With the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, I’ve been reading lots of posts from fellow authors about all the books they’ve written and published last year.  They made me feel inadequate, like I’d been sloughing off all year.  What had I accomplished?  Nothing, I told myself.  At least not what I wanted.

Then, this morning, I received a PM from a new author I met last year.  She asked some advice, then proceeded to compliment me on all the energy I had last year to not only write and promote my books, but the reading and reviewing of indie books.  And that got me thinking.  She was right.

No, I didn’t write a kazillon books in one year.  But I did do what I wanted.  My goal was to promote fellow indie authors.  And that’s just what I did.  I started my blog on Blogger, but as it grew, I didn’t like the way it looked, so I revamped it.  But I still wasn’t happy, as Blogger inflates the hits to our sites, and I just couldn’t get the followers  Only one in 1 1/2 years.  Not good stats.  So, I switched everything over to WordPress and I now have 69 followers.

But it’s more than just my blog, it’s what I did with my blog.  I posted book reviews, author and character interviews, chapter excepts, and new releases.  These all take time to set-up and publish, usually two or more hours.  Like this post, for instance.  So, yes, I’m proud of what I did for my fellow indie authors last year.

That was just my blog.  What about my own books?  My writing? I hate to admit this, but when I published The Secret of Excalibur, I couldn’t afford to have it edited, so my publisher released it with a lot of errors. In April, I had it edited and I then sent my book to Readers’ Favorite, where it earned two 5 star reviews, plus one 4 star.  It also became an Amazon Bestseller, hitting #1 in it’s Arthurian category.  This book still sits in the top 100 list for that category.

I also had it turned into audiobook format, narrated by the very talented Lynn Roberts.  He’s currently working on the audiobook for We Journey No More.

Speaking of We Journey No More, that was published by Creativia in August.  I did submit it to Readers’ Favorite, and though it didn’t earn any 5 star reviews, it had three very solid 4 star ones.  It hasn’t hit the Amazon Bestseller spot YET, but it does go on promotion tomorrow.  So, I’m crossing my fingers and toes.  I just love this book cover.  Thank you, Creativia.

I also re-did my book cover for It Lives in the Basement, and had this one edited too.  After that, I sent it to Readers’ Favorite, where it earned two very fabulous 5 star reviews.  I self-published this book, and I just don’t have the marketing skills required to get it noticed.  So, I sent it to my publisher to see if they will re-publish under their name.  I should be hearing back from them next week.  I hope.

Back in November, I was approached about contributing a short story for a Christmas anthology.  Bob had no short Christmas stories, and I really wanted to prove that, Yes, I am a writer, so I went to bed, telling myself to wake up with a story.  And I did.  Silent Night is my contribution to Mistletoe Magic, which is free and can be enjoyed no matter what time of the year.

Bear in mind, I also work a full-time job, which are 10 hour days, plus my bus trip.  Fun, fun.

So, my goals for this year?  To finish the second book of my Excalibur series.  I want it ready for publication by the end of February, if not sooner.  Hopefully have the 3rd one done by the end of the year.  Get all my short stories into a free anthology, work at different marketing strategies, finish learning Photoshop, and most of all, keep promoting indie authors.

Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year, and I hope you meet all your goals.