GOALS: 2024

 

Usually, I love writing this post each year. I like to have a semi-plan in place about what I want to accomplish in any given year. At the start of 2024, though, I'm a little hesitant to put anything in writing. Why? Because life seems to have other plans for me lately that don't always involve writing and publishing. And when I don't reach a certain goal I set for myself, I feel like I've failed. So this year, I've decided to be a bit more vague and go easier on myself. 

So, here's what I'm going to focus on in 2024...

1. Maintain My Health

I'm finally on a good dosage of my Fibro meds, and I've added in some new supplements that's really helping with my fatigue, so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm also going to get back into a routine of working out. Once the weather clears up, I'd like to start taking Crowley on walks again, too. 

2. Gain More Financial Freedom

I'm still working for Anaiah Press, and I plan to keep doing so. However, I've applied for a new work-from-home job that's within the publishing industry, and I'm really optimistic that I'll get a position. This will take a lot of stress off our household finances, but it will also give me a bit more freedom in terms of funds to keep publishing and marketing my books. Ideally, within the next 3 to 5 years, I want to be making enough income from my books alone that I don't *have* to work anywhere else unless I want to. 

3. Keep Blogging

I've made some good progress with my blog this past year, and I want to keep up the momentum. Between a weekly group post I've joined (Tell Me Something Tuesday), my book thoughts, and anything else that pops into my head, I shouldn't have any issues keeping up with this. 

4. Read

I read more in 2023 than I have in years, and I've really enjoyed branching out into new genres. My total last year was 43 books. This year, I'm aiming for 50! I've even started a reading journal so I can keep better track. 

5. Write

As of right now, I don't have any set in stone plans of what I want to write. I have a couple co-authored projects I'm working on, and I'll keep moving forward with those. Beyond that, though, I'm going to try my hand at a New Adult romantasy for my new agent to send out on submission this year. I'm also going to rework some older projects to re-release, and hopefully that will snap me out of whatever writing funk I've been in. 

6. Take a Vacation

Yes, I'm going on a cruise in February, and that's a wonderful vacation, but I'm going on that for a specific reason. I can't share what that is just yet, but I promise to tell you all about it when I return home. Beyond that, though, I want to take another Mother-Daughter Vacation this summer. Our goal is to visit Covington, Georgia and take The Vampire Diaries tour, along with visiting the Atlanta Zoo and Aquarium. 

What are your goals and plans for 2024? Share in the comments!

Tuesday Tips: 5 Author Tools That Will Change Your Life

 

All authors, regardless if they are self-published or working with a traditional publisher, have to do so much more than just "write the next book." We need to engage on social media, attend book signings, cultivate a mailing list, and often times we also have to create our own promotional images and content. Naturally, all of this takes time away from what our main job is--which is writing books. 

Personally, I'm all for streamlining things and working smarter not harder. I've recently been made aware of some programs that have changed my author life and have made things so much simpler for me, which in turn frees up more of my time to write actual books. 

And so, here are my top 5 Author Tools that I think every author should check out: 

1. SmarterQueue 

This is a massive game changer in terms of social media management. You can link your profiles and schedule posts. Now, I know there a lot of programs like this out there, but this one beats them all. Why? Well, for starters, you can create variations of the same posts with different media (images, videos, etc) and then you can recycle those posts so that they will always keep going until you tell them to stop. And with the variations, you'll never have back to back posts that are the same. 

You can use the calendar feature to create a posting plan, you can create and organize your posts based on specific categories that YOU choose. You can find free images and content to post. You can import your blog and share others' blog posts. And the best part is -- this is hands-down the simplest program I have ever used! 

They offer a standard 14-day free trial, but if you use this LINK you'll get a 30-day free trial. Beyond that, they have tiered plans that can be paid monthly or yearly. 

2. Author Content Calendar

If you're like me, you probably struggle with coming up with constant, new content to share on social media -- that's not all "BUY MY BOOK! -- am I right? Well, the Author Content Calendar has you covered! This is a one-time $39.00 fee for lifetime access to the calendar that offers an entire year (over 600 posts) of social media content that you can use. They also offer Canva templates for a variety of bookish posts, and that saves you time trying to create your own!

Did I mention this has LIFETIME ACCESS? Which means once you buy it, it's yours forever. You can use it for multiple pen names, if you want. And if you purchase this multiple years, you can mix and match the content as you see fit. 

3. Canva

A lot of authors are already aware of Canva, but this list wouldn't be complete without mentioning this specific tool. 

With Canva, you can create just about anything you want to help build your author brand, promote your books, fun things to engage with your readers. And now, you can even create products that Canva will print and ship to you (for a fee, of course) and this is a great feature for those of us who need physical swag for giveaways and / or book signing events. 

Canva offers a free plan that's really quite useful for being free, but if you want all the added bells and whistles, you can upgrade to the pro plan, which is what I use. And I don't regret the upgrade at all! I use this daily for just about everything.

4. Buffer

This program offers a LOT of various tools, but I use it for one specifically -- the landing page that lists all of my social media accounts. I can't tell you how much of a time saver this is. When someone asks where they can find me or follow me, giving them a single link that lists everywhere else I'm on social media is so much easier! And you can create and publish your start.page for FREE! You can add images, text, links, and videos! I love this and have found it to be so incredibly easy to use. You can see mine HERE.

5. Bookfunnel

Every author should have a mailing list, as this is the best way to communicate directly with your readers / fans. But once you create a newsletter, you need subscribers -- and finding them can be difficult. This is where Bookfunnel comes in! You can list a free book, sample chapters, or whatever you want to entice readers to sign up for your newsletter. Once you have the content to give to subscribers, you can then join in on various promos hosted right on bookfunnel! They offer group promotions for both building your list and for sales. There is a little bit of a learning curve with this platform, but there are plenty of helpful articles that will walk you through it. 

I have a lot more tools that I use, but for the sake of keeping this post a reasonable length, I'm going to stop here for now. I'll do a second post soon with more helpful tools. 

If you have tools you use that you just can't live without, share them in the comments!

Thursday Thoughts: What's it Worth to You?

 

Today, I want to talk about perceived value and how this pertains to book sales and publishing. I'm sure we've all heard that saying: You get what you pay for. Right? And while I do believe this is true to an extent, I think we need to be careful about painting everyone and every situation with the same brush. 

Let's take freelance services, for example. A lot of authors are skeptical about editors or cover designers who don't charge a lot of money. Why? Because there's a fear that maybe the editor or designer isn't legitimate, or doesn't have a lot of experience. A lack of experience isn't always a bad thing, though I do warn authors to proceed cautiously. On the flip side, authors can also be skeptical of service providers who charge too much money because what qualifications do they have that warrants that price tag? 

But, if you're anything like me, you're not willing to charge someone else what you yourself aren't willing to pay. Also, as an Indie author myself, I understand how expensive this industry is and how little we make per book sale. For these reasons, I intentionally keep my editing rates low. And yes, I have experience -- a decade's worth. 

Now, let's switch our focus to actual books and the sale of them, specifically digital books. They are cheaper for authors to produce and are often sold at a cheaper price point than a print book. 

A lot of authors will offer an ebook for free or $0.99 to entice readers to start a new series or try out a new-to-them author. This is a very valid marketing strategy, and it's one I employ rather successfully. The first book in my Cursed Series is free. All the time. Across a wide range of vendors. My goal is to get people into the story with a free book and that they'll go on to purchase the other 6 books in the series. 

Some people will argue that if something is free or cheap, the quality must be terrible. And yes, this does hold true sometimes. But not always. (Which is why I always urge people to always do research and make your own determinations about things) On the flip side, some people will die on the hill that the more something costs, the better it is. I also disagree with this sentiment. 

There are a whole host of reasons someone will choose to sell something or offer a service at a reduced price (or free) -- and there's nothing wrong with that! I think the black-and-white thinking of cheap/free = bad and expensive = good is doing a disservice to everyone. 

Yet, there IS something behind that thought process. 

Recently, I started the process of rebranding my Cursed Series with new cover art, fresh edits, new content and interior formatting, etc., and I'm investing financially in doing so. Additionally, the cost of printing and shipping has gone up, so I have to take that into account as well. As a result, I reluctantly raised the prices on my ebooks. 

Books 2-7 ranged from $2.99 to $3.99, but since doing the rebrand, I've raised the prices to a consistent $4.99 across the board (except for book 1, which will always remain free). 

And you know what?? My sales have increased SO MUCH since I raised the prices! Talk about confused (and thrilled). But this leads me to believe and buy into the idea of perceived value and how a slightly higher price tag switches something in the brain that tells readers -- this book has value and is worth the money and you should buy it. I'm not sure I'll ever understand this, but it's certainly been on my mind a lot lately, and I'll be experimenting more to see if this holds true. 

At the end of the day, only you can determine what something is worth to you, or how much you're willing to pay for something. 

What're your thoughts on perceived value? Do you think cheap or free automatically means something is bad or of a lower quality? 

Tell Me Something Tuesday: 08.29.23 (Fall Reading List)

 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

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Fall tends to be the one season where I read more than any other time throughout the year. Probably because Halloween is in the fall, and that's my absolute favorite! Also, the weather gets colder, and staying inside curled up with a good book is the best way to spend an afternoon or evening. 

I always reserve my fall for spooky books. I mean, I read spooky all year long, but I don't switch it up much during the fall, especially in October. And I have a massive TBR of thrillers and horror that I plan to read. Here's my top ten books I want to read this Fall:

1. Murder Game by Carrie Doyle
2. Haunted Hotels by Tom Ogden
3. Spooky Michigan  by S.E. Schlosser
4. The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan
5. What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie
6. The Collector & The Collected by K. R. Alexander 
7. It Came From the Garage (horror anthology with various authors)
8. Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy
9. The Sleepover by Samantha King
10. The Shining by Stephen King (I've seen the movie but have never read the book)

This list will more than likely change, as I'm always finding new books to add to my TBR. And I might end up reading more than these 10 books this fall, but a lot of that will depend on how much reading I have to do for my day job. 

What's everyone else reading this fall? 

The Vampire Diaries (Books 1 & 2): All Bark and No Bite?

Before I dive into my review of this series, I need to preface this by saying I've watched the TV show multiple times, so I had that version and those characters in my head while reading. And even though I'd been thoroughly warned that the books were vastly different from the show, I still wasn't prepared for how different they are. If you haven't watched the show or read the books but want to, I suggest you stop reading right now because there are going to be major spoilers!

THE AWAKENING (Book 1):
I really disliked this book. Really disliked it. If I had to give it a star rating, I'd give it a 1 -- And I cringe at that because I hate giving poor reviews. As an author, I know how it stings. So, why didn't I like it? Well... The pacing was crazy fast. There were characters I wasn't used to. And OMG the head hopping! GAH! The characters I did know (and love) were not the same people, and that felt like a huge betrayal. Then again, had I read the books first then watched the TV show, I probably would've felt the same in reverse. The entire series was very episodic (no wonder it translated into a weekly TV show so easily) with each scene / chapter moving quickly with a lot of conflict and action. As such, there was almost no character development.

Elena was a stuck up, selfish snob who had no consideration whatsoever for her friends' wants or feelings. She used them to get what she wanted and never thought twice about it. I had no sympathy for her whatsoever--unlike the show, which made her a very sympathetic character right from the start.

Stefan was weak. Pathetically so. I know he's weaker physically because he drinks animal blood rather than human blood, but emotionally and mentally he was weak, too. And so whiny! I've always been #TeamDamon, but at least with the TV show, there was a chivalry and silent strength to Stefan that made him a good hero. I mean, that love triangle? WHOA! I seriously wonder if the author even likes Stefan with the way he's portrayed.

The supporting cast -- Caroline, Bonnie, Meredith, Matt, Aunt Judith, et al.-- weren't bad, but there wasn't really much characterization for any of them.

The plot was your typical vampire-human romance. Hello, Insta-love, my old friend ;-) There weren't enough pages in this book to build a believable romance. But I'm able to get past that because of the supernatural elements, and because I already know and love these characters from the show.

Stefan is the mysterious, handsome new guy in town. Popular Elena wants him, but he won't give her the time of day so she schemes to get him, and eventually does, but only after she happens upon him feeding on a bird. (Side note: If he's a vampire with super senses, how did he not hear or smell her coming??) Now that she knows his deepest secret, he gives in to their attraction. A bunch of people die. The town points the finger at Stefan, but Elena realizes it's his evil brother Damon. Stefan goes missing. Elena refuses to believe he left town because he's guilty and worries he's in trouble.

I was convinced I was not going to read anymore in this series. But then I got the end and holy cliffhanger! It ends with Elena screaming for Damon to show himself. This in and of itself angered me, too, because it literally stopped in the middle of the scene. Of course, I had to read the next book to find out what happened...

THE STRUGGLE (Book 2):
This book starts exactly where the previous one ended. It felt like I was simply starting the next chapter rather than beginning an entirely new book. Good thing I didn't have to wait months or years in between releases. I really wouldn't have been happy then!

The characters in this book were slightly better--maybe because I was becoming used to them. Elena wasn't as selfish and she didn't use her friends as much, either. That was refreshing. Stefan's still missing at the start of this book, so he didn't annoy me with his whining. There was a lot more Damon, too, which I LOVED! He was the same sexy, arrogant bad-boy that he is on the TV show.

via GIPHY

The plot was a bit more exciting this time, too. Elena convinces Bonnie to embrace her budding witchy powers and tap into Stefan's mind in order to find him. She does, and they manage to find Stefan. With help from Matt and Meredith, Bonnie and Elena rescue Stefan. He's weak and badly beaten. They take him to his home, and Elena offers him her blood. He takes it. Then she takes a taste of his. She vows to keep his secret. He gets all better. Elena comes clean to her friends that Damon is the killer. They believe her without question. (Uh...okay??) She makes a deal with Damon and ends up sharing blood with him, too. Then she lies to Stefan about her encounter with Damon and his efforts to "have her." (That's true love right there!) Near the end of the book, Elena feels a presence in a brewing storm and while attempting to flee, she drives off a bridge.

Again, I convinced myself I wasn't going to read anymore, but then I was smacked with another cliffhanger, and I had to know what happens. It's so strange, because despite my complaints, I'm actually enjoying these books, and I have no idea why. Stay tuned for my reviews on the next two books: The Fury and Dark Reunion.

Have you read The Vampire Diaries? Have you watched the show? Share your thoughts in the comments!