Goals for Year’s End, 2012

At the end of April 2012, when I started publishing my stories on-line, I only had a vague idea of what I was doing. I had done my research, reading as widely as I could for the preceding six months and discovering a number of blog authors whose advice and opinions I found invaluable as I made up my mind on what I wanted to do next.

I decided to start with anthologies for three reasons:

• 1.      I had a lot of short stories that I had written over the years and putting them into themed anthologies was an idea I’d been toying with for a while.

• 2.      All the blogs I had read on the subject said an author with one book was very difficult to find, and by publishing the short stories and poems individually, I was able to have a number of titles to catch the eye. Also, by releasing each individual piece separately, I provided my readers with the option of buying a sample that was cheaper than the anthology, kept myself to a deadline, and built anticipation to an anthology’s release.

• 3.      The anthologies were also smaller than novels which meant learning to format them was less daunting.

And now I have four anthologies floating about in the wild, and a fifth on the way.

By the end of June, I had started to work out what I wanted to achieve by the end of this year. The goal then, was to have five anthologies out. That goal looks like it’s well on track… fingers crossed. I had also worked out what else I wanted to attempt to achieve.

By the middle of August, I had come up with the following, and started to work towards them. Here’s where they’re at:

• 1.      Release five anthologies:

a.       An Anthology of Dragons: done; available as an e-book on: Kindle, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction; and as a Kindle paperback.

b.      An Anthology of Battle: done; available as an e-book on: Kindle, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction; and as a Kindle paperback.

c.       An Anthology of Those who Walk Among Us: done; available as an e-book on: Kindle, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction; and as a Kindle paperback.

d.      An Anthology of Worlds: done; available as an e-book on: Kindle, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction; and as a Kindle paperback.

e.       An Anthology of Blades; due December 2012; four short stories to go.

• 2.      Release five novels as C.M. Simpson:

a.       DarkFantasyNovel1A-C: 1A in progress of major rewrite; 1B-C to be revised; waiting on cover art prior to formatting.

b.      DarkFantasyNovel2A: complete and awaiting cover art prior to formatting.

c.       SciFanNovel1A: needs to be completed, awaiting rewrite and cover art.

• 3.      Release one novel as PenName2:

a.       RomanceNovel1A: complete, awaiting finalisation of cover and undergoing formatting and upload.

• 4.      Re-release 2 novellas, possibly under PenName3:

a.       Novella6A: complete, awaiting rewrite and new cover art;

b.      Novella7A: complete, awaiting rewrite and new cover art;

• 5.      Re-release one novella under PenName1:

a.       Novella8A: complete, awaiting rewrite and cover art;.

• 6.      Release one new novella under PenName1.

a.       Still deciding; I have three that are three-quarters complete. All are in good shape.

I look at that and think I must be crazy, but I rewrote DarkFantasyNovel2A and added 25,000 words to complete it in just over a fortnight. DarkFantasyNovels1B-C are done bar the rewrites, and SciFanNovel1A is almost complete, 3 of the 4 novellas are complete, the fourth novella is about 10,000 words off. I think it will be a challenge, but I also think it’s doable barring any major life happenings. If one of those occurs, this list will have to be revised.

I’m honing my art skills so I can make at least some of my own covers and work on my own line illustrations. That takes time as well, but not enough to make the original goals impossible. Next year’s goals will be a step down in pace—a big step down.

For a start there will be only four anthologies. On the other hand, I have thirteen chapbooks I want to get out. They’re complete but they need the line drawings so that’s a completely new learning curve. I might have to look for artists for those. The chapbooks will come out under PenName4. After that, I’m still deciding on what the release rate for them will be. I have to keep remembering there is only one of me, and I still need my day job. We’ll just have to see how it goes.