Tag: New Years

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Goals Check-In

February 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed, Writing tagged as #writing, goals, new release, New Years

Happy February. Happy Love Month. Happy Valentine’s Day or Galentine’s Day.

Let’s get to it. Last month I made a bold post and shared some of my goals with you. I did this because I felt the accountability would help me achieve them.

Here are my goals:
Get my letters
Triple my income
Triple my mailing list
Master Facebook ads
Update covers
Learn how to write a sellable blurb
Use Ingram Spark
Direct distribution
Increase my prices

As of this post, I’ve completed one goal…Increase my prices. I was a little nervous about raising my prices because I didn’t think readers would be receptive to the increase on the smaller books. So far, there hasn’t been any negative feedback. Raising my prices also helps with tripling my income.

My strategy for tripling my income, is Facebook ads. Last year, I took Skye Warren’s Facebook Ads Intensive and did well. I still haven’t reached the sales goal I desire, but that will come in time. 2020 wasn’t a good sales year for me. I can’t blame the poor sales on the pandemic because I didn’t release anything new. Nor did I push my back list.

Last year, I released one book prior to doing the Ads Intensive. I really wish I’d known about the Intensive sooner, because I think the first half of the year would have turned out differently. I ended last year by multiplying my income by 4.8 times.

Fast forward to 2022 and a price increase across the board…I made all of my ebooks $4.99. This bold move helped to boost my income by 39% as of this post. Meaning I already made February 2021s income. Grant it, I had a release on February 2nd with the majority of the preorders paid out on that day.

In addition to Facebook Ads, I’m also doing BookBub ads. I turned off my AMS ad because they weren’t working. I heard Amazon doesn’t like racy covers, which could explain why the ads performed so poorly. However, the FB ads, have been consistently making the daily spend back…plus or minus two dollars. So far, I’m ahead and considering increasing my ad spend. I have a BookBub New Release For Less ad scheduled for February 8th. The tails will determine when I increase my FB ad spend.

To summarize, increasing my prices and running facebook ads are pushing me towards my goal of tripling my income.

Update my covers. I don’t have as many to update as I thought. I have seven covers I need to update and two are almost complete. I also have four I’m on the fence about. This project is time consuming because it’s not just the cover, but the chapter headers as well. Thank God for Vellum because it makes creating print copies easy.

I need to add one additional goal. Offer all books in large print. I have one live already, The Good Girl Part One. If you haven’t done large print, I recommend doing so.

The other goal I forgot to list was my new release goals. I went super bold and set up preorders for three books this year. Setting up Amazon preorders was a way to make sure I fulfilled this goal. I don’t want to end up in preorder jail, so I have to keep this goal. I am so grateful Amazon offers an extension without penalty which I am taking advantage of.

One goal down, ten to go. How are you doing with your goals?

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The Last Month of the Year by Linda O Johnston

December 6, 2021 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as December, ideas, Linda O. Johnston, Looking back, New Years

Yes, it’s December, the last month of the year. Where did the rest of the year go?

Have any of you started looking back? It’s early in December, yes, but it won’t be long before the new year starts.

What have you worked on this year? What have you accomplished? What haven’t you finished that you want to work on next year?

If you’re a writer, did you write what you set out to do? Did you come up with new ideas, and if so did you accomplish them, or at least start them?

If you’re a reader, did you read all the books you intended? Did you learn about new books or new authors you’d like to read, and if so have you read any of them?

In the rest of your life, did you have fun with family? Do you have more plans for the holiday season? Any ideas about next year?

Me? Well, I haven’t finished all I intended, but it’s been a good year for me. I had two new books published and have more to come in the next few years, some of which I’ve started writing and others I completed and am just waiting till their publication dates. I have a manuscript almost ready to send, and another one in which I’m part way through the first draft.

I had a good year in things besides writing. I saw family, had a fun Thanksgiving, made plans for some trips next year, and had fun with my husband and dog. We also lost one of our dogs, which is always so sad, but she was having health issues.

Next year? Well, I’ve started to consider it. How about you?