Happy New Year!
Let's make 2025 a productive year!
If you feel anything like me, 2024 seemed to fly by.
From publishing my first novel, to teaching my oldest daughter to drive, it was a year packed full of things to feel good about.
I anticipate looking back on 2024 as the year that taught me a lot many hard truths about writing. Truths that so many aspiring writers can use as a reason to call it quits.
Going into 2025, I look to build on the lessons 2024 taught me in an effort to improve my writing, and work to expand my reach to new readers.
For a completely unknown, self-published author, I view 2024 as a success.
While the numbers below may look poor to many, I know that they are just the start of what I plan on turning into a steady revenue stream in 2025.
Getting my novel, Memoirs of a Forgotten Home included in the list of books by local authors for one of the local book clubs gave it a nice boast in late August and early September. While it was not the book chosen for that month’s book, it did get read by many of the book club members.
Despite my effort to take the momentum this brief spurt in sales created to build an ad campaign on Amazon to expand my reach, interest waned, and sales tanked. Many of the clicks on the ads generated page views, but did not land enough sales to offset the cost of the ad campaign.
Despite the fall in sales, I have continued to work on my next novel and even took a shot as publishing a short story.
One of the main lessons 2024 taught me is that growing an audience on social media is a must for any author, let alone a self-published author. The importance of social media in spreading the word about your work as an independent author is vital to generating awareness about your work.
As I prepare to transition into the new year, I will be transforming my social media accounts into more writing focused content. As this transformation takes place, look for me to add links to find me on all the different platforms I am currently on.
Also, keep an eye out for my posts that cover topics from life to religion (mostly my lack thereof) to the places that make the area I call home, home.
Happy reading, happy writing, and most of all, Happy New Year!
