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 to keep that forward momentum. I do this every year for personal and professional goals. Let’s take a look at those author ones.
2019 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PUBLICATION
I hit all my publication goals for 2019 and added a novella into the mix as well as several anthologies!
- 7 novels/novellas & 3 anthologies released!
- Taming the Troublemaker (Hills of Texas #3) as Kadie Scott
- The Rookie (Fire’s Edge #2) as Abigail Owen
- The Rogue King (Inferno Rising #1) as Abigail Owen
- Claiming the Cowboy for Christmas (Hills of Texas #4) as Kadie Scott
- The Wolf I Want for Christmas as Abigail Owen
- The Enforcer (Fire’s Edge #3) as Abigail Owen
- 3 Anthologies as Abigail Owen
- My Paranormal Valentine (with Her Demigod Complex)
- Sexy Supernatural Summer (with Her Demigod Complex)
- Christmas After Dark (with The Wolf I Want for Christmas)
WRITE BOOKS
I hit all my writing goals for the year and then some. Contracts to fulfill means a ton of words written and books edited…
- 400k+ words written
- 4 novels written, 1 novella written
- 2 novels completed from 2018
- 3 novellas/novels added to
- edits on 11 novels/novellas
- 3 proposals written and submitted (and 2 contracted)
CONTRACTS
Contracts were my big, wonderful surprise of 2019. My agent and I had put 3-4 proposals out there. But I’ve had proposals out before that took a year or more to go back and forth on before getting rejected, so I was hopefully pessimistic. But this year wowed me! Especially toward the end of the year. I have new editors and books now with new publishers, and my current publishers want more. A dream come true and I’m still reeling!
- 14 books contracted
- Snowball’s Christmas (2 books) as Kristen McKanagh – Kensington
- Unexpected Gifts (3 books) as Kristen McKanagh – Berkley
- Fire’s Edge 5th book as Abigail Owen – Entangled
- Devil’s Advocate (4 books) – redo of Legendary Consultants as Abigail Owen – Entangled
- Unnamed Paranormal Spinoff Series (4 books) as Abigail Owen – Entangled
FUN & FRIENDS
My goal every year is to spend time with people I enjoy and make sure I’m doing my best because my team does their best for me.
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:
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- 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
- John Scognamiglio, my Kensington editor
- Kristine Swartz, my Berkley editor
- The awesome teams of folks who make me a better author in so many ways @ Entangled Publishing, Tule Publishing, Kensignton, Berkley, 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 friends.
- The fantastic bloggers/reviewers who took the time to read my books an post reviews. You rock!
- The fantastic groups I’m a part of (RWA, Austin RWA, Paranormal Romance Guild, FF&P, & Contemporary Romance Writers)
- This year I was the Secretary for Austin RWA
- The awesome team at Wild Rose Press who I do covers for under AOAD
- The contractors who I get to work with for AOAD
- The clients we get to do business for at AOAD (we hope we were a small part of your success this year!)
TRAVEL & EVENTS
I started the year with very few plans, so these were all just gravy!
- Romance Readers Social, Pflugerville, TX
- Book Lovers Con, New Orleans, LA
- RWA Nationals & Signing, New York, NY
- B&N Bookstore Signing, Austin, TX
- Heart of Texas Reading Salon, Boerne, TX
- Texas Book Festival, Austin, TX
- NYC Trip with Entangled/Macmillan
- ILVN Gathering, online
- 2 awesome retreats with bestie Nicole
- Several Facebook parties, online
AWARDS & HONORS
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- Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewers Choice Awards | The Boss | 3rd place in Vampire/Shifter books
- Taming the Troublemaker named as a Fresh Fiction Fresh Pick
- The Rogue King listed in Ezvid Wiki’s Fiery Fantasy Novels For Dragon Lovers
- The Rogue King named in SyfyWire FANGRRLS Pick for SFF Romance Reads July 2019
- The Rogue King named as a Fresh Fiction Fresh Pick
- The Prism Awards | The Boss | 1st place in Dark Paranormal Romance
- The Rogue King named a Harelquin Junkie Top Pick
- The Enforcer named in SyfyWire FANGRRLS Pick for SFF Romance Reads December 2019
- Kathryn Hayes “When Sparks Fly” Contest | The Boss | 2nd place in Paranormal/SciFi/Fantasy
AOAD – Authors On A Dime
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- Loved every second of working as Alyssa Day’s VPA.
- A ton of covers completed for The Wild Rose Press.
- Due to my writing commitments, this is where I had to pull back a bit, but still loving it!
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- My goal every year: Improve as an author by attending workshops. Between conferences, my awesome local RWA chapter, and online chapters, I took a ton this year. Feel like I learned a lot!
- While this is a dream, so it seems crass to talk about $, it’s still a business that helps feed my family (about time too). This is the FIRST YEAR I have been in the black since I started in 2012! Last year I broke even. Before that I was always red. I was thrilled to see my gross income close to double for the year. What a huge blessing!
2020 GOALS
Like last year, my goals this year surround completing contracts already signed and releasing several books that have been ready for a while.
- PUBLISH BOOKS
- 8 releases this year and I can’t wait for each and every one!
- including all the marketing shenanigans
- WRITE BOOKS – Contracts to fulfill means a ton of words to write as well as go through the editing process on…
- Expected word count will be around…550,000 words
- Finish editing process and/or rewrites…
- Inferno Rising #3 as Abigail Owen
- Snowball’s Christmas as Kristen McKanagh
- The Worse for Were (Devil’s Advocate #2) as Abigail Owen
- Bait N’ Witch (Devil’s Adovcate #3) as Abigail Owen
- A Ghost of a Chance (Devil’s Advocate Short Story) as Abigail Owen
- All the books below except the last one…
- Write and submit
- A Gift of Hope (Unexpected Gifts #1) as Kristen McKanagh
- The Defender (Fire’s Edge #4) as Abigail Owen
- Fire’s Edge #5 as Abigail Owen
- Try As I Smite (Devil’s Advocate #4) as Abigail Owen
- Untitled Snowball’s Christmas #2 as Kristen McKanagh
- Inferno Rising #4 as Abigail Owen
- Untitled Paranormal Spinoff Series #1 as Abigail Owen (submitting in Jan 2021)
- CONTRACTS
- Not this year. I am booked solid through about mid 2021 with contracts and projects. Probably early 2021 I’ll start sending out proposals again. 🙂
- My goal this year is to fulfill the contracts I have!
- AOAD – Authors On A Dime
- 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
- VP of Programs on Board of Directors for Austin RWA (local chapter)
- Spending time with my awesome readers/authors/editors/agent/and friends. One of the best parts of what I do!
- TRAVEL & EVENTS
- Still working on my conference schedule for the year. Known events
- A writing retreat with bestie Nicole.
- RWA Nationals – July
- Buns & Roses Romance Tea for Literacy – Oct
- EDUCATION – Get Better
- It’s a goal of mine every single year to continue to improve as an author by attending lots of workshops.
- BUSINESS
- This is a passion, but also a business. A few business goals this year.
- Cut spending by 20% YoY (already have a plan here)
- Hold income flat YoY (I had a great 2019, and will be thrilled if 2020 does as well.)
- This is a passion, but also a business. A few business goals this year.