I had so many goals going into 2021. I’d fleshed out several series that I felt were on-trend and were ideal for “writing to market” I was still waiting for the 1 year pre-sale penalty to be lifted off of my account because I was unable to be creative during 2020 and had cancelled all of my books one time too many. Then, in 2021 I was emotionally traumatized by the Coup attempt and just trying to get myself focused on growing my author business in addition to the other parts of my digital business. 2021 actually ended up being a banner year for every aspect of my online business except for my romance books and I have some thoughts about what did and didn’t work as we go into 2022.

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Listen to the Episode

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Show Notes

• When I published my first series, I had a surprising amount of success as I looked at it. And, by success, I mean-I actually made solid money in the first year of publishing.

• I really loved creating stories that featured Black women and men who loved them. There was nothing better than thinking about their careers, the worlds that that they lived in and the journeys that go on to fall in love.

• Then 2020 happened and it really impacted my ability to write creatively. Ironically, the other parts of my digital business unrelated writing romance really took off. I won awards, I earned significantly more money and I have become known as a trusted resource in that space.

• Around March of 2021, I decided it was time to start working on my books again and around that time I also decided to create this podcast as well.

• Then, I began attending conferences. All those conferences that had been postponed in 2020 were being held in late summer and fall of 2021 and all of that travel unsettled me and killed my creativity.

• I found myself rushing and writing 9, yes 9, books this fall because I planned badly.

10 Lessons Learned

• This was a bit of a disaster BUT I did end up with 9 books basically completed. None of them had covers and what surprised me is that the books still sold. NO, they didn’t sell at a rate that they would have if I’d had covers and focused on marketing them. But, they DID sell. So, if you’re a would be author get your book done.

• I decided to pull all of my 2021 books off of Amazon and will rebrand the books, add covers and relaunch them in 2022.

• Initially, I was kind of depressed about how 2021 worked out. Now, I’m really excited about 2022 because I now have the time to focus on the work that I did during the past year and really market it so that I can make sales.

• I’m also able to start working on my series for 2023 now.

• Finally, I’ve decided to launch a new pen name in the Reverse Harem world. The pen name will be kept privately and I’m currently finalizing the series concept and I’ll keep you posted on how everything goes.

• 10 Lessons learned:
  • Done is better than perfect
  • The Pandemic has impacted my pacing with projects in general and I have to give myself more time for my all of my projects. I’m just moving slower than before and needing more time to take action.
  • It’s important to be ahead of my projects regardless of what they are.
  • There’s always a new opportunity.
  • Everything will work out. The lessons that I learned from the past two years will have a positive impact on my business moving forward.
  • Focus on the long-term. I’m not trying to have quick wins that aren’t sustainable. I’m working on long-term wins that keep my business afloat for years.
  • There’s more than one way to make connections and uplift others in this space if you can’t go to conferences. I love the conversations that I have on this podcast and they’ve been a great way for me to connect with other authors writing stories that feature Black and brown characters.
  • Have more than one income stream so that it balances out the pressure to earn. There are times when your books don’t sell. In my case, the other parts of my business have become increasingly lucrative and that takes some of the pressure off for these books to sell now.
  • Don’t undervalue your book cost. I sell all of my books for a minimum of $2.99. That is a dollar less on average than a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop here in my town.
  • Each new book that you work on will typically be better than the last one. So keep writing!

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