Well, it’s the beginning of 2012, and it’s the time for reflection on the past year and looking forward to the new. I don’t do yearly resolutions (I find it more useful to do them on a daily basis), but suddenly I find myself looking years into the future. I guess running a business will do that to a girl.

As I did last year, I want to share where I am, a bit about my plans, and how indie publishing has changed everything for me. I hope this provides some information and inspiration for other indie authors out there, and those who are considering taking the plunge.

Last year I wrote this for my New Years post:

But this year I did do something different. I made a plan. And not just a 2011 plan, but a ten-year plan. For the past two years I’ve been watching the publishing industry carefully, listening to those who succeed, and researching as much as I can. In that time I’ve had short stories published and my first novel accepted by Lyrical Press. So it’s been a time of good news, but it’s also been a time of serious disillusionment. Like most writers, in my early days, I had mentors and teachers who told me how things work. And now that I’ve been published, I can tell you, most of what I “learned” was twaddle. The piffle became clearer when I started realising that most published authors have day jobs. I started digging into why. Why can’t an author make a living wage, even ones with agents and three-book deals?

Although disillusionment doesn’t always feel great, I actually feel quite liberated. And thus the plan. I started looking at authors who are making a living, how they’re doing it, and adapting their ideas to my own business plan.

And writing that plan, which I formulated after the usual small business startup template, changed everything for me. It changed the way I approached writing and turned me from a wannabe into a bestselling author. Some things about the plan clearly need to change. Here’s how I’d rewrite the 10 year plan and why:

• Why I’d change this goal: I smashed this goal back in September, 2011, a mere five months after my first book’s debut, and three months after I went indie. (I didn’t start making more than pocket change until I went indie, so I hardly even count those first months.) I picked a goal I thought was reasonable, and reasonable is good when it comes to plans… but in December 2011 I came close to selling 2000 books, which makes this first goal obsolete. Time to rethink what’s possible.
• Secondly, sales goals are pretty meaningless without price. When I did a two week experiment with one of my novels, I discovered it’s easy to hit double or even treble numbers selling books at 99c. Sure I doubled my sales at the cheaper price, but my weekly income went way down because of Amazon’s royalty structure. So selling 1000 books would be a snap at 99c, but that would only earn me $350. If I sell 1000 books at 3.99, the current price on most of my books, I earn roughly $2800. (or $2000 at $2.99) With this in mind, I’m going to shift my goals from number of books sold to earnings. I might maximise my earnings at a higher price or a lower price, and the most effective price may change as the market changes and I have more books on the market. The fantastic thing about being an indie published author is the flexibility! What works today may not work in three weeks, but I can make changes as needed, easy peasy.

• Why I’d change this goal: I’ve learned a lot about social networking in the past year, and one of my most important discoveries was that it’s CRITICAL to be reachable (which is different from spending X hours per week on social media outlets!) I love getting reader email, and most of the letters I get are from people who’ve found my contact information in the back of my books. Folks can google my name and I have a lot of information available on my blog. It’s just as important for me as it may be for them. I love hearing from the readers that want to know more about me and my work and this is a vital part of the plan for me.
• But… spending time on social media doesn’t sell books. Blog hops and blog tours and giving away a book here and there… those things are fun, and I’ll do them for enjoyment, but as part of a business plan… well, it isn’t really an effective use of a major chunk of my time. When Ordinary Angels debuted, I spent an entire month on a big blog event. I exhausted myself. It was fun and maybe even got my name out there a bit, but I now wish I’d spent that month working on the first draft of a new book. =)
• My mailing list is a great way to reach people that I know are interested in my work, but I now realise this list is about quality, not quantity. I also now view it as a way to give back to dedicated fans by sharing the inside tidbits, sneak peeks and giving away books instead of seeing it as a marketing tool to be counted and used.

• Why I’d change this: My first novel, Ordinary Angels, was a paranormal romance. But as I continued writing, I found myself more inspired to write urban fantasy, and I’m considering an epic fantasy for my next series. I also have two erotic novels under a pen name. As my writing has developed, for me, the romance element works best as a minor sub-plot, not as the focus of a book. In Blood Faerie, I think I found my true voice. I like a compelling love story, but the romance genre isn’t what’s calling to me. Fortunately, as an indie author, I have the flexibility to move towards what inspires me and grow as an author. So expect deeper plotlines that are more intricately developed in future series from me!

• Why I’d change this: I’ve investigated many options, and yes, I do plan to have all my mainstream novels available in print, but as far as other digital outlets, maybe not. Until recently, that had always been the goal, but I’ve discovered a boon in the Kindle Select programme. It allows me to do occassional giveaways, which have all proved to give me a substantial boost, but I also have extended my reach by having my books available for readers to borrow as part of the Amazon Prime plan. I don’t know yet how much I will receive per borrow, but I will say for certain it has not hurt my sales in any way, and in fact, I’ve experienced a steady flow of new readers since joining. So, right now I’m keeping my future options open. For the next 60 days, all my books will be exclusive digitally to Amazon, and maybe I’ll sign up again for another 90 day exclusive term.

Right now, you can see that I’m all about flexibility! Will I write a 2012 version of last year’s plan? Probably. I think it’s a great way to document the direction of my business and how I develop as an indie publisher. But things I’m going to keep in mind when doing so:

1. Be as specific as necessary to give concrete goals, but leave myself room to be creative. For example I stated in my 2011 plan that I wanted to write three novels. In fact, I put out five, but of the three titles I listed, I only put out two of them, choosing to go ahead with the sequel to Blood Faerie instead of starting another series.
2. That being said, I’ll still allow myself to make goals, knowing that the industry is changing and I may have to turn on a dime to keep up with it and all the many things I learn.
3. Instead of focusing on sales goals or even income goals, I think it’s critical to keep goals to things I can control. I can’t control how many people buy my books. I’ve had a fantastic year and sales have far exceeded my expectations, but I also know I can’t make people find and buy my books and who knows when the party will end? Setting goals that entail benchmarks you can’t control is asking for frustration. I quickly realised this in those early days when I was with a publisher and sales reports were trickling in slowly and the numbers were discouraging. So in good times and bad, my goals will focus on what I can control: my writing output, my online presence, personal strategies, industry awareness, production process and scheduling.

So, this post is a bit late. I started the year with a cold and cough that had me knocked out of the game for a good ten days. (Yet another thing out of my control!) But I’m excited about 2012! If it’s anywhere near as exciting as 2011, I’m in for quite a year!

Happy New Year!

I had one of those strange experiences last night, where I went to bed early, then woke up around midnight, feeling rested and awake and like it surely must be morning. I usually hate that, because I have so much trouble getting back to sleep, and yet if I just get up and do something, I end up staying up half the night and the next morning, I’m exhausted.

But last night was different. In addition to feeling rested, I woke bursting with an inescapable intuition that something good was going to happen. Not that I’m a pessimest by nature, but I am normally so focused on all the things I have to do (the list is a mile long–always), the things I want to do (a shorter and usually very different list from the first), and the things I should do, but have no intention of doing (floor-scrubbing, I’m talking to you.) All that listing leaves little time for worrying about what’s going to happen tomorrow. I deal with today, and that’s more than enough.

So even though I did end up staying up until 2:30, and when I woke at 7:00, I really didn’t want to get out of bed, I still had that feeling… that nagging feeling of anticipation.  It’s a bit like waiting for the surprises of Christmas morning, or like when getting a letter in the mail from an old friend, and sitting there looking at the envelope for a minute. I had a sense like that when I arrived in Scotland for the first time… I knew I was home, even though I’d never been here before. Something just lined up, clicked into place, and I knew good things were going to happen.

I don’t know whether the upcoming goodness foretold in my niggling think-spot is going to be big or small. It might just mean that a cupcake with sprinkles is coming my way. It might be huge. It feels sort of huge, but then when you’ve had a week like I’ve had, the joy of an unexpected cupcake should not be underestimated. I don’t even know if it’s going to happen directly to me, or just near me.

I do find that this morning, I’m looking at the world a bit differently. Everything I see, I pause for a second and wonder… is this the start of my wonderful thing? Are you the person that is going to set the ball rolling?

Would you be my cupcake?

People sometimes ask me for advice. I find that funny, considering that I’m basically a chick hanging out in her jammies doing whatever the fuck she wants 90% of the time. (The other 10% is filled with things like cleaning up after the cat has puked on our beige carpet.)

And it happens more often now that my books have popped onto some bestseller lists from time to time. (Holy crap…really?) I’m always more than happy to share whatever I know with anyone who asks, so don’t be shy about asking. Taking a few minutes to answer is the least I can do, plus it gives me an excuse to procrastinate on that 10% list I do so love to avoid.

The obvious advice for writing success is out there, and I certainly wouldn’t be the first one to say, “write a good book, get it professionally edited, get some awesome cover art, and price it attractively.” Hell, I probably wouldn’t even be the first person today to say that, and it’s only 10AM. But the real advice, the stuff that gets you from one page to the next, that’s more full of nuance. I can’t tell you whether you should kill off a character or cut your first five chapters or move your setting to Peoria. Some things only the author can decide, and that’s what makes this a lonely business from time to time.

But I will share some advice I received from my dear friend Talli Roland, given to me when I was lamenting a few weeks back that I was struggling with some plot points in Azuri Fae. I was angsting pretty hard, and the wordcount was growing slowly. The outline was there, the desire was there, but something was missing. She said (I shit you not), “Sounds like you just need to buckle down and write.” Or something along those lines. It’s all a bit fuzzy. Honestly, it made my ears ring. I suppose that’s what they call ‘the ring of truth.’

Of course it reminded me of this WWII British morale-boosting poster put out by the government to keep people from panicking, I suppose, when bombs were dropping all around. Now I know that for most of us, the bombs are metaphorical these days, but still, I know good advice when I hear it, and “Keep Calm and Carry On” has become my new motto for publishing. (And for cleaning up after the cats too.) It’s a slightly more positive version of Hitchhiker’s Guide “Don’t Panic,” because at least it also contains instructions for what to do next, and it’s not so flip and condescending as Nike’s “Just Do It.” (Which always makes me feel like I should be embarrassed for not having been doing it all along.)

Following dear Talli’s advice, I wrote 2900 words the next morning after that phone call, and the next day I wrote 2200, then another 2200, then another 2800, and on like that for the next two weeks until this past Wednesday, when I wrote 4100 words and finished the first draft of Azuri Fae. And you know what? I really like it. Yes, there are some rough spots that will get smoothed out before it goes to my beta readers, and I’m sure they’ll get out their scalpels along with their red pens and keep me honest.

So, these are my two pieces of advice:

#1 Not all motivational posters are shit. Most are, like the other two in that 1939 collection which included “Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might”, which scares the holy bejeebers out of me, and “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory”, which just makes me want to say “My cheerfulness? Piss off.” Unlike those two, “Keep Calm and Carry On” will get you through most any situation.

#2 Get yourself a Talli. I’ll share mine, but don’t wear her out. I’m sure I’m going to need her again on the next book.

And… a programming note… now that I’m finished with my first draft of Azuri Fae, I might actually have the energy to pop my head into the social networks more often.

Thanks for tolerating my erratic blog posting while I’ve been hammering at the keyboard, and thanks especially to everyone who has helped put Blood Faerie on those bestseller lists. It’s truly humbling, and it wouldn’t be there without you.

Well this has been a crazy week, and nothing has gone to plan. That’s okay though! I have always been a bit loosey-goosey with plans. Sure, I like to make them, but I always keep things flexible and my schedules always have a bit of give built in. But all of this to say is that I’ve been very lax on the social networking and keeping up with blogs this week. I need another 6 hours in my days!

One thing I didn’t plan for this week was the winds that knocked the power out for us (and more than 10,000 other homes across Scotland) for nearly 24 hours. It was crazy stuff. I found this video on YouTube today that has a guy in Glasgow showing some of the damage as he’s walking around.

You can also see the official BBC aftermath report here.

Not all the surprises this week were bad ones though! I have been astounded to see that over 70 people have entered my contest, in which I’m giving away five copies of Blood Faerie. I haven’t decided how I’m going to do the drawing yet. I could just use random.org to pick a number, but that’s sorta boring. If I can think of (and have time to plan) some creative drawing method, I might just tape it and put it up on YouTube. Heh. If you want a free Kindle copy of Blood Faeire on its launch date, then go here to find out how to enter.  I think I’ll be doing the drawing on Monday, to give me time to make up the newsletter announcement of the winner, so enter now!

And, between tallying entries, huddling in the dark around candles during the power outage, and fighting off a cold this week, I’ve also been hard at work on Haywire Witch. I’m still hopeful I will be able to release it this autumn, although I haven’t set an official date yet.

Oh, and one last thing… I set up a tumblr account. If you aren’t familiar with Tumblr, it’s sort of a cross between Twitter and StumbleUpon. It’s not a place I really plan to hang out or anything, but I do like using it to post pictures, quotes, and funny things I run across (like today I shared the hilarious video “People of WalMart”) So if you have a tumblr account, be sure and add me to your friends list! (And fill me in on any secrets for using it. I still find it a little confusing sometimes. LOL)

Had a great weekend! I was bound and determined to spend it away from social networking and away from the computer as much as possible. It’s a tough thing to do sometimes when physical limitations make trips to the outside world a friggin ordeal, and the computer is the easiest source of entertainment. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d much rather watch a Tobuscus Cute-Win-Fail series on YouTube most days than channel surf through the endless crapola that TV executives have determined we want to see. Sure, I love some of the popular dramas: Criminal Minds, House, NCIS, and my guilty pleasure, Grey’s Anatomy. But some of the new “reality” (on what planet?) shows make me want to punch kittens.

My social-less weekend went well! Well enough that it serves as a reminder that I’m more healthy in da brain when I take weekends away from work. Yeah, who would have thought humans weren’t meant to work 7 days a week. (Obviously someone who wasn’t self-employed.)

So I’m feeling recharged and ready to tackle the todo list that’s staring at me from an open file. (Yes, I see you, Word Document. Peering from the task bar. Cheeky bugger.)

One of the things on the agenda is to get ready for a massive giveaway I’m planning for the release of Blood Faerie. I’ll be giving away a Kindle copy to five of my email list subscribers. More details to come later this week (or early next) for how to enter and how to share the contest with your own blog friends.

So, lots to do this week, but I’m feeling recharged and ready to go!

While I’m off doing some werk, here’s a funny for you to enjoy. It cracked me the hell up.

Zoinks! April has been an incredible month. I released my debut novel a month ago, I’m releasing another a month from tomorrow, and it’s been a whirlwind.

Beyond the book releases, some other things of note have happened as well…

1. I’ve met some great new friends through the A-Z challenge, even though I wasn’t very good about posting the entire alphabet. *waves to her new friends*
2. I’ve gotten into my stride with having guest posters on the blog. Are you guys enjoying it? I sure am. The bad news is that I don’t have my schedule completely full for May (lazy me), so we may only have a couple lined up this month. Never fear… I’ll get my act together eventually!
3. I’ve finally taken the time to rearrange some things here on the blog. Now all my books, present and future are arranged neatly under the heading “Fantasy Series” above. You can see all my current projects, although the ones further in the distance aren’t much more than place-holder pages.
4. As of today,you can now read the first chapter of Blood Faerie here. I hope you enjoy it! It’s a bit different from Ordinary Angels… it’s less romance-based, and more supernatural serial-killer.

And, by the way, I want to extend a huge congrats to Talli Roland for getting her Blogger blog back after they decided for some godforsaken reason that it was spam. (I blame her insanely increased activity from the A-Z challenge, since she was a challenge sponsor.) She did very well (read: she was lucky) to get it back in two days. I’ve heard horror stories of some people not getting them back for months. Let this serve as a warning though! Back up your blog!!! Do it every week (at least). Set a reminder on your calendar or to-do list every Sat or Mon or whatever. This way, if the same happens to you, you know you won’t lose all your posts, and should you not get your blog back, you can at least import them into a new blog home (most blog formats will allow you to import saved backups from other blog systems.)

Happy April, everyone! I hope your April was as busy and fun as mine. I can’t wait to see what May brings our way.

As you can tell, I’ve suffered an epic fail on the A-Z front this month. I’ve had some good posts, some fantastic guests, but that every day thing? Um, didn’t happen. It went vaguely … H, I, J, M Q, W… But, some exciting things DID happen this month, so here’s the latest:

1.Son Bear ran really fast in a circle,  garnering his athletics club some league points or something. In addition to running 400m faster than anyone else in the Under 17s group, he also came in second in long jump and shot put. Having never been a very sportsy person myself, I am somewhat in awe of not just his ability, but his desire. Yes, apparantly people run and jump for fun. Go figure.

2. A Certain Highlander is hard at work at a sooper sekrit new service website that will help authors promote their books. Guess he got tired of hearing me whine about how launching a book online was 4890480923 times harder than it should be. I wish he’d hurry the heck up though, because I need it! More deets to come when he’s putting the finishing touches on it. Right now it’s in a skeletal state, but I’m still hopeful it’ll be ready to go in time (ish) for my June launch of Blood Faerie.

3. Speaking of Blood Faerie, it’s back from proofreading, has a shiny new cover, and is just awaiting the final formatting to make it look all fancy in individual eReaders. I am such a tart for book covers… oh, and I have Inspector Dorian Marshall, my hero and the cop-consultant on this book (one of the main characters is a cop, and the story follows his investigation of a very strange serial killer), to thank for the tagline When Magic Crosses the Boundaries.

In addition to all the other amazing things he does, Inspector Marshall is also riding in a torturous 81 mile bike ride for charity. If you’d like to support Macmillan Cancer Support, you can donate on his fundraising page here. You can donate via paypal… any amount is a big help and would be very much appreciated by both myself and the good Inspector. Charities take a big hit when the economy is bad, and Macmillan does important work with people (and their families) who live with cancer.

4. I’m going to be gearing up for my launch of Blood Faerie soon, and although I’m not going to do anything as exhausting elaborate as my Ordinary Angels brouhaha, I am still planning to go forth and spread the word. If you’d like to feature the book on your blog, conduct an interview, or host a giveaway, please do get in touch.

They say April is the cruelest month… how was your April?

Judging books by covers. It’s an expression often used, and we authors often take it literally. I knew one author who had a truly lovely illustration on her cover, yet she would get annoyed when people would compliment her on it at book signings. As much as we authors might wish it isn’t true, people buy books based on covers.

I sympathise. I don’t really like the cover of Ordinary Angels. Oh the woman on the cover is striking. And I would love to have that shirt, although at 41, I wouldn’t walk around with it unbuttoned to my navel (or have a wind machine in my face.) But she doesn’t look like Zoe to me. On the other hand, the woman is SO striking that I do get many many people squeeing over it, and it’s even been added to some people’s “awesome book cover” collections on goodreads and book sites. So, yanno, my publisher might have had a point on that one.

This is why even though she’s not my vision of Zoe, I can live with it, and I actually enjoy the compliments I get on the cover. I didn’t make it, and I might not choose it. but HEY! People are looking at my book! And, well, that might buy me just enough attention that they’ll read my blurb, and if they like the blurb, they’ll maybe download the sample chapter. And on and on…

I confess, I’m a tart for book covers, so I’m no better. I think all of us have gone into a book store, picked up a book with a cover to die for, and just petted it a little. The opposite is true too! I have a book on spiders (research), and I have to keep it on a bookshelf. If I’m using it, it’s always face down. I can’t even touch it. I should have scanned it and put it up on my blog, just so you can see how big, hairy, and scary the cover model is on THAT book. Makes my complaints about the Ordinary Angels model being too pretty seem daft.

Today I’m guest posting on bestselling author Caridad Pinero’s blog about advice for writers–The one and only bit of advice I give these days is three simple words. Go see!

What a fantastic week this has been.With B for Bounce, C for Celebrate, D for Dizzy, E for Elated, and F for Friends, G for Gleeful… well… you can see a pattern here, right?

So yes, H is for Hurrah…. but also hideaway! It’s been a FABULOUS week, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the release of Ordinary Angels… but  I definitely need a day off!!

Here’s a short funny to set the weekend off on a silly note, and a reminder that procrastination is sometimes a good thing… but not always, as this flow chart illustrates. (Click link to see the detail.) Procrastination Flowchart

I’m sure people are getting close to wanting me to shut up about what a great week I’m having. Or not! One of the things I’m so grateful for is how happy for me my friends have been. If you follow this blog regularly, you know I’d much rather write a post mocking some article I read in the newspaper than spend an entire week talking about me me me.

So, I’m closing out my week of Ordinary Angels launch festivities with a post about things I’m glad, grateful, and gleeful about.

I’m glad that the book is getting good reviews. Whew! No matter what any author tells you, there’s a wee voice in all our heads that expects to be pummeled, no matter how hard we work or how much our beta readers loved it.

I’m grateful to the people who’ve touted, tweeted, shouted and shared about my wonderful week.

I’m grateful to a Certain Highlander who made sure I didn’t forget to eat, that I took breaks, and who took me on drives to make sure I saw sunlight occassionally this week. (I still lost 5 pounds this week, but he did have other shit to do sometimes! LOL)

I’m gleeful… well… just in general. People have, yanno, bought the book. I’m published! Wow. Sure, I’d had short stories published before, but a novel… that’s been my dream. Pure bliss. And…. now back to work! I have more books to write!

I’m grateful to Talli Roland, my snark sister, for talking me down off a ledge when things got a little haywire with the initial release on Monday. Nothing like a snark sister to keep things in perspective! “Nobody else cares about this. It really doesn’t matter.” OK, so she was right. But I still have to give her credit. It’s easy to lose perspective in the middle of a whirlwind!

And, to be honest, I’m glad it’s over! This week has been fabulous, scary, full of ups and downs (mostly ups), and something I’ve been looking forward to for ages, but DAMN I’m glad it’s over! I feel great, more confident, walking a little taller and feeling a little less like a wannabe.. but exhausted! I’ve decided to relax as much as I can this weekend, and then next week work on my edits for the next book! It goes for proofreading next, and then formatting! (I know it seems quick, but the publishing process Ordinary Angels went through is sooooo much slower than the indie process, mostly because I am only focused on the books of one author, while my publisher for OA has to focus on dozens.)

Before I go, I wanted to ask a quick favour… and it’ll cost you nothing but about a minute of your time. Would you go to Amazon and click the “like” button on my USA author and book page or the UK author and book page? That’s it! Two clicks! Doing this will help my book come up more often/nearer the top in relevant searches, so I’ll reach more strangers.

Thank you! –Hey! That’s something else to be grateful for. My awesome blogging buddies, writing friends, readers, social-network buds… it’s humbling how ready everyone is to help! *MWAH* Smooches all around!