Special Message from Kia Storm & Rochelle Sampy:
“On behalf of Rochelle and myself, we want to say a big thank you for reading and following us throughout the last few months. Please stick with us because next year is set to be even bigger and better and we can’t wait to reveal all J. So as we get ready for Christmas, I just want to take the time to say a massive Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We love you so much for reading and sticking with us!!!” We are back on the 5th of January, However please check on our last post for the year on branding due out on the 30th of December.”
It’s that time of year again when we can relax and enjoy the holiday cheer. Presents are wrapped, lunch for the big day is being prepared and the children are counting down the days. As well as spending that invaluable time with your family, Christmas can also be a quiet time to reflect on the year gone by. As an author, it can be an important time to think about how you can make the next year even better.
Firstly, just try and relax for most of the time. Being a young author who will achieve success is hard work and you will not receive many relaxation periods such as this. Reconnect with your readers. Ask them what they would like to see from you in the New Year. They will appreciate this and nothing beats an author who cares about their audience. This is your dream and you should make it happen!
Take a look at last year’s strategy for your strengths and weaknesses, if there were any. If you did not have a strategy, it is worth creating one for the next year. Knowing how and when you are going to showcase your writing will help you prioritise and keep to your goals.
I speak from experience when I say that you should only make goals that you can keep. Find ways that you can keep to these goals and try to prevent the possibility of straying away from goals. You don’t want next year to be the same as this one. I’m just saying...
Organising yourself as a young writer is possibly more important than the creative writing process itself. Imagine if you were so busy that you forgot to plan to buy the newest games console for your son at Christmas? Hmmm... I’m not feeling so good just thinking about it!
I often find it useful to create word documents that can track your projects by date, tasks and deadline. Creating scheduled reminders on Outlook can also be useful. Whilst reflecting on the past year, think about your marketing strategy. How successful was your social media/PR strategy in relation to your target market?
Carry on with what worked but rework the part of the strategy that did not do so well. Remember that while you make time for the writing process itself you should also make time for marketing all this great work that you are doing.
How are you goals going to be planned out? Depending on how busy or fast you want to work, goals can be set weekly or monthly. Weekly goals are useful at keeping you at a regular pace while monthly goals are more useful for big projects. Do not feel pressurized to achieve all goals by yourself.
There is only so much you can do and so it is useful to start building up a team of members, if you have not already. Assign them regular tasks and give them a function whether it is marketing or sponsorship. If you are not paying them, make their role as interesting as possible. As well as you achieving your goals for your project, they should also get something unique out of it that they can then share.
Think of new creative strategies that work that will really appeal to readers. Whether it is engaging directly with your target audience through lectures and events, or organising regular Q& A with readers virtually, or video interviews, make sure that your readers see you as distinct from any other author that existed.
Discuss all these new creative possibilities with your team and create new creative campaigns that will keep your regular followers as well as attracting new ones. Set up a system for monitoring these goals so that you can evaluate what you are doing throughout the year.
And now to the fun bit... rewards. When you achieve your goals, remember to reward yourself. This might seem a bit patronising but taking time out from writing in a positive way will really help you push on in achieving success. Have a drink with your friends or do a bit of shopping. Anything that will let your mind now that more of this will be possible if your writing is on track!
Also, connect with other young writers who will also be working hard throughout the year. Speaking or interacting with them will keep you focused and will also be great for venting those frustrations.
No comments:
Post a Comment