May came, May went.

We won’t see May for another year. It’s been a surprisingly warm one for the sunny Gold Coast. It’s the end of Autumn at this part of the world but the temps have been sitting in the mid-20’s and dropping down to 15 at night (Celsius not Fahrenheit).

How was your May? Did you achieve your goals? Is there anything you wish you did differently that you’ll try in June?

May didn’t go according to plan. I set high expectations and,well, life including work, parenting, training for a marathon, exhaustion, socialising and a holiday got in the way of getting everything done. Ok, ok, I know, these are just excuses.

My main goal for May was to publish my third book, a novella, Lethal Aftershock. And I did that.

My secondary goal was to relax and have fun on my holiday to Fiji. I definitely did that. Maybe a little too much.

I took my laptop to get some writing done in between the sunbathing, drinking, running after my son in and out of the pool, paddle boarding, catching up on reading, eating and sleeping. Who was I kidding, I was in Fiji! Other than a few notes and questions that need to be answered in the next book, I didn’t do any writing until I got on the return flight and my brain started to work again.

Rest is a necessity. Sometimes working throughout a holiday is fantastic, at other times you need to stop, think about nothing and reset your brain. That’s what I did and it was worth it.

I’ve returned refreshed and ready to get back to work. I have learnt that I need to have a break otherwise I will burn out. My day job is mentally draining as is writing books. One deals with numbers, the other creativity. the end of the day, I am knackered.

I’ve found exercise is the best way to separate the two. A quick run or some weight training works wonders and makes the transition from day job to writing much smoother. If you need to jump from different activities a bit of exercise can make you more productive.

These were my goals for May, how did I fare. I’ll give myself a 5.5/10.

May Goals & Progress Report

1. Publish Lethal Aftershock – YES!
2. Write and schedule two months of blog posts. – YES!
3. Send out 30 pitches. – No 🙁 Didn’t send any in May.
4. Affiliates. No 🙁
5. Run more. YES! Running about 3 times per week!
6. Sell and giveaway 500 books. No 🙁 I gave away 18 and sold 8.
7. Get 20 email sign ups. No 🙁 Currently sitting on 9.

The giveaway was a surprise. The last time I ran a free giveaway, I offloaded over 100 books without any promotions. 18 is a very disappointing number and I’m wondering what went wrong. I think the day I ran the promotion has something to do with it as did my lack of marketing.

This time around I ran the two-day giveaway on Monday and Tuesday. The only promo I did was mention it on Twitter once. The purpose of the giveaway is to attract readers and without marketing that just ain’t going to happen. Writing and they will come is not a good marketing strategy.

My first year was all about writing. The second year will be a combination of writing and marketing. I have grand goals, the only ones that are actually within my control are the productivity output. I control how much I write and what I write.

Writing is solitary but selling is a social activity. You need to connect with people in order to be successful.

Build relationships, help others, be of use, and quit bullshitting yourself.

Business By The Numbers In May 2016

Queries sent: 0

Responses: 0

Accepted: 0

Follow ups: 0

Income: $0

Books sold: 8 (Australia, US and Germany)

Books Given Away: 18

Income: $ $8.94

Total writing income: $8.94

June Goals

1. Finish writing Lethal Attraction, the fourth book in the Lexi Ryder Crime Thriller series. I’ve got the skeleton down, now I just need to flesh the story out.
2. Try Facebook ads. My initial budget will be $100.
3. Be active on Goodreads. That’s very broad. I need to connect with more people (aiming for 10 in June). I also would like to join a discussion group. To date my usage involves adding books to my ‘to read’ list, writing reviews of books I really enjoy, etc.
4. Finish the preliminary draft of a non-fiction book – Writerly Pursuits – this is a book for writers.
5. Sell 100 books. This would be a sweet number. In order to do so, I need to work on my marketing skills!
6. Submit 30 pitches for non-fiction work – personal finance, health & fitness, parenting, business, etc. Time to earn some extra cash to cover the costs of cover design and editing of book number four.
7. Translate chapter one of Lethal Instincts into Polish. This is a personal goal. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. Fortunately the first chapter is nice and short!
8. Start being more active in my social media groups. Comment on Facebook groups, be supportive of other writers, get onto Twitter and Instagram. The aim is to spend 5-10 minutes a day on each social media platform.
9. Comment on three writers websites three times per week.
10. Try my hand at podcasting/skype interview. I have someone I want to interview, and they have agreed to it. I’m about two months behind schedule and hoping they can still fit me in. So I need to figure out how to record on Skype, boost my confidence, and get interviewing!
11. Get 20 email sign ups. This is a repeat from last month. Having an email list is very important, you just don’t know when platforms like Amazon are going to change their rules.

How was your May?

Did you achieve your personal and business goals?