Success Markers Update!
SUCCESSTRANSPARENCY
It's been awhile since I really sat down and thought about my goals. I have still be tracking them, ticking them off as I achieve them, and celebrate them. But I have not sat down and considered if these still need to be my goals. Do I need to add new ones, remove some that no longer fit, all that kind of stuff. So this is getting an overhaul from top to bottom.
So I am adding a couple of new categories: Even Longer Term, which are goals that are way, way out there and will take a decade or more to achieve most likely, and Product Goals, which are product types I want to get out. The latter category is less "get out the Crimson Horror Trilogy" and more "get a graphic novel made." Wherever folks consume media, I want to be producing goods to meet them there.
I don't put specific dates on when I want to achieve things by, because life is chaos. I would like to achieve all the short term goals by the end of 2025, but if I don't I'm not gonna sweat it. As long as I am making progress, that is what matters.
Short Term
These are the main goals I am working on currently. Ideally I will achieve all of these within a year. Those in bold I have achieved already.
Get 100 reviews on a book
Do six panels at Dragon Con
Sell 1,000 Books
100,000 KENP - up to over 350k currently.
Have a 1k book launch
Have a 1k month in a non-launch month
Sell 5,000 Books - I don't have an exact number to hand, but I have sold around 4k.
Instagram over 500 likes
Facebook over 1000 follows
250 subscribers to my newsletter
Patreon to 4 Patrons
Longer Term
These are the goals I am hoping to have achieved within the next few years. Call it three to five. Those in bold I have already achieved.
Sell 10,000 books
Sell 50,000 books
Sell 100,000 books
1,000,000 KENP - New goal I am adding. I won't be in kindle unlimited forever, but I can't imagine I would pull out my ebooks from Amazon exclusivity until I hit this goal at minimum.
5,000,000 KENP - New goal I am adding. This one I am less certain about. I could foresee a world where I end up pulling out of kindle unlimited before I hit this point.
Trad Publish - I mean technically I achieved this many years ago with my first deal, but I don't count that. But I have signed contract with Falstaff Books to publish Capital of Nightmares in 2025.
Make 10k in a year - I hit this in 2023, doing a couple hundred over 10k for the year. To clarify, this is gross, not net. Pretty much all of my money just gets plowed right back into the business at this point.
Net 10k in a year - new goal. Similar to the one above, but I want to make 10k after my expenses.
Gross 50k in a year - Splitting my 'make 50k in a year' goal into two. This one is to have 50k in income before expenses.
Net 50k in a year - Splitting my 'make 50k in a year' goal into two. This one is to make 50k after expenses.
Combines socials over 5k follows - I am taking a few goals and merging them into one. Rather than track instagram, facebook, threads, etc as individual goals, I am instead just tracking the total number of followers I have across my platforms.
Combined socials over 10k follows - new goal, expanding on the previous.
1,000 Reviews on a book
Over 100 reviews each on at least 10 books - I don't even have ten books out yet, but 3 of the Jubal County Saga have broke 100 reviews.
Write a script and shop it around - I didn't write the script, but there is a pilot being shopped around currently for a Jubal County show.
Have a script optioned - a new goal, to have (ideally the current) script optioned by a production company.
1,000 subscribers to my newsletter
5,000 subscribers to my newsletter
Patreon to 20 - I am getting close to this one! I have 16!
Enough Patrons on Patreon to cover my fixed monthly expenses - new goal, I am roughly halfway there (I need to be getting about 70 bucks a month from Patreon to achieve this).
Be asked to blurb a book - This actually has happened five or six times now, and I have been able to do three of them. I also got asked to write a forward. What a world we live in.
Even Longer Term Goals
These are big, huge goals. Goals that are 10 years out or more. Many are ego driven.
Have a book or series turned into a show or film.
Be a Guest at Dragon Con - I've been an attending pro, this is the next step up.
Be the Literary Guest of Honor at a mid size convention.
Be given an award I did not have to apply for. Ideally something based around my career as an author. Even more ideally a trophy of some sort.
Have 50k combined followers across my social media platforms.
The Final Goal
This becomes my full time job.
Soft Goals
These are weird goals I have no control over. Those in bold have occurred.
Rule 34
Fan Fiction
Fan Tattoo
Fan Cosplay - Happened for the first time at Alabama Comic Con 2023
Fan Art - A fan (St. Dino) actually commissioned a whole ass painting of Horace.
Product Goals
These are products that I want to create in the coming years.
Graphic Novel/Comic
Short Films
Audiobooks for all books
Translations of my books
Removed Goals
These are goals I have removed, with the rationale for that.
Get an agent - I had this because I was pretty sure I would need one to eventually get trad published. But then my deal with Falstaff happened, so this isn't really a goal I am thinking about anymore. That may change. I could foresee a point where it makes sense to add someone to my team who would handle agent type things, like if my books were getting optioned, or Orbit came knocking, things like that. But for now, I'm striking it from the list.
