Yesterday, we looked at how I was setting relationship goals for family/friends and specifically for ‘love.’ I called those soft goals, touchy-feely or fuzzy ones.
Today, we get a tad more down to earth with those three interrelated trouble areas of my life finances, environment and career. But since my readers don’t really care about my budgets or how miserable I am stuck here in London and missing home, the example I will use is the one they do care about…my career…my writing.
As I said before, in the past, I have tried setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time oriented). But unless you are a complete Type A personality, who wants nothing more than work in your life, then those types of goals tend to be less attainable than they appear at first.
Even those Type A can run into that bastard of Fate. They can give their all climbing their way to the top of the corporate ladder, knocking people off, then have the rug pulled out from under them with downsizing or the demise of the company. Worse yet, you could reach every goal you set only to discover that being at the top does not make you happy.
As a priestess of the goddess, I need the flexibility to put people first. As the mother of a little beauty with high-functioning autism (Asperger’s as they used to call it), my day can go from perfectly organized to disaster zone in about 30 seconds. As a sub/girlfriend/partner and now mentor, I have responsibilities to those I care about.
And here is honest…an indie author has next to NO control over sales. I cannot make you buy my books. And I do NOT ever want to become one of those types who only ever takes to a blog, Facebook or Twitter to push a new release. That hard sale is not me. You are my friends before you are my readers and I believe in treating you that way.
To make it even worse, Amazon, the largest e-book distributor, keeps changing the rules to make it harder and harder for indie authors to make money. Which is why I am removing ALL my books from their exclusive to KDP/KU select program and making available to other distributors.
So given all that…how the hell do you set goals that are so crucial to your future happiness?
By focusing not on the outcomes that I cannot control but on the inputs over which I have complete control.
I cannot make people buy my books…but it is for certain that they won’t buy books that are not available. So getting some finished and half finished ones, done, edited and covers made becomes a top priority. So that I can give them the chance to buy a new book.
So what are my Career/Writing goals for 2016 you ask…
- Release 9 new books this year (2 Sergeant Mike’s, 3 Njords, Priestesses of the Goddess, Nothing Done in Love plus 1 more)
- One story/chapter per week at Literotica
- Monthly newsletter
- Daily blog (transferred to more powerful platform and domain name)
- 3 to 5 Facebook posts per day – only one sales max
- 3 Tweets per day – quote of the day, meme of the day and one writing related
- $100 per month paid advertising budget
You see I chose to focus not on the sales over which I have no REAL control but upon the ingredients that go into those sales totals…things over which I do.
So for you, the reader, all that means…
- You can keep listening to my big mouth here…
- Yes, I am finishing Ægir’s…and re-writing it to correct loads of inconsistencies and plot holes…
- I am also revisiting some old favs like…Night Walker’s Woman, Fall of Man, Priestesses of the Goddess and who knows what else at Lit…
- And my pride and joy…Sergeant Mike has a couple more stops on his miracle tour this year with Esther on the ‘bitch seat.’ And one of those stops…Hot-lanta, GA…yes, they will be visiting Trav, Keisha and Bree.
Yes, those are pretty ambitious goals in their own right, but like I said people cannot buy books that ain’t finished. So if you want daily updates, inspirational quotes and memes, the chance to win stuff and more, then click the buttons to the right to follow me on Facebook and Twitter too.
I saw this Facebook post…describe 2015 in one word. My answer was…better. And 2016 is going to be BETTER still.
Tomorrow…join me as I take those big goals and make them into an actual workable plan, which is the next step…setting objectives from your goals.
Tara Cox - Literary Erotica 