As I’m writing this, it’s the official start of 2025 - it’s Monday, January 6th (because who starts the year in the middle of the week - hell no, I used last week to relax and recharge, and now I’m ready to get started). Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating what my goals for the year are - both personally and professionally.
Personally, 2025 is going to be a very busy year. Getting married in nine months comes with a whole slew of responsibilities and things that need to get done, and therefore, is consuming a lot of the time that I would normally spend writing and publishing. Along with that comes a lot of personal goal-setting to be a happier, healthier version of myself - things like mindful eating, staying active, and FINALLY establishing a nightly skincare routine.
But enough about that. We’re here to talk about writing and publishing and how I’m still going to try to make things happen this year without burning myself out.
If you read my recent post, “Reflecting on a “Failed” 2024,” you’ll know that last year was… well, dog shit. I suffered from severe creative burnout, which led to not marketing any of my books, and that led to no sales, page reads, or anything productive. If you read that post, you’ll know that I’m 100% okay with all of that, and I learned important lessons about mental health and boundaries, blah, blah, blah.
That’s not what we’re talking about today. 2024 is so last year.
Today, we’re talking about 2025.
First, the goals:
Get 100,000 page reads.
Sell 1,000 copies.
Host 15 signings.
Now, these may seem light, but remember that creative burnout? Yeah, I’m still healing and I would REALLY like to not go through that again. So, where are we at as of January 6th? Let me check. Ah, yes. I have approximately 700 page reads so far this year, 0 copies sold, and 4 signings scheduled (plus one major event, yay!).
I’m really focusing in on marketing and my online presence this year, and I’m hoping that reflects in being able to attain these goals. Can’t sell books to an audience I don’t have, right? Well, 2025 is about gaining that audience.
If you noticed, I didn’t set any goals about what I’m writing and/or publishing this year, either. As of right now, I have a free novella scheduled for release Valentine’s Day - February 14th. It’s called 1958, and you can get it here. And that’s all I’ve officially announced, or even planned to announce.
I have plans, sure. I’m writing behind the scenes and working on new stories to share, but I’m taking it slow - moving at a pace that isn’t going to stress me out or cause me to fall back into the burnout I just clawed my way out of.
I would like to release more this year, but frankly, the closer we get to September (wedding month!), the less time I will have to commit to this. I originally planned to launch a new romantasy series this year, though now it is looking at early 2026 if I want to release it properly with all the hype it deserves (and it DESERVES some hype). A year ago, I absolutely would not have been okay with that and probably would have broken my back to get it out sooner. And that’s on personal growth.
With that, I’m off to work on some marketing so I actually achieve some of these goals this year. And maybe when I’m done with that, I’ll write a little something.
Who knows.
Thanks for reading.
Commentaires