We’re three months into the year already (how?), so I thought I’d do a little review of how my goals have been going.
Towards the end of last year, I put together a post with some ideas about things I want to focus on this year, which you can read below:
I also made a little mood board and a fun little bingo card of specific things I’d like to do (if you want to create your own, that link will take you to a Canva template to set it up! Just make a copy and edit away).
On my Bingo card, I have 20 things that I would love to do by the end of the year. Here’s how 5 of those things are going, plus a bonus 6th for paid subscribers…
Actually use my TikTok account
At the end of last year, I was really enjoying using my Instagram account, and was putting more energy into that. I have slowed down a little bit here, posting 3-4 times a week instead of every day, and I’ve been sharing content on TikTok, too.
Truthfully, I cannot say I am setting the TikTok world alight. I have 210 followers, and my videos get around 200-300 views each. My most viewed post is one about my cat.
I have two blocks around TikTok. The first is that I actively don’t want to go viral - my skin is not thick enough for it! Instead I’m connecting with a small number of people and really enjoying their content, and hopefully they’re enjoying mine. I would definitely like to reach a slightly larger number, but…
My second block is that my energy to talk about marketing comes in fits and starts. Sometimes I’ll share 3 posts a day about author marketing, sometimes I’ll share one post a week and the rest of my content will be about whatever is on my mind at the time. That’s not really ideal. I don’t think TikTok really gets who I am yet as a result.
My next step is to start batching this content a little bit more, and create a content plan. I did this when I first started and it made a huge difference, but I’ve already fallen out of the habit as my work has gotten busier.
An ongoing project.
Start building up paid subscribers on Substack
Again, this isn’t something I am making hundreds of thousands of pounds from. I love writing this newsletter, and the people who have joined me as paid subscribers get a little bit more personal (to them) posts, as well as more personal (to me) behind-the-scenes content. I am hugely grateful to them for joining me and am really proud of the small number I have.
Side note on Substack and focusing your energy
As Substack becomes more like a social media platform, I’m liking it less. I really like the email side of things (and still need to write a ‘lessons from Substack’ post - it’s coming!)
I love the built-in referrals - I’ve had so many new followers from this - and I love a lot of other things about it. But I don’t want another social channel.
I would love to have time to dedicate to chatting here on Notes and on Threads, but I really don’t, and they are not a priority for me right now. I am definitely not using them to their full potential, and I don’t think I ever will. I was really glad to leave Twitter. There is no Twitter shaped hole in my life that I want filling by something else.
So: side note to you that you can pick the social channels that you actually want to be on. Register your name on the others, but you don’t have to be an active contributor to every single platform on the internet.
Launch a new digital product
TICK in the second month of the year!
and I launched Canva Mastery for Authors last month, and I am incredibly proud of this collection of videos, designed to help authors learn some Canva techniques and create great assets for their book promotions.Appear on 12 other writer’s platforms
An ongoing project, but one that is going really well so far! I’ve put myself onto:
- ’s Instagram, talking about my route to freelance life
- ’s Substack, talking about finding balance as a solo mum (This thanks to a collaborations post runs for paid subscribers, which is one of several reasons I will always stay signed up to get newsletter!)
- ’s Instagram, talking about book marketing in general
I spoke to
about how you can stop viewing marketing as self-promotion
I’m a month ahead, and April’s post is sorted already, hurrah.
Host 12 people on my Substack
Another ongoing project I am really happy with. So far, we’ve had:
- sharing her author marketing lessons
Kelly Weekes talking about building a positive mindset as an author
- sharing her experiments in self-publishing
And there’ll be a post coming next week from someone I think is absolutely brilliant in the marketing space, so look out for that soon.
One of the reasons I am doing this is to expand my network and reach new people, and it’s working - I can see that my newsletter and my Instagram account are growing steadily every day.
A great way to build your platform is to borrow someone else’s, so if you can find people that you think your audience will find interesting, or whose audience you think would appreciate your work, reach out to them and see if there is something you can do together!
(Side note: if you’re looking for authors to collaborate with, please do come and join The Empowered Author Facebook group. We have a monthly collaboration post, but you are also welcome to do a shout out / request for collaborations at any time. We love seeing authors working together!)
How has your year been going so far? Hit reply if you’ve had this on email, or DM me on Instagram or Substack. Paid subscribers, keep reading…