The past two weeks I’ve shared with you my decision to be an Indie Author. In Part 1, I broke down the main ways writers can become published authors these days. As I said, some of the definitions vary depending on who’s giving you the details; but I hope I gave you the gist of each! In Part 2, I shared with you why I decided becoming an Indie Author is the right path for me. So, today, I’m wrapping up with some of my Indie Author goals for this year in light of this new business plan and how I plan to achieve them.

If you remember back a few weeks, I wrote about how I make goals instead of resolutions. I shared my thoughts on why so many people set resolutions on January 1 and can’t even remember what they were by February 1. In a nutshell, it’s all about setting mini-goals underneath each major goal for the year. Each major goal I’ve set for myself this year has a whole host of mini-goals underneath them. So, instead of overwhelming myself with those huge dragon-size goals, I’m going to take one mini-goal at a time and set a plan and schedule in place to accomplish each one.

I have set some lofty Indie Author goals for myself for 2018. The ones I’m sharing with you are the major goals I mentioned. They’re the iceberg above the water, if you will. As the year progresses, I’m planning some blog posts dedicated to my writing process and what I’m working on at the time. In those posts, I will share more about the mini-goals and how I set up schedules to achieve them.

Without further ado, here are my top 6 dragon-size goals for 2018:

1. Complete Ashlee’s Book.

I look forward to sharing more on this one as the year goes!

2. Continue world-building for my epic fantasy with the goal to begin in-depth writing by the end of 2018.

As the name implies, “epic” ain’t gonna get written quickly! This book (or books) will take years, perhaps decades. As I already explained, successful Indie Authors put out multiple books every year, though. So, this leads to …

3. Write one or two other novels this year.

This seems impossible, but it’s not. And, as an Indie, this is the challenge I chose. I look forward to sharing more details on this as my plans solidify. I do hope to increase this number next year, but I want to start right and not too quickly.

4. Write one short story and revise one short story every month … and submit at least some!

I have a few reasons for this goal. First, I want to improve my writing skills and explore different styles in a shorter form. In the story I’m revising this month, I worked on utilizing dialect. I’ve learned what NOT to do, for sure!

Second, I want to have some work I’m proud of but also willing to give away to my faithful subscribers.

Third, I look forward to developing my fantasy world and its characters in shorter forms that I can share and/or use to guide me as I work toward my ultimate fantasy novel goals.

And, finally, you did read that right; I plan to submit these stories. I would love to see my work in literary journals one day or perhaps an anthology. The recognition and wider audience would aid me a great deal in building a readership for my books.

5. Continue my weekly blog posts and newsletters.

I’m thrilled that my words here have been beneficial to others, and I’m so thankful for my Fellowship of subscribers and readers who have supported me in these early days. I look forward to gathering feedback on how I can improve and what content YOU want to see.

6. Monetize my blog.

In order to fulfill my top three goals, I’m not taking new clients this year. I would like to find other ways to contribute financially to my family. I recently became an Amazon Affiliate and I’d love to see that become profitable for us. I just learned about another affiliate opportunity where I can offer you direct bookstore links on my site. So, that is on my list to research.

Another desire of mine is to produce an e-book which could lead into an online course on a particular aspect of the writing process I believe I can help other writers improve. That may not happen this year, but it’s coming!

I’d love any other suggestions for ways I can bring in some money as well … while still giving myself ample writing time!

Thank you for reading my ramblings through this three-part series! I would appreciate any suggestions or advice you may have for my Indie Author goals. Readers, who are some Indie Authors you love? Writers, I’d love to hear which path you chose/chose you and why! Leave me some notes below!

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