The Business Of Writing: Past Goals/New Goals
This is part of the Business of Writing series, for paid subscribers, where I talk about how I’m, you know, doing this. It includes honest reflection and real numbers, and if you’d like to know more about those, go ahead and subscribe!
Past Goals
In April, I told you my writing goals for 2023, my first year of being a real hybrid author with multiple independent titles. They were:
Long term (5 years)
Support myself entirely from writing related income
Income from backlist is 30% of income
Short term (1 year)
Write and publish three 80k Olympus Inc novels
Write a 30k Movie Magic novella draft (Savory & Supernatural)
Contribute to Garibaldi (co-written cozy mystery)
Edit and publish a Movie Magic novella (Bespoke & Bespelled)
Sustain a weekly Substack newsletter/Add paid subscription option
Make $10k gross writing-related income (including grants, craft teaching, speaking, etc)
So how did I do?
Pretty damn well. The long term goals are way off completion, of course. My backlist income last year was just over one percent of my total income. I imagine (and hope!) that percentage will change dramatically this year, as more readers discover the Movie Magic and Olympus Inc series.
But I really nailed those short term goals:
Write and publish three 80k Olympus Inc novels? Yep.
Write a 30k Movie Magic novella draft (Savory & Supernatural)? Yep.
Contribute to Garibaldi (co-written cozy mystery)? Nope. (My one unsuccessful goal - this was my lowest production priority, so as time dwindled and my wrists got worse, it fell off the list altogether)
Edit and publish a Movie Magic novella (Bespoke & Bespelled)? Yep, with bonus being picked up by 8th Note Press!
Sustain a weekly Substack newsletter/Add paid subscription option? Not quite weekly, but mostly yes!
Make $10k (NZD) gross writing-related income (including grants, craft teaching, speaking, etc) $15 519 and very happy about it!
Last year was the year of writing - get those books written, figure out how to format and publish them, get them out to readers. Just as vital was me figuring out my processes and discovering what does and doesn’t work for me.
Does work: setting aside days that are only for writing, skipping a scene that isn’t working and writing the next interesting thing, asking for help instead of floundering around in my own ignorance.
Doesn’t work: Writing while teaching full time (I knew this, but it was startling how quickly it was confirmed when I took on that one-term position!), writing without a calendar of events (looking at YOU, Hera), resisting my urge to learn interesting things about my characters’ hobbies.
This year?
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