The Author Thing (Alissa Grosso)
In January, when the year was still shiny and new, my goal was to focus more on doing the author thing in 2018, and now it's time to look back on the year that was to see how well I did at sticking to my goals.
I'm happy to report that I feel like I did a better job this year at making more time for writing. It's always a struggle for me to balance my creative work with the work that actually earns me a living. I made an effort this year to be better about finding this balance, and I'm happy with the results.
Back in January, I said that I wanted to self-publish two books this year, and I'm very happy to report that I achieved this.
In April my first self-published novel, Unnamed Roads came out. Publishing this YA novel, proved that I still had a LOT to learn about the business of independently publishing books, but I also think it was a good opportunity for me to learn some of the ropes of self publishing.
I said at the beginning of the year that I also wanted to publish an adult novel.
In October I released my debut adult novel, Girl Most Likely to Succeed. Shifting genres and audience, was a big change for me, but I'm very happy with how things turned out, and I was able to take some of the things I learned from self publishing Unnamed Roads and apply it to the publication of Girl Most Likely to Succeed, though I should point out I am still learning all sorts of things.
In one small way I actually exceeded my goals for the year because I published a third book this year as well.
I'm happy to report that I feel like I did a better job this year at making more time for writing. It's always a struggle for me to balance my creative work with the work that actually earns me a living. I made an effort this year to be better about finding this balance, and I'm happy with the results.
Back in January, I said that I wanted to self-publish two books this year, and I'm very happy to report that I achieved this.
In April my first self-published novel, Unnamed Roads came out. Publishing this YA novel, proved that I still had a LOT to learn about the business of independently publishing books, but I also think it was a good opportunity for me to learn some of the ropes of self publishing.
I said at the beginning of the year that I also wanted to publish an adult novel.
In October I released my debut adult novel, Girl Most Likely to Succeed. Shifting genres and audience, was a big change for me, but I'm very happy with how things turned out, and I was able to take some of the things I learned from self publishing Unnamed Roads and apply it to the publication of Girl Most Likely to Succeed, though I should point out I am still learning all sorts of things.
In one small way I actually exceeded my goals for the year because I published a third book this year as well.
Okay, technically In the Bag is a novella as opposed to a full length novel, but I'm still proud of myself for squeezing one extra book into my production schedule. Like Girl Most Likely to Succeed this is in the adult thriller genre.
So, with all these books out this year, I must be raking in the money, right? Well, not exactly. I still have a lot to learn about being profitable at this self-publishing thing.
In my defense, when I set out my goals for the year, I didn't anticipate turning a profit this year with my writing, but 2019? Well, we'll just have to see what the future holds.
Alissa Grosso shares more details about her author life and business on her Awkward Author vlog and podcast. Find out more about her and her books at alissagrosso.com.
high five on 3 published projects!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on #3 for the year! And I really enjoyed UNNAMED ROADS.
ReplyDeleteWell done. I thoroughly enjoyed Unnamed Roads and Girl Most Likely is waiting in my TBR pile.
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