Write Goals 2014

Last year some of you may have read my “Setting the write goals” post. In this season of New Year’s resolutions I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on 2013 and share with you my goals for 2014.

2013 was a pretty great year, not the least of which because of you. At the end of 2012 about 300 people followed this blog. Now it’s almost ten times that number and more every day. I really appreciate those of you who stuck it out with me in the early days when I was just figuring this blogging thing out, and all of you who’ve made this blog a part of your routine in the last year. I hope to give you even more to enjoy in the coming year, including hopefully one or two serial stories and theme weeks.

I self-published my first book, and as of this writing have sold more than 120 copies. That might not sound like a whole lot, and it’s certainly not the runaway blockbuster hit of the year, but it’s still something I’m very proud of. The fractal book has sold in at least six countries (Bundle Dragon doesn’t do country of sale stats so I’m not sure where those are all coming from). If you consider the fact that I am not a well-known author and I’m writing on a niche subject this has been going really well. I read a Forbes article last month that said 20% of self-published authors report receiving no income at all for their work and most make about $1 to $4999. I’m happy to say I’m inside that range. Frankly, this was a labor of love, and on that metric alone I’m very happy I wrote this book.

Interesting side note by the way. The authors who seemed to earn the most were the ones who were “hybrids”, traditionally and self-published. Something to keep in mind for your future writing goals and strategies.

So what are my goals for 2014?

1) Self-publish Surreality in the first half of 2014 – There are a number of sub-ideas with this, including trying out CreateSpace and Kindle Select, but the big goal is to get one book of my fiction out to you in time for your beach reading season. Surreality’s been a project I’ve been working on for a number of years in the background, and I can’t wait to share it all with you.

2) Submit at least one short story to a magazine – I’d love to get to the three published stories required for SFWA (Science Fiction Writer’s of America) membership, but success will be measured by putting my work out there into a more traditional setting.

3) Earn $1000 from writing in 2014 – This is my stretch goal, and might seem a little out of place as a writing goal. This goal is less about the money and more about doing all of the things necessary to make it happen (i.e. putting out a book or two, marketing, submitting to magazines etc.).

4) Finish a 2nd draft of another novel – It’s likely to be a follow-up to Surreality. I haven’t forgotten about DM, but that’s probably scheduled for 2015 at this point. While I’m not sure if the book will be up to publishing standard by the end of the year, I want it to be well along the way so you can see it next year at the latest.

5) This one’s a surprise – There’s one more project I intend to finish next year, but for now that’s under wraps. Let’s just say it’ll be a treat for all of you who follow the blog.

As I stated in my post from last year, these goals are subject to change, revision, removal, etc.

What about you, what are some of your goals for next year (writing or otherwise)?