of 2014, but you have been such an inspiration.
The thing I'm proud I achieved in 2014 is that for the first time in four years, I finished NaNoWriMo and actually have a full first draft! I've also decided to start a blog with short stories which also serves to keep myself accountable on my further writing journey.
I'm very excited for 2015 and I'll be excited to hear about all you're doing!
Congrats on Nano, Care - that's a great achievement! Remember, there should be no comparisonitis when it comes to goals and achieving them - we only compete with ourselves! (I say this but I struggle with it too!) All the best for 2015!
Very inspiring Joanne! And I thought I had a productive year travelling for 9 months, starting a blog and spitting out my first 2 novels!
Here's hoping 2015 is a great year for you.
Traveling is a different kind of achievement - one I hope to revisit more in 2015!
Congratulations on your great year, Joanna! Well earned! I launched my writing career in January of this year and published 6 books (20 products) while working a stressful full time job and expecting and caring for my newborn. I'm pretty proud of that! Here's to 2015, and I hope you have a great year next year, too.
Wow! That's pretty hardcore Michael - congrats on your achievements :)
Way to go, Michael! You're nearing Pulp Speed (as Dean Wesley Smith says) :-)
Glad to see you really stepped it up this year. I need to focus on the final thing you talked about, creative entrepreneurship, and start sharing great content through different channels such as YouTube as you mentioned. People connect better through certain channels that others won't.
I've definitely found that I have a different audience through a) the written blog b) the audio podcast and c) YouTube - it's not necessary to do them all but at this point, I wouldn't give any of them up!All the best for your 2015
Joanna, I'm so impressed by what you've achieved in 2014! I don't think I'll ever work up to that sort of output, and indeed all I managed in terms of production in 2014 was to bring out the print version of The House of Closed Doors.
And yet it was a good year: I got registration up and running for the Historical Novel Society conference (Denver in June) as my contribution to my OTHER favorite organization (apart from ALLi, of course!) My wish to light a little fire under the topic of author ethics was more than fulfilled when ALLi got behind my efforts, resulting in the creation of the Ethical Author Code.
On the writing side, I had decided in 2013 that what I really needed was to become a prolific and consistent writer. So I set myself the starting challenge of 1,000 words a day, every day, and the 365K challenge was born. I did it alongside my critique partner, Katharine Grubb, the 10 Minute Writer, and her 10 Minute Novelists Facebook group has taken up the challenge for 2015 as a team event involving more than 80 writers worldwide. I think I started something big... and Katharine and I both hit our 365,000-word goal well before the end of the year.
Hi Jane - thanks for sharing :) I appreciated your Ethical Author campaign and congrats on the 365,000 words - that's great and presumably will result in more finished books in 2015 - I'd like to aim for that in 2015 as well!
I didn't write anything like amuch as I'd intended, but still got created several new products (audio book, translations).
I also made the effort to see you speak, and I'm very glad that I did. It was great to meet you, and you persuaded me to try writing fiction.
Lovely to meet you too, Russell - that was a fun evening!
Happy writing in 2015 :)
I started the year with the intention of completing the second novel in the Inspector West series and writing a YA novel. It didn't work out that way.
I published The Holiday, the second Inspector West novel, and two books in my non-fiction Living Alone series, and then realised I had a book hidden in my blog posts, which was released later in the year as Sharing the Journey.
I've also been working on increasing my chances of being discovered by continuing to blog and being active across social media platforms.
For the coming year, I'm working on the third novel in the Inspector West series, the third book in the Living Alone series and developing a book of short crime stories for a serial release.
That sounds great, Peter - congrats on all your books!
Congratulations on your accomplishments!
Me, I finally began publishing a serialized novel I finished 5 years ago. I'd been sitting on the thing and continually editing and revising it. I took the leap and decided to publish in serial to force myself to get it out into the world and stop repeatedly fine tuning and tweaking it.
I increased my Twitter following by over 5,000 and met my goal of one Tweet per weekday on a writing-related subject. I also did some paid advertising to build by Facebook tribe and newsletter subscriptions.
I read 31 works of fiction and 4 books on writing. For anyone looking for books about plotting, I highly recommend "Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting" by Robert McKee and "Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyder. Although they are books on screenwriting, they are just as applicable for any novelist interested in learning more about the traditional 3 act structure.
I also held down a full-time career as an Army officer and transitioned from helicopter pilot to operation research analyst, and moved from Texas to Kansas--our twelfth move in 16 years of military service. On the plus side, however, I'll be able to retire at the ripe old age of 42 and spend the rest of my years as a full time novelist. That's the dream, at least!
I finished the first draft of my first novel in October and wrote the first draft of my second novel for NaNoWriMo. The next couple of months will be spent editing, finding an editor who will barter and getting my fiction site up and running.
A very good year of writing and promoting!
In the past 14 months I've had 2 novellas publish, 2 ebooks in a series go to market, 1 non-content item publish, multiple relationships built with book sellers, several radio/podcast interviews, many presentations given, wonderful friendships built with people I've never met, and even more ideas for additional products yet to create (mostly from The Creative Penn)!
I CAN'T WAIT for 2015!