Back in January, I laid out my goals for my book publishing and marketing efforts for this year. Now that we’re over the halfway mark of the year, it’s time to review–and likely revise–my goals.

By the way, does anyone else feel like we’re living in a completely different world now compared to January? It’s like we stepped into the dark timeline.

And yes, I’ve been rewatching Community lately. Now then!

Original 2020 Marketing Goals

1. Write and publish my new short stor(ies).
2. Share/own a table at least one convention.
3. Publish something new on Wattpad.
4. Sell 50 stories.

Yikes.

Really, these goals aren’t as far-fetched as they seem now. As noted above, I had no way to know that we would warp into the dark timeline between January and now. Still, it stings a little. Let’s rip the band-aid off.

Write and Publish New Short Stories?

I am well on my to publishing “Uprooted: The Herb Witch Tales #1” later this year. While I’m still on my second draft, I feel good about where the story is and am confident I can get it ready after having my editor and perhaps some beta readers look it over.

I just need to finish the second draft.

In my original goals, I talked about writing and publishing two such stories this year. That is not going to happen. I’m not even going to kid myself.

Honestly though, I made that decision a couple months ago to take the pressure off. Initially, I had wanted to publish part 1 around September, go to a convention to promote its release on Kindle, and then release part 2 by December. That would have allowed me to really push the upcoming release of not one but two stories, and somehow tie that in with sales of WoEM at the convention (see below).

That’s not happening now, so I can focus on just getting part 1 right and maybe spending a little extra time on other writing projects.

Share/Own a Convention Table?

Do I even have to review this one? Conventions aren’t happening this year. I had applied to Book Festival of the Alleghenies in PA for September, but it was canceled. Also, I don’t think I want to be at any conventions now anyway what with all the crazies running about plaguing each other.

Publish Something on Wattpad?

I honestly forgot that this was one of my goals. I’m still really interested in Wattpad and want to publish something new there. My “Grand Mythos” story had a recent spate of positive comments from one user, so that kind of feedback is really encouraging.

I still have ideas for what I can do here, but it will likely come later in the year.

Sell 50 Stories?

I have sold exactly one book this year. Granted, I wasn’t planning on many sales until “Uprooted” was out, but that’s still not a fun number.

More importantly, given the fact that I will not be attending conventions for the foreseeable future, nor likely even publishing more than one story, I need to reevaluate this.

I’ve discussed some book marketing strategies to use in previous posts, and I plan to use as many of those as I can. With conventions and in-person book launch events out of the picture for now, I’ll have to rely on online marketing to sell my books.

Additionally, I’ll need to project a new goal based on the book marketing strategies I actually use. If I run a giveaway  and 50 people download my new story from Kindle, does that count towards “sales”?

To me, yes, I would just be making those sales at a loss. So, without the direct sales channel open to me, I’ll need to base a new book sales goal around my online marketing plan.

I know I will run at least one giveaway, but I have other ideas, too. I’ll do a proper post once I’m ready to move on that plan.

The point is, I need to reset my goals a bit for the second half of this year.

Revised Book Marketing Goals

1. Publish “Uprooted: The Herb Witch Tales #1”. As it stands, there is no reason for me not to publish this story this year.
2. Begin a new story on Wattpad. This one is worded slightly differently. Given I still don’t know what I want to publish on Wattpad, I don’t want to commit to finishing another story this year. I would be satisfied to start a new story, and continue it into 2021. I just need to decide which story I’m writing.
3. Sell (or give away) 30 stories this year. I really don’t know if this is a reasonable goal, because I’ve never run a giveaway before. However, with “Uprooted” and WoEM, I’ll presumably have two stories to promote/sell, likely as a package deal. That should boost potential sales. I’ll definitely reevaluate this goal once I have a marketing strategy laid out.

Steve D