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In this solo episode, Mark takes a look at his 2018 writing and publishing goals and shares the hits, the misses, and the alterations that took place in the past twelve months.
He feels it is important to remind writers that if they are already beating themselves up for not completing all the previous year’s goals, that he didn’t hit all his goals; that he failed at most of them; that he screwed up along the way; that he made mistakes. But also that he adapted several of the goals he’d set as I went along. And he inserted new goals mid-year.
That can happen. It will happen. It’s how you deal with those changes that can make the difference between seeing it as a complete failure, or seeing it as an ongoing work in progress.
Mark then says a word about this episode’s sponsor, Findaway Voices . . .
Mark first talks about the goals he had set at the beginning of 2018 and how he did with them:
1) Write a non-fiction book called INDIE PUBLISHING INSIDER SECRETS
2) Finish the sequel to A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK
3) Finish the sequel to EVASION
4) Pitch and write a traditionally published book SPIRITS UNTAPPED – to Dundurn
5) Compile a new full book short story collection
6) Stay retired
He then shares a number of goals for 2019:
1) Publish Audiobook for 7 P’s of Publishing Success
2) Publish Audiobook for Killing It on Kobo
3) Finish writing and Publish eBook/Print and audio for Indie Publishing Insider Secrets
4) Publish Audiobook for ACWWINY
5) Publish Audiobook for I, DEATH
6) Publish Audiobook for ONE HAND SCREAMING (story collection)
7) Write and release SCREAMING SKULLS: And Other Haunted Objects in eBook/print and audio
8) Finish the first draft of FEAR AND LONGING IN LOS ANGELES
9) Book new speaking gigs – Ideally, another keynote either in the last half of 2019 or the first half of 2020
Mark also shares his 2018 eBook sales percentages:
| Kindle – | 45.97% |
| Kobo | 20.68% |
| StoryBundle | 20.27% |
| BundleRabbit | 6.80% |
| Apple | 3.25% |
| Nook | 2.30% |
| Direct Sales | 0.30% |
| 0.21% | |
| Scribd | 0.12% |
| Tolino | 0.06% |
| Smashwords | 0.04% |
Mark comments on the importance of Kindle being less than half of his income, and is happy that, though it is a significant percentage, that 54% of his sales come from multiple sources.
He also reflects on how the #3 and #4 platforms were BundleRabbit and StoryBundle – two collaborative publishing platforms.
Mark talks about what he achieved and what he didn’t achieve in 2018. He talks about what he did well and what he didn’t do well.
He also mentions a few of the accomplishments, which did include publishing a few full sized books, 8 eBooks and a traditionally published book in 2018.
Mark closes off the podcast by reminding writers of the importance of focusing on the forward momentum made, even where a goal wasn’t completed. If there was forward momentum, even a little bit, that is a step in the right direction.
Links of Interest:
- Episode 49 – Rambling Across America with Tommy Ray
- Episode 9 – Collaborative Publishing with BundleRabbit (with Chuck Heintzleman)
- Episode 27 – Jamie Ferguson on Bundles, Curation, and Collaboration
- Article with a short video of Mark’s 2014 Talk on The Future of Publishing (Hint, Hint – It’s About Collaboration)
- BundleRabbit
- The Books Gone Bad Bundle
- The Crimes, Capers and Rule-Breakers Bundle
- The Haunted Bundle
- Amazing Monster Tales (An Anthology published using BundleRabbit)
- StoryBundle
- Draft2Digital Announces Shared Accounts
- Findaway Voices
- Mark’s Books
- The 7 P’s of Publishing Success
- Killing It On Kobo
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Stark Reflections Survey
