Two months remain in 2024. Although I didn’t get to finish as many goals as I wanted to this year, I have accomplished quite a bit. I’m sure next year is going to be far better all things considered, but there are so many things we can still accomplish.
In the grand scheme of things, two months is still quite a bit of time. While some people take the holidays to relax and unwind, I tend to dial things up a bit so I can hit the next year running.
There’s nothing wrong if you decide to take some time off. We all need to take a breath once in a while. Nonetheless, I’m going to push to get a few things wrapped up before 2025 starts.
Goals for the Blogs
I have several blogs that I would love to work on. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do everything I would like and have decided that I am definitely spread too thin.
So, I’ve started focusing on WriterSanctuary and building it up. As soon as it can get to a place to afford to hire some help, then I’ll move on to the next.
But in the meantime…
Maintain the Schedule
The blog has been on a regular Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule for a couple of months now. Although a lot of the content probably won’t see traction in Google until around January or February, at least it’s done and available.
For the most part, building up a successful blog is about playing the long game. Sure, there are people out there who can make it seem quick and easy. But unless you have the bankroll for writers, have time to market, and have the time to research, blogging can seem exceptionally difficult.
This has been the longest that I’ve been able to maintain a writing schedule for quite some time. This, in itself, is quite an accomplishment for me.
Review More Products
Reviews are among the most effective types of content. That’s because the majority of consumers read reviews before making a purchase. If you put a good review together on your blog, it can bring in quite a few people.
In fact, six of the top 10 posts on this website for the past 28 days are reviews.
If you plan on adding affiliate links and banners to your blog, reviews can help generate some income. Visitors come in, see what you have to say about a product or service, and then potentially click the call-to-action with your tracking link to buy it.
It’s a bit more involved, but that is the gist of how affiliate marketing works. And I would love to see if I can make a few extra bucks each month.
Setting Up the Bookstore?
I’ve been toying with adding an actual bookstore to MichaelBrockbank.com to help sell my books. The only reason I haven’t is because of time constraints. Currently, all the links point to the Amazon page.
Technically, this wouldn’t be the first time I had an online store. When I ran the computer center, our small store generated more than $3,000 per month in sales from online transactions. Keep in mind this store was in a town of 250 people.
Of course, success of the bookstore would require a great deal of marketing and promotional materials. And that will take more time and money. So, we’ll see if I can get the goal done before the end of the year, but it has an asterisk.
Goals for the Books
If I were to stop writing today for the rest of 2024, I’d still have more time logged into writing my books than I did last year. The goal was to publish three books this year, but I’ve changed that to just writing the first drafts.
That’s because I’ve had a lot of expenses I wasn’t planning on and had a hard time trying to manage a lot of things in my life. It was a pretty screwed-up year, but still productive.
Finish Two More First Drafts
Technically, I am about two to three weeks away from finishing the first draft of Fury, the sequel to Kingmaker. And I am roughly halfway through re-writing VII on Wattpad, something I wanted to finish this year.
With two months to go, I’m going to be cutting it exceptionally close. Right now, I am working on getting Shadows of Atlantic City published in the next few weeks. If all goes well, I can have Shadows published and Fury written before the end of the month.
Yet, I’m not going to sacrifice quality for quantity. I’m not going to just slap words into a story just because I want to hit some self-imposed deadline. I’d rather it be a good book than a rushed book.
Publish Shadows of Atlantic City
As I said, I am working on publishing my next book, Shadows of Atlantic City. I am wrapping up the edits and we’re looking for cover art. This time, I’m also getting my own ISBNs so I can make a few blog posts and videos about the experience.
Although I am 99% positive the book will be out before Christmas, life has a way of intervening. So, it’s still a goal, albeit close to a guarantee.
Find More Author Events
My first author event, Read Between the Stars, was a lot of fun. I met some great people and it was easily the best $20 I’ve spent in quite some time. I even sold enough books to cover the table fee.
What I would like to do is build a massive database of every event like this across the United States. But like the bookstore, that would require a bit of time and money.
Still, I would like to do more of these events in the near future. Not just because I sold more books in one day than I have all year online, but because the people who attended were awesome and I quite enjoyed the experience.
Goals for YouTube
I am very close to monetizing the YouTube channel with ad revenue. I know I’m probably not going to make more than about $160 per month in the very beginning. But that $160 will allow me to hire a writer or two for the other blogs.
Of course, that’s also assuming that AdSense for YouTube has a similar RPM of AdSense for blogging.
At the current level of growth, I should be able to apply for monetization the week ending December 17th. That’s because I am just shy of the 4,000 hours of watch time needed for the Partner Program. Let’s see if I can cut some of that time down.
Three Videos Per Week
Like the blog, I’d love to have the YouTube channel on a similar schedule of three videos per week. What’s funny is that the blog and YouTube channel generate roughly the same amount of traffic.
Writing channels just aren’t as popular as some of the other niches on YouTube. At least some of the newer videos finally pushed the Textbroker content off of the top 10 for the channel (long story).
The hard part is finding a moment to record. Since I am out in the open, everyone often walks through or constantly asks me questions throughout the day. I need to find a time that is ideal to record the videos when everyone else is gone.
More Writing Sprints
There’s no doubt that the writing sprints have made one of the biggest impacts on when I can monetize. I don’t get a lot of viewers from day to day, but it’s enough watch time to keep the channel growing in terms of watch time.
Of course, the primary focus of the writing sprints is to give me a two-hour block of time each day to finish writing and publishing my books. And they have been an incredible help in that regard.
In reality, if I had kept the sprints going through the summer, the channel would probably have monetization by now.
Market Author Interviews
I have a few author interviews coming up this month, but I would love to keep them going every other week. I mention it often, but I probably could do more to market the interviews.
A lot of them generate far more viewership than any of my other live streams, so they are worth the time to set up. Now that I’m using the premium version of Buffer, I can at least schedule social posts for the interview contact form more often.
It’s not just the watch time I’m after with the author interviews. I’ve met some amazing people thus far and look forward to having them back on the show in the future.
Planning for 2025
Of course, now that it’s November, it’s time to start thinking about my goals for next year. I also spend time setting up the new spreadsheet.
The goals I often set are relevant to how the current year has progressed. Then, I try to put them into practice before January 1st to make sure that I’m not biting off more than I can chew.
So, what are some of the things I’m considering for 2025?
- Time instead of word count.
When editing, I don’t write nearly as much as I do when writing a first draft. So, I’m not cranking out the numbers for certain word count goals. I should focus more on quality time with my books. - Attending at least five author events.
I wanted to do three events this year, but things kind of derailed a bit. Still, I am fairly confident I can do five next year, as long as I can find them and remember to go. - 90% Time Efficiency
Here is where my dorkness shines through. I keep track of every minute I spend on all my various projects. It’s kind of like my “work day.” I want to hit 90% of my day throughout the year. That means actually working 90% of the 8-hour shift I have allotted myself. That is going to be exceptionally difficult considering just how chaotic my life is at the moment. - 450 Visits Per Day
Normally, I don’t use traffic or income as goals. You can’t force people to read your content or buy your goods. It’s the things that are involved in hitting traffic numbers that will drive it. This includes writing more quality content, marketing goals, and audience engagement. So, it’s like having four or five goals rolled into one. Kinda. - 10 Affiliates
I would like to do more affiliate marketing for both the blog and YouTube channel. So, I am going to look for 10 affiliates for each. This isn’t as easy as it sounds because I don’t just sponsor any product or service. I have a strong moral compass and won’t push something just because there is a dollar amount tied to it.
These are just the tentative goals I have for 2025. Throughout November and December, I’ll spend time fine-tuning them to come up with a solid plan for the next year.
How Are You Ending 2024?
It’s OK if you’re taking it easy to wind down the year. As I said, we all need breaks to recharge our batteries. Going at full speed non-stop is a good way to burn out your engine. When you start hitting that red line, you gotta let off the gas to spare yourself.
For me, I’ve hit so many speed bumps in 2024, I can’t even get my engine out of second gear.
In any case, I plan on ending 2024 on a high note. Attending Read Between the Stars was one of the highlights of my year. So, technically, I’m already ending it better than I started.
Let’s see if I can keep the momentum going.
- How to Write, Edit, and Publish a Decent Book for Free - December 2, 2024
- Breaking My Record of 95,393 Words in a Single Month - November 29, 2024
- How Long Does It Realy Take to Write a Good Book? - November 27, 2024