My career goals for 2015

I realized I've yet to sit down and really think about my goals as a writer in 2015. I do have some. In the past few months, there have been some changes in the publishing industry. EBook prices are going lower. Right now, if an author wants to be able to move a book, pricing it at 99 cents is sure way to do it. Where as a year a go, a 99 cents was for a sale or a new author wanting to get readers to buy their books to build a readership. I've spent the last two months trying to decide where I want to go in my career. It's hard for me to drop my books all down to 99 cents in order to sale books because I supplement an income in my household with my earnings. However, I've been resistant to this change, but finally I said to myself, do I want to be left behind in this field of work, or do I want to ride the wave. So, I'm choosing to ride the wave. Which means readers can begin to expect a few more sales from me than usual.

The past two years, I have really delved into the self-publishing world. I still use small presses for some books, but in order to stay home and write, I have to self publish as well because that brings me monthly income. However, with the way the book market is at the moment, I feel like I'm going more unnoticed. This is the time for authors to get published. You no longer need an agent and a million rejections letters stuffed in a box under your bed. You can now hire an editor, get a cover made, and put your writing out to the world to read. Which is good---and bad. 

My goal in 2015 is to get noticed. Find a way to get my books in the hands of more readers. I'm looking into other ways to market. What worked six months ago, might not work well now. I kid you not, this industry is always changing. It seems like once I have it figured out....it's time to change AGAIN.

---

I want to be more productive. Last year I gave up word count goals. I didn't sit down with a project and say, "This must be 30,000 words." I let the story be the story. Sometimes I wished the book had been longer, but that was a goal of mine.

This year, I want me writing sessions to be more productive. Last year, a goal had been to break my Facebook habit. That need to constantly click the browser back up to see what was going on. This was a hard habit to break and I didn't break it until November to be honest. I started with making Sundays a no computer day, unless I was just bored and had nothing to do. In November is when I began to get a little depressed about how the book market was, and I would go days without opening the computer. I didn't even open my phone app. Since doing this, I haven't felt the need to be on Facebook so much. I am hoping this is a habit I've broken and can stick to.

So, my goals aren't big. Get noticed more, ride the book market wave, and make my writing sessions more productive. I'll let you know in a year how I did. 

---