2018 Accomplishments & 2019 Goals

It’s coming up on the end of the old year and beginning of the new, and you know what that means… Goals.

Look at how you did on the old ones and set some new ones. I do this every year for personal and professional goals. Let’s take a look at those author ones.

2018 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I had a wonderful 2018 with new releases, time with wonderful friends, fun at conferences, and growing my skill set. Here are some of the highlights:

• PUBLICATION – 6 books released!
  • Saving the Sheriff, Hills of Texas #1 (contemporary)
  • White Knight, Camelot Rising #1 (paranormal)
  • Resisting the Rancher, Hills of Texas #2 (contemporary)
  • The Mate, Fire’s Edge Prequel (paranormal)
  • The Boss, Fire’s Edge #1 (paranormal)
  • The Boss Coloring Book

• WRITE BOOKS – Contracts to fulfill means a ton of words written and books edited…
  • 300k words written
  • 4 novels written, 2 novels edited, 1 novella edited
  • 3 proposals written and submitted (pending)
  • Finished edits on and released:
    • Resisting the Rancher, Hills of Texas #2 (contemporary)
    • The Mate, Fire’s Edge Prequel (paranormal)
    • The Boss, Fire’s Edge #1 (paranormal)
  • Finalized edits, release pending:
    • The Rogue King, Inferno Rising #3 (paranormal)
  • Wrote, submitted, and edited:
    • Partnering the Playboy, Hills of Texas #3 (contemporary)
    • Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas, Hills of Texas #4 (contemporary)
  • Wrote and submitted (in editing process):
    • The Rookie, Fire’s Edge #2 (paranormal)
    • The Blood King, Inferno Rising #3 (paranormal)
• CONTRACTS – 3 books contracted
  • The Hills of Texas Series with Tule – final 3 books (contemporary)
• MY PEOPLE
  • A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this a great year. Especially those who really believe in my books and AOAD! In particular:
    • My awesome readers. Your words of enjoyment and encouragement mean more than I can express. xoxo
    • My husband & kids
    • My family
    • Evan Marshall, my agent
    • Heather Howland, my Entangled editor
    • Sinclair Sawhney, my Tule editor
    • Nicole Flockton, my bestie
    • Alyssa Day
    • Anna Stewart
    • Tracy Goodwin
    • Erin Bevan
    • Dawn Dowdle
    • The awesome teams of folks who make me a better author in so many ways @ Entangled Publishing, Tule Publishing, Crimson Romance, and Wild Rose Press.
    • Every author I get the opportunity to share my love of writing with throughout the year, because y’all are my people, my tribe, my friends.
    • The fantastic bloggers/reviewers who took the time to read my books an post reviews. You rock!
• FUN & FRIENDS – Great times with fellow authors
  • Loved every second at RWA Nationals in Denver and Shameless in Orlando, as well as on writing retreats, at my ARWA chapter meetings, and online with friends.
• ACCOMPLISHMENTS
  • Fresh Fiction Fresh Pick – Resisting the Rancher (contemporary)
  • Beat my own ranking record twice
    • The Wrong Kind of Compatible – BookBub sale
      • #105 Amazon, #1 B&N, #10 Apple, #30 Kobo
    • The Attraction Equation – BookBub sale
      • #45 Amazon, #3 B&N, #4 Apple, #2 Kobo
  • Grow revenue
    • While writing is my passion, reality means I also have to grow it as a business. I had a goal to double my gross revenue. I beat that goal and tripled it.
• AOAD – Authors On A Dime
  • Continued to grow the business.
  • I had a goal to double my gross revenue. And I multiplied it by 5X!!!!! (Wow!)
  • Took on new clients and more contractors.
  • Loved every second of working as Alyssa Day’s VPA.
  • Took a position as a cover artist for The Wild Rose Press.
• EDUCATION – Get Better
  • My goal every year: Improve as an author by attending workshops. Between 2 conferences, my awesome local RWA chapter, and online chapters, I took a ton this year. Feel like I learned a lot!

2019 GOALS

Like last year, my goals this year surround completing contracts already signed and releasing several books that have been ready for a while. Also on the list is setting up contracts that would continue my trajectory through 2020/2021.

• PUBLICATION – Look for the following releases…
  • Taming the Troublemaker, The Hills of Texas #3 (contemporary) – Mar 21
  • The Rookie, Fire’s Edge #2 (paranormal) – April 22
  • The Rogue King, Inferno Rising #1 (paranormal) – August 27 (MASS MARKET PAPERBACK!!!)
  • Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas, The Hills of Texas #4 (contemporary) – Oct 15
• WRITE BOOKS – Contracts to fulfill means a ton of words to write… (between 300k-400k words total)
  • Finish editing process and/or rewrites…
    • The Rookie, Fire’s Edge #2 (paranormal)
    • The Blood King, Inferno Rising #2 (paranormal)
    • Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas, The Hills of Texas #4 (contemporary)
  • Write and submit
    • The Faller, Fire’s Edge #3 (paranormal)
    • Loving the Lawman, Hills of Texas #5 (contemporary)
    • The Warrior King, Inferno Rising #3 (paranormal)
    • The Enforcer, Fire’s Edge #4 (paranormal) – won’t finish this one in 2019, but not long into 2020)
    • Possible novellas in between. Hoping to finish the last novella in the Legendary Consultants series.
• AOAD – Authors On A Dime
  • Continue to grow the business thru cold calling.
    • Since we grew revenue so much last year, my goal is to double revenue YoY
  • Continue as a Virtual Personal Assistant for author Alyssa Day.
  • Continue to design covers for The Wild Rose Press
• FUN & FRIENDS – Great times with fellow authors
  • Secretary on Board of Directors for Austin RWA (local chapter)
  • Attending a local Romance Readers Social, Book Lovers Con in New Orleans, and RWA Nationals in NYC this year. Check out events!
  • A writing retreat with bestie Nicole.
  • Spending time with my tribe of awesome readers/authors/editors/agent/and friends. One of the best parts of what I do!
• CONTRACTS
  • I’m fairly busy with the contracts signed in 2017/2018. I have 5 more contracted books to complete thru 2020.
  • Evan and I are in process on 3 or 4 different proposal projects, so we’ll see where those lead. 🙂
• EDUCATION – Get Better
  • It’s a goal of mine every single year to continue to improve as an author by attending lots of workshops.
• ACCOMPLISHMENTS
  • This is a passion, but also a business. A few business goals this year.
    • Cut spending by 50% YoY (already have a plan here)
    • Hold gross income flat YoY