À Bientôt

I started my blog Maya's Musings in January 2014, over ten years ago. Discounting the "bots" from Singapore (80k views over the last year seems suspicious when my blog's lifetime views total 212k over ten years), I see about 20 views per post. I am grateful for those views, but—unfortunately—the time of the blog is over. Recent marketing and promotion tips for writers have been putting more emphasis on the newsletter. I have worked to build my list since December 2014 and have about 1,000 subscribers. If you have enjoyed my blog over the last ten years and are not yet a newsletter subscriber, I encourage you to subscribe here. On a quarterly or so basis, I aim to provide a balance of interesting tidbits and authorly updates plus contests and giveaways.

I am reluctant to say "good-bye" to the blog that helped form the foundation of my author platform. But I acknowledge that in this ever-evolving world, author blogs have begun to be obsolete. Today, I have a website (which I am in the process of overhauling—change is good), and I supplement my Internet presence by participating in the various social media platforms.

I started my journey because I wanted to write and publish a book. I accomplished that goal and found deep personal satisfaction. Over the last ten years, I have learned so much about myself. And I've continued to write and publish books. Writing is a passion project for me. I am not a financially successful author, but—luckily for me—I use other metrics to measure my success. When a reader tells me that they've enjoyed my book. When a reader conveys how I've impacted their life. When a reader posts a five-star review. That is success.

I am here to tell a story. I will continue to tell my stories. And, maybe someday, I will return to Maya's Musings.

Finding Balance Between Art and Business

A published author who wants to achieve "commercial success" must keep focused on both the creation and promotion of their work. That said, writing and promoting are two very separate activities, requiring different skill sets.

There are only twenty-four hours in a day... and some of those are dedicated to sleeping and eating. Plus, in the indie author world, most of us have day jobs. Some people have families and other responsibilities. Where does writing fit in? Who has the time (and money) to promote?

Promotion on a Limited Time and Money Budget

What are the goals? Constant engagement on all the social media platforms plus maintaining a blog (and/or newsletter) and website. Constant ads on book promotion sites. Continuous production of new work to promote. Being everywhere. Doing everything. Sound unrealistic? Unless you are ten different people or have a personal assistant, probably.

I have a decent understanding of social media. I'm fairly active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. In the last year, I've seen a 16% increase in Instagram followers whereas Facebook and Twitter have grown by 2%. I use my blog to post my weekly features like "Quote of the Week" on Mondays and "#TirgearrTuesday" on Tuesdays with a not-so-regular-lately post on Fridays. For time management, I use several social media post schedulers, like Planoly and Buffer. In the fall, I started contributing (non-promotional posts) on medium.com on Wednesdays to expand my audience. Words are important, but it's even better if you can reach the readers.

For new releases, I have used Facebook parties, virtual book tours, and book trailers to create interest.

I have a blog (obviously) and a quarterly newsletter I send using MailChimp. A lot of the how-to guides to book promoting stress the importance of building a mailing list. I have participated in promotions to add to my numbers. Most recently, a Booksweeps promotion which added 300 people to my list, equating to a 29% increase from last year. Ideally, offering a lead magnet would encourage readers to sign up too. It's on my to-do list.

My skill set has expanded to include (basic) web and graphic design. Templates make it accessible for diys. I design my own graphics using sites like Canva. I outsource when my requirements exceed my abilities.

My website contains the recommended pages: Home, About, My Books, and I use it as a landing page for newsletter sign-ups. My current package includes ten pages so I have an entire series on one page with shortcut links to individual books. I also have a Writing Community page with links to my author pages and interviews, other authors, writing resources, and promotional sites.

Aside from the author platform—social media, blog, newsletter, website—reader reviews are an invaluable source for promotional material. I've sent hundreds of book review request emails over the last ten years, found some excellent reviewers, and used review snippets in my book graphics.

In conclusion, I save money by doing as much as I can myself. Unfortunately, doing promotional activities takes time away from writing. In truth, this is probably not a good strategy because I don't make any money. For my last four books, I have spent an average of $800 per new book release ($3,000 total) and earned less than $100 in royalties (in the first year). Seriously, what I am I doing wrong?

I imagine I am not alone in this seemingly losing battle. I write. I promote. Capital is required to get my books in front of readers in order to make sales. But my past strategies are not getting results. So, where should I spend my promotional dollars?

2021 Writing Goals

In order to make progress in whatever it is you do, SMART goals are an essential part of the process.

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable

R - Realistic

T -  Timely

At the beginning of 2021, I set some writing and writing-related goals. I am pleased to say that I achieved (mostly) each of these goals.

1. Write creatively everyday for one hour. This falls under mostly successful. I didn't write everyday, but I did write most days. I participated in NaNoWriMo as well.

2. Engage on social media (see social media goals). Increase the following: brand awareness (measured by number of followers and reach of posts, including mentions, shares and retweets); website traffic (measured by number of visitors to website and blog); lead generation (measured by newsletter sign-ups); and engagement (measured by likes, shares, comments, mentions, and replies). I saw increases to the number of followers on each social media platform except YouTube which stayed the same as 2020. My website, blog, and Pinterest had steady daily traffic. My social media posts were shared and liked, although I didn't receive many comments. My newsletter mailing list had a net increase of 64 people. Some of my posts had hundreds of shares and likes.

3. Publish A Fairy's Quest. I submitted my book in late 2020 and published it on April 6, 2021.

4. Publish A Fairy Godmother's Redemption. I submitted my book in early 2021 and published it on July 27, 2021.

5. Write A Magical's Gift. I started writing this book for NaNoWriMo 2020 and finished the first draft in September... some 310 days later. I have submitted it for publication.

Bonus Goal:

1. Revamp website. I'm always tweaking my site and updating images. This year, I went dark... Well, I changed to a dark theme. It is very dramatic with a black background and white text. Images against the black "white space" really pop out. I also incorporated my new logo, and added links to my book covers.

This year, I made positive strides focusing on my author platform and brand. If I'm going to be serious about writing—which I am—I need to set and achieve SMART goals.

As I look to 2022, I think about what I want to accomplish in the next year. I want to publish A Magical's Gift, finish writing this year's NaNoWriMo project which is Book One of a new series (I'm 37k in), and write Book Two. The new series is set to be a trilogy, and the pipe dream is to finish all three books next year, but that goal doesn't sound very achievable or realistic with everything else I have on my plate. I have more than enough ideas, but time is at a premium. On the author platform side, I'd like to increase social media followers and engagement; my newsletter mailing list; and my blog subscribers. I'll set my SMART goals and let you know how I measured up next year.