Selina Fenech's Blog, page 4

10th Anniversary of Publishing Celebrations!

2021 marks my tenth year since I published my very first book, my novel, Memory’s Wake. And the start of my obsession with publishing and creating BOOOOKS!

Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true. I’ve always loved books, and have been creating them my whole life. I still have a handful of ones I made from as young as 6 or 7, wads of paper stapled together, contents hand-drawn in crayon. Putrid Puffin, who ate peas and muffins, was one of my early classics.

In high school I wrote my first unfinished novel of 19,000 words, and created a few completed comic books, one of which I even reproduced and sold early in my art career (Fallen). But Memory’s Wake still feels like my first real book. A labour of love of almost ten years in the making itself (most of that time spent in misguided world-building and not actually writing anything… much of which got thrown out when I spent the time to actually learn how to write a proper story). Anyway, once I decided I wanted that story that had been floating around my head so long to be a real book, I got stuck into it and got it done, and then in 2011, decided to self publish, because it seemed like the way of the future for authors. And it’s sure been a wild ride.

Since then, I’ve published a HEAP of books. More novels, plus colouring books, art books, and more. But Memory’s Wake will always be my first, special book baby.

Giveaway!

So this month, we’re celebrating! I have put together three really beautiful Memory’s Wake themed gift boxes. Each box contains:

A set of hand-signed jacketed hardcovers of the Memory’s Wake trilogyA limited-edition sterling silver pendant of Selina Fenech’s Bubbles fairy – these were custom made for me and you can’t get them anywhere else!A Memory’s Wake tote bagA hand-sewn Memory dollTwo Memory’s Wake sticker sheetsThree Memory’s Wake art cardsBookmarksAll in an elegant gift box. Check out my video of everything inside on youtube. 

Selina Fenech’s Memory’s Wake Giveaway

Alternative Giveaway link Here

There are lots of ways to enter and gain extra entries, so have fun and good luck!
*Competition run in conjunction with LitRing, prizes sent direct to 3 winners from Selina’s studio.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ve got a few more blog posts planned as part of the celebration, looking into my feelings about the series re-reading them after so long, how the series has evolved, my round-up of things I’ve published over the last ten years and more.

I’ll see if I can also get a couple more little giveaways going for each of those posts too, so be sure to come back and check them out!

Celebratory sale

Each ebook in the Memory’s Wake series is just 99c (USD) for this month! Or 2.99 (USD) for the omnibus set of three!

Quick View
Books
Memory’s Wake Trilogy 1 – Memory’s WakeRead more Quick View
Books
Memory’s Wake Trilogy 2 – Hope’s ReignRead more Quick View
Books
Memory’s Wake Trilogy 3 – Providence UnveiledRead more Quick View
Books
Memory’s Wake Trilogy OmnibusRead more

Even now, ten years after publishing my first novel (and with four series now out!), I’m still getting long-term fans of my art who didn’t know I also wrote! But there are just as many who have been with me on my writing journey right from the beginning.

Are you just discovering my stories? Or have you been on this adventure with me all along?

Now I’m going to bake myself a cake ^_^ Anything else you think I should do to celebrate this milestone?

The post 10th Anniversary of Publishing Celebrations! appeared first on Selina Fenech Artist and Author.

Oh hi, New Site. Who dis?

Welcome to my brand new website!

This year I’ve been working on cleaning up and consolidating all the different parts of my business and creations. One of those tasks was to merge my main website here – selinafenech.com which previously contained my gallery, books, and original art sales – with my secondary merchandise store – fairiesandfantasy.com which had all my other products.

And it’s done! This is it! Woo! The Fairiesandfantasy.com domain is no more (well, it just redirects here now), and now you can find all the goodies that were there, here in one place with my books and other creations.

Any website is always a work in progress, and I still have some plans for new content to be added here, as well as updating the blog slightly more regularly than the once a year I’ve been doing for a while, heh…

Is there anything the new site is missing that you’d like to see?

Would you like to see me blog more often too? If so, what about?

The post Oh hi, New Site. Who dis? appeared first on Selina Fenech Artist and Author.

2020 Wrap Up …

It’s around this time each year that I do a wrap up of the year, what I got done, big moments, things like that. I know it’s only early December, but let’s face it, I ain’t achieving anything big from here till the end of the year. Not during silly season.

So … 2020 … where does one even start? I think we all know what a year this has been. Like, this has been A BIG ONE.

Let’s dive in then.

Publishing

Last year, I published 17 titles, plus did a whole bunch of other things as well (see last year’s wrap blog here). At the end of that blog I stated that I planned to slow down a bit in 2020, with the goal of publishing 2-3 colouring books, and begin releasing my Beshadowed series, with hopefully two novels published in the year.

I did that. Pretty much.

In February, just after Australia was devastated by the massive bushfires, I worked flat out to create a charity colouring book – Australian Animals and Wildflowers. With it, we raised over $6000 for habitat restoration charity Greening Australia.

Then my second new colouring book of the year, Dark Fantasy, has just been released. That’s two all new content colouring books for the year.

With the help of my awesome assistant, Kim from Kila Designs we also released a Faedorables Activity Book, the Tales and Myth bundle book, Grayscale Bundle book, and Faedorables 2, Animals and Flowers, and Fairy Minis books.

Right around March when I was promoting the charity colouring book was when it started becoming clear that the new virus spreading around the world was a BIG DEAL and the world turned upside down.

In Australia, we went into a lockdown of about 6 weeks (in NSW), and have continued to have measures in place all year to restrict the spread. We’re lucky (based on those measures and also largely on our geography and population density) to have nearly eradicated COVID-19 here. Things are almost back to normal in time for Christmas.

Personally, I never went out much anyway, and have been a self-employed homebody for over a decade, so not a lot changed. Except having the daughter home from school for an extended period which bumped all my work plans back a fair bit. Because no, I do not find it easy to focus on work when family is around.

I had hoped to maybe write three books this year, all in the Beshadowed series. I instead managed to write two- the first book in Beshadowed, and then an urban fantasy Rumpelstiltskin retelling. Which happened when a great opportunity to join an anthology came up.

Beshadowed is out now.

A Cage of Gold and Lies is available in the Magically Ever After anthology, which is now on pre-order and will be out in February 2021. After it is released there, I may also make this title available individually next year as well.

In other general publishing news, I also published jacketed hardcovers of a bunch of my books, the Empath Chronicles omnibus, and updated the colouring inspiration journals.

Painting

This is something I did a lot more of this year! Last year I only did like one full painting. But here is this year’s collection.

There are also a couple more not released yet, as well as a bunch more works-in-progress. On the other hand, life drawing classes were cancelled all year, which cut down on a heap of drawing practice time that I have missed.

General Business Stuff

I ran my first ever Kickstarter this year to fund the Emotionally Charged audiobook production, which went well. The audiobook is out now on a bunch of audiobook retailers.

I sold around 40,000 books this year. Which is just mind blowing.

I did zero in person events, for obvious reasons!

Random Personal News

We finally got our second bathroom finished, which had been sitting as an empty shell of a room for over a year before that!

We got a 3D printer, which has been fun, and I have been thinking about learning to 3D design some more artistic things…

What’s next?

After a year like 2020, it’s hard to look forward and make plans with the expectation of being able to follow them. So I’m going to be a bit more casual about my plans again next year.

Roughly, I’m hoping to get at least two, if not three more books out in the Beshadowed series. That’s top priority.

Between each of those books, I’ll probably do another brand new colouring book. Themes for the next two will be Mermaid Companions, and Witches and Wizards.

I’ll also be doing more paintings as well throughout the year.

For my business, I have lots of C related goals! Clean up, cataloging, consolidation, and celebration! 2021 is my ten year anniversary in publishing, so I’m going to be celebrating that. I’m also going to be attempting to clean up and catalogue all of my creations of the last decade plus, and work to consolidate all of my areas of creative interest. This might look like combining my selinafenech.com and fairiesandfantasy.com websites together, or bringing my novels published under a pen name into my main range. I have even been toying with an all new business name. So you might see some big changes next year!

Did I miss anything? What do you think of my 2021 plan?

2020 Wrap Up …

It’s around this time each year that I do a wrap up of the year, what I got done, big moments, things like that. I know it’s only early December, but let’s face it, I ain’t achieving anything big from here till the end of the year. Not during silly season.
So … 2020 … where does one even start? I think we all know what a year this has been. Like, this has been A BIG ONE.
Let’s dive in then.

Publishing

Last year, I published 17 titles, plus did a whole bunch of other things as well (see last year’s wrap blog here). At the end of that blog I stated that I planned to slow down a bit in 2020, with the goal of publishing 2-3 colouring books, and begin releasing my Beshadowed series, with hopefully two novels published in the year.
I did that. Pretty much.

In February, just after Australia was devastated by the massive bushfires, I worked flat out to create a charity colouring book – Australian Animals and Wildflowers. With it, we raised over $6000 for habitat restoration charity Greening Australia.
Then my second new colouring book of the year, Dark Fantasy, has just been released. That’s two all new content colouring books for the year.

With the help of my awesome assistant, Kim from Kila Designs we also released a Faedorables Activity Book, the Tales and Myth bundle book, Grayscale Bundle book, and Faedorables 2, Animals and Flowers, and Fairy Minis books.
Right around March when I was promoting the charity colouring book was when it started becoming clear that the new virus spreading around the world was a BIG DEAL and the world turned upside down.

In Australia, we went into a lockdown of about 6 weeks (in NSW), and have continued to have measures in place all year to restrict the spread. We’re lucky (based on those measures and also largely on our geography and population density) to have nearly eradicated COVID-19 here. Things are almost back to normal in time for Christmas.

Personally, I never went out much anyway, and have been a self-employed homebody for over a decade, so not a lot changed. Except having the daughter home from school for an extended period which bumped all my work plans back a fair bit. Because no, I do not find it easy to focus on work when family is around.

I had hoped to maybe write three books this year, all in the Beshadowed series. I instead managed to write two- the first book in Beshadowed, and then an urban fantasy Rumpelstiltskin retelling. Which happened when a great opportunity to join an anthology came up.

Beshadowed is out now.
A Cage of Gold and Lies is available in the Magically Ever After anthology, which is now on pre-order and will be out in February 2021. After it is released there, I may also make this title available individually next year as well.

In other general publishing news, I also published jacketed hardcovers of a bunch of my books, the Empath Chronicles omnibus, and updated the colouring inspiration journals.

Painting

This is something I did a lot more of this year! Last year I only did like one full painting. But here is this year’s collection.

There are also a couple more not released yet, as well as a bunch more works-in-progress. On the other hand, life drawing classes were cancelled all year, which cut down on a heap of drawing practice time that I have missed.

General Business Stuff

I ran my first ever Kickstarter this year to fund the Emotionally Charged audiobook production, which went well. The audiobook is out now on a bunch of audiobook retailers.
I sold around 40,000 books this year. Which is just mind blowing.
I did zero in person events, for obvious reasons!

Random Personal News

We finally got our second bathroom finished, which had been sitting as an empty shell of a room for over a year before that!
We got a 3D printer, which has been fun, and I have been thinking about learning to 3D design some more artistic things…

What’s next?

After a year like 2020, it’s hard to look forward and make plans with the expectation of being able to follow them. So I’m going to be a bit more casual about my plans again next year.
Roughly, I’m hoping to get at least two, if not three more books out in the Beshadowed series. That’s top priority.
Between each of those books, I’ll probably do another brand new colouring book. Themes for the next two will be Mermaid Companions, and Witches and Wizards.
I’ll also be doing more paintings as well throughout the year.
For my business, I have lots of C related goals! Clean up, cataloging, consolidation, and celebration! 2021 is my ten year anniversary in publishing, so I’m going to be celebrating that. I’m also going to be attempting to clean up and catalogue all of my creations of the last decade plus, and work to consolidate all of my areas of creative interest. This might look like combining my selinafenech.com and fairiesandfantasy.com websites together, or bringing my novels published under a pen name into my main range. I have even been toying with an all new business name. So you might see some big changes next year!

Did I miss anything? What do you think of my 2021 plan?

The post 2020 Wrap Up … appeared first on Selina Fenech Artist and Author.

Want an Empath Chronicles Audiobook? Join us!

I’m running my first ever Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to fund the creation of the Emotionally Charged audiobook.

If you’re new to Kickstarter, the way it works is that backers pledge amounts towards funding a project (generally in return for some awesome goodies!), then if the project meets its funding goal, it goes ahead and everyone gets their rewards! If it doesn’t reach its funding goal, then, well, nothing happens. No payments are charged and the project doesn’t go ahead. It’s an all or nothing approach.

I need to be honest, I was a little terrified to do this, the whole crowdfunding thing. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t like asking for money, or loans, or help in general (this is not presented a good character trait, FYI).

But then I realised that this Kickstarter is different, because it’s an opportunity. An amazing opportunity to share a bit extra with my readers and Empath fans. Extra goodies and bonuses and content, and sharing in this journey as well. Once that clicked in my head I was like “Yeah! This is going to be fun!”.

You can watch my dorky intro video below to learn more about what’s happening ^_^

The campaign is already 50% funded after just 24 hours, and you’ve still got a chance at some of the early bird discounts and limited quantity offers.

Here’s a preview of some of the fun Empaths content available (plus, of course, things like the actual audiobook, custom artwork, and early reader access to my next novel!)-

I hope you will consider backing the project, or sharing the news. Every pledge gets us closer to being successfully funded, and I have set up some fun stretch goals as well.

If you’ve got any questions about how this all works, you can leave me a comment here or ask on the Kickstarter page. Thank you for helping to bring the world of the Empaths to audio!

Visit the Kickstarter Page Now

Beshadowed – An all new fantasy world coming soon.

It’s almost time to introduce you to a world I’ve been dreaming of for almost a decade. 

The concept behind this series is one I’ve been holding onto, both excited and terrified by, since it first came to me. Excited because it’s something I don’t think has ever been done before (although I know nothing is ever really new!), and because it’s an interesting new twist on urban fantasy creature tropes. Terrified because I’m worried I won’t do such an awesome concept justice.

So I waited, and waited, and wrote, and wrote, developing my chops as an author. And now I’m feeling ready to share Beshadowed with the world.

Beshadowed is an urban fantasy, with adult characters (not Young Adult! A first for my S.A. Fenech range!), with mild horror elements and shifters like you’ve never seen before.

Darkness Unknown, book one in the series, is available now for pre-order on Kindle (more stores coming soon). I’ve set the release date for 31st October 2020. Although it’s likely I may be able to bump up the date and get it out sooner, it does seem fitting to release this on Halloween.

Find out more about the series below …

About Book One

You have been lied to.

Werewolves, vampires, ghosts … they aren’t what you think.

After the death of her mother, Everly Boderleth has to go back to her spooky hometown, Shroudhaven, and she has a plan to get in and out as quick as possible.

Step one, clear out the family home and antique store.

Step two, watch her childhood sweetheart die violently at the hands of an indescribable, horrific creature.

Wait, what?

That wasn’t part of the plan. But it was just a dream, wasn’t it?

As the evidence mounts that what she saw was real, a broken heart is the least of her problems.

Everly thinks she’s close to the truth, but nothing is as it seems.

What is really lurking in the dark?

Darkness Unknown is the first book in the Beshadowed series by S.A. Fenech. If you’re looking for shifters with a twist, urban fantasy with a touch of horror, and a satisfying mystery, you’ll love Beshadowed.

The Planned Series
Darkness UnknownBuy This Book Online


Blood Bound


Shadows Awoken


Everdark Cursed



Extra Content

The cover art…

Listen to the official Beshadowed song, written exclusively for the series… 

Here’s a draft map of the area this series is set in…

It’s exciting and scary to be sharing an all new fantasy world with everyone.

Are you looking forward to entering the world of Beshadowed? What are you interested in knowing about the upcoming series?

Story and The Promise of Genre

Originally published on the Story Queens website 2017

Take a moment to watch the following movie trailer…

What a happy, fun looking, feel good movie! Right? Knowing what most of us know is the TRUE content of this movie (horror), you’d be a bit confused and disappointed if you saw the full movie after judging it on this trailer.

Presentation is everything.

How content is packaged and presented to the audience is very important. The trailer above makes a point of using the same content as in the horror movie, but changing the packaging so that it is presented as a feel good romance. The same thing, of course, goes for books. Whoever coined the phrase “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” didn’t know what they were talking about, in my opinion. When book buyers are choosing their books based on the cover art a large percent of the time, the cover needs to communicate the story held inside. Let’s study that briefly with a few of the Story Queen’s titles.

From the title, the glowing book and amulet, we know this is fantasy. The illustrated style and age of the girl tell us this is probably middle grade fantasy with a female main character.

The image of a teen couple in modern clothes, title, series title, and tagline, all tell us right away this is Young Adult Contemporary Romance.

Title is less clear, but the sword, dragon, age and fashion of the characters, and style of illustration in this one are clearly YA Fantasy genre, with darker, more adventurous content.

Those are the promises each of these books makes, just with their cover and title alone.

Have you read these books? Did they deliver on their promise?

But it’s not just about getting the right book cover and blurb so your audience knows what to expect. The content of the story also need to include certain moments, tropes, scenes, or themes to meet the expectations set out by the genre and presentation.

When an author or publisher presents their book in a certain way, they are making a promise to the reader about what they can expect when reading that book. It’s a special, unspoken promise, a communication that this book is the one they are looking for, that it will meet the marks that they expect and fill that book-shaped hole in their hungry book-belly. If one of those moments is missing, a reader might not consciously know it, but something might just feel wrong to them.

Let’s have a look at a few top level Story types and see what readers might traditionally expect from each-
For Romance-

A Happily Ever After or Happy For Now (HEA and HFN for our pro-level readers) ending.
Duh… romance. But more technically- A plot which involves bringing the love interests together, with either external forces (social expectations, forbidden love) or internal forces (fear of commitment) driving them apart.
The Meet Cute moment.
The “Race for Love” (think – in an airport) scene.

For Thrillers-

A Ticking Clock
Elements of Action, Horror, or Crime plots, taken to the extreme.
Generally realistic settings.
A “Hero at Mercy of Villain” scene.
Chance of an ambiguous success or tragic ending.

For Horror-

An antagonist of pure evil, whether they are of human, supernatural, or unknowable origins.
Scariness! Creepy, dark, and unsettling.
Takes a while for the true horror to be revealed.
High chance of an ambiguous or tragic ending.

For Crime-

That there will be a crime (again, duh). More specifically- That there will be the person who committed the crime (i.e. the Bad Guy), and the person who wants to bring them to justice (i.e. the Good Guy).
Red Herrings!
Twists and false endings!
A hero who is a Master Detective, an Amateur Sleuth, often in law enforcement or the justice system.

For Action-

Often told in the Hero’s Journey style, with a Call to Action, Mentor Character, Darkest Moment, the whole shebang.
A Maguffin
The villian may be human, or animal, monster, or even the environment.
That the Hero actively defeats the antagonist (rather than someone doing it for them).
The hero will generally overcome the odds and beat the antagonist. High chance of success/happy ending.

Wait a minute…

Why haven’t I included Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Historical? Paranormal? As much as these are important to communicate to the reader as well, these are more about SETTING than PLOT. Each of these settings could be used with any of the above high level Story types. The same with classifications of Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult- these define character ages, book length, “adult” content, and writing style, but again could fit any of the Plot types from above. Plot, Setting, and Style, all come together to create Genre. 

To stick to Genre, or break free?

As with all things, breaking the rules can work. But, going with cliche again, “you have to know the rules to break the rules”.

Breaking free from genre expectations can create some really unique and innovative stories, the kind some readers crave. Or it could create a total flop.

Have Your Say!

Are the expectations set by a cover/genre/blurb a promise to the reader about what they will be reading?

How far off track can a writer go without making you throw a book at a wall?

Do you think writers have to stick to these conventions or not? Do you like books that fit the mold, or those that break free?

Are there any must-have scenes for you, something a book HAS to include if it’s in a certain genre?

Additional Reading-

The Story Grid offers a graphic called The Genre Clover, which covers the breakdown of Genre, Setting, Style and even more in technical detail.

Write to Market gives advice on hitting the right marks for your readers.

You’ll also note I’ve linked a lot to the TV Tropes website. This site is an incredible resource for understanding how stories work, but beware! Only head there if you’ve got time to spare, as it’s a rabbit hole of epic proportions and you can get lost for days.

Fundraiser for Australian Wildlife Habitat Restoration

Australian Animals and Wildflowers is out now.

During all of March 2020, I will be collecting 100% of the profits of the sale of this book* to donate to Greening Australia. 

Get it Now on Amazon


Get it Now on Etsy

Read about the creation and goals of this book below…

January 2020 in Australia was a time when all our hearts were heavy.

Nearly 20% of all bushland in Australia was burnt during raging wildfires that came after a long drought. More than 1 billion animals died. Rainforest and ancient bushland that had never burnt before was left devastated. Many, human and animal, lost their homes.

I was talking to my 8-year-old daughter about all of this, and what the helpers of the world were already doing (the real heroes in the fire service and wildlife rescue volunteers). And we talked about what we could do to help. It was her suggestion that I create a colouring book featuring all Australian animals, and that we use it to raise funds to help restore what has been lost.

Selina’s daughter with the Tasmanian Tiger, an animal we have already lost forever.

I worked long and hard throughout February to get this book created as quickly as I could. I decided I wanted to portray our incredible and unique wildlife as realistically as possible, but with a bit of heightened cuteness and lots of baby animals (for hope!). Each animal is accompanied by a complementary Australian wildflower to create an aesthetic design. All the pages are titled with the animal and plant names for reference, along with a few interesting facts.

Australian Animals and Wildflowers is out now.

During all of March 2020, I will be collecting 100% of the profits of the sale of this book* to donate to Greening Australia. 

Get it Now on Amazon


Get it Now on Etsy

My daughter and I decided that habitat restoration was where we wanted to help out the most. We selected Greening Australia to receive the funds based on their work across the whole of Australia in this area.

From the Greening Australia about us page: “We started conserving and restoring Australia’s landscapes in 1982 and we haven’t stopped since. At Greening Australia, we work to solve bold and complex environmental problems through conservation on a massive scale, with programs and projects covering millions of hectares of land and protecting hundreds of native species.”

If you’d like to donate directly to Greening Australia without purchasing a colouring book you can at their donation page. 

Donate Now

I hope I have created a book that will be cherished by all. That it renews Australian’s love for their amazing land, and that it teaches those outside Australia something new.

Whether you colour the book yourself, gift a copy to someone else, choose to donate directly without needing a copy of the book, or share news about the book with others, I thank you for your contribution towards saving the natural treasures of Australia.

* Profits will be counted as all revenue made from sales of Australian Animals and Wildflowers Colouring Book, less store fees, sales taxes, shipping, printing, and other expenses related directly to the sale of the book. Eligible sales include all sales through Amazon of paperback versions, as well as downloadable versions via the Printable Fantasy etsy store in either full book PDF, packs, or single pages. The fundraiser will collect all profits from the release of the book until 31st of March 2020. Depending on the amount raised, the donation will be made either directly after the end of the fundraiser, or when Amazon and Etsy have paid said profits out, 1-3 months after sale.

Become a Successful Author in 4 Easy Steps

Originally published on the Story Queens website in 2016

There is a lot of marketing advice available these days for authors. “Win at Everything in X Easy Steps!”, they proclaim.

A lot of this marketing advice, I have found, has been created by Marketers (that’s with a capital M), who have something they want to sell, and want to sell it to the ocean of indie authors hungry for the lure of “success”. Stop by to read their steps to success, and after a few tantalising, motivating, but ultimately insubstantial instructions, you’ll discover you can buy their full course for an exclusive sale price that’s only available NOW!

I have to admit, I’ve bought into my fair share of these courses. Because Marketers do know to market a product. I’ve found some value in some of them, and others not so much, but what I’ve never done is followed a course exactly step by step to see if it really works. Would I become a massively successful author if I did follow those steps? Maybe, but the problem is, those steps? They ain’t for me. They aren’t my type. I’m still looking for my soul-steps, if you know what I mean.

Maybe you’re still looking for your soul-steps too. Because there is no One Plan to Rule them All. No one blueprint anyone can follow to reach their goals.

Realistically, the four steps are something more like this-

Step three? That’s where things get hairy. It’s the part no one’s really figured out, or if they have, they’ve figured it out for themselves. What works for them. And that might not work for anyone but them. Sure we can see what other people are doing, learn here and there to create our own plan, but that’s the important part. It has to be our OWN PLAN.

So below I’ve created a list of Four Easy* Steps that May or May Not Help You Create Your Own Plan to Achieve Your Definition of Success.

1. Define “Success”

At what point, exactly, will you feel “successful”? Success is a very personal thing, and it can come in many different forms. Success can mean anything from financial success, to fame, to achieving a level of masterful skill and more. It’s important to know which of these, or which combination of these, you want. If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, you may achieve all kinds of wonders and never feel successful. Lock down exactly what will define your author career as a success.

Make it specific. That is your new goal. Print it out and post it on the wall near your computer.

Some swipe-able ideas for defining success-

“I will feel successful when I have sold more than 5000 books.”

“I will feel successful when I earn a 5 figure a year income from book sales.”

“I will feel successful when my books have received a review from an influential celebrity or media outlet.”

“I will feel successful when I have won a prestigious literary award.”

“I will feel successful when I am a household name.”

“I will feel successful when I hear from readers about what my book means to them.”

“I will feel successful when I have completed writing my dream series.”

2. Have a Plan

Of all the tutorials and case studies on successful authors out there, it’s obvious that there are many different ways which authors have become successful. The one thing they all have in common is that they have had a plan. And that plan will vary depending on the author, their resources, and their goal.

The plan for an author whose idea of success is to become a household name will be extremely different to an author aiming to receive a big literary award. That’s why it’s so important to know where you’re going, so you can develop the map to get there.

Some quick ideas for where to start with each of the goals above-

“I will feel successful when I have sold more than 5000 books.” – Focus on advertising, sales funnels, and marketing. Use free and cheap pricing to move copies. Have lots of titles available.

“I will feel successful when I earn a 5 figure a year income from author career.” – Build a loyal fan platform, seek foreign and subsidiary rights, create a quality product with a higher price point.

“I will feel successful when my books have received a review from an influential celebrity or media outlet.” – Learn how to network. Build relationships with influential people through the art of giving and reciprocation.

“I will feel successful when I have won a prestigious literary award.” – Hone your craft, practice and revise your novel until it’s the very best it can be. Get expert feedback for improvement. Study, a lot. Research available awards and start submitting.

“I will feel successful when I am a household name.” – Become an expert in your field, push the line of controversy, seek media attention, plan publicity stunts.

3. Understand your Strengths and Weaknesses

…and that what works for one author might not work for you. It’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses, to know what you can work with – or what to avoid – when creating your plan. Maybe you can write fast, and can write and publish a full length novel a month, but have no other resources for promotion.

Maybe you write slowly, but are fun and personable, and great with social media.

Maybe you’re a terrible people-person, but you have a day job which earns enough to put a lot into advertising your books or hiring PR.

Have a real look at yourself and what you’re capable of, and what you’re not. Work those strengths and weaknesses into your plan. You may even need to adjust your goals based on what you are most suited for. If your not comfortable networking, the goal of gaining celebrity or media attention, or becoming a household name, will be more challenging.

4. Do the Work

It’s no point having a plan if you don’t make it happen. I recently read that “Four leaf clovers aren’t rare, the people who look for them are”. It applies also for goals. Lots of people want to achieve something, but the people who put in the work to achieve it are rare. So set your goal, make your plan (using specific, actionable tasks), then get to work ticking the tasks off that list.

5. BONUS STEP! Never stop

What happens if you have reached your level of success? First of all congratulations! Celebrate! You’ve achieved a goal and that’s always a big thing. But don’t become complacent after that. The next step is to go way back to the beginning again and redefine your goals. Redefine a new level of success. It can be increasing the number of books sold, or branching out to a different area of success. Once you’ve done that, off you go again. Make your plan, utilize your strengths, do the work. You’ll hit goal after goal.

By the way, you can buy my full course for an exclusive sale price that’s only available NOW! **

*Not really easy.

**No you can’t. I have no course. I’m totally kidding.

Defeating Procrastination (and When it Defeats You)

Originally published on the Story Queens website in 2017.

I’m going to tell you all my guilty and terrible secret. I procrastinate. Everyone does. But recently I procrastinated so much I let a deadline pass by.

I should have had my next book written and published by now.

And it’s not.

Now, of course I didn’t just spend the last two months twiddling my thumbs. That’s not how procrastination works. I did lots of things. I just didn’t do the one thing I was meant to be doing.

I procrastiplanned (the act of going over plans for action over and over but not taking the action), I procrastiworked (finding other things that needed to be done that didn’t really need to be done), I procrasticleaned. Guys. Seriously, I even shampooed my mousepad.

Procrastination is a terrible monster in the lives of creative, self employed people. Sometimes we slay that monster in great feats of productivity, and sometimes that monster comes and sits on us and laughs as we squirm about uselessly under its weight.

Why do we Procrastinate?

In my opinion it all comes down to one thing. Fear.

Fear of failure- “I’m going to stuff it up. I should just give up.”

Fear of doing the work- “There’s too much to do. Where do I even start?”

Fear of not being enough- “It will never be as good as I want it to be, so why bother?”

Do these sound familiar to you?

In Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” he describes these sorts of feelings as Resistance. “Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole.” He describes it as an almost sentient force of malevolence, that stands between you, and your goals. The bigger the goal, the bigger its potential to improve your life, the more Resistance you will feel.

When we let these feelings and fears take over, we procrastinate.

How do we defeat Procrastination?

Remind yourself that you are the boss. Not Resistance. Not fear. There is something you want to do, to create, to achieve. You WANT that. Go get it. Fears be damned.

Easier said than done, right? Here are some tips to help.

When the job feels too big, make it smaller. “Write a book” is a huge project, but “Write 200 words” is small. Break things up into less daunting tasks.
When your head is too busy, full of distractions trying to lure you away – other tasks that NEED (read: don’t need) to be done, or a shiny new idea – make lists. Get it all out of your head and onto paper or note-taking software. It will keep till later, and the act of writing it down as a to-do-later will free your headspace.
Give yourself rewards and bribes. “I will write at the cafe, and if I write 2000 words I get to have that chocolate brownie.”
Make yourself a visual reminder of what you want to achieve. Writing a book? Print out a picture of the finished book cover. Stick it up above where you work to remind yourself of where you want to get to.
Take breaks. It’s okay to not be working flat out all waking hours. Research has shown that taking breaks makes you more productive between the breaks. One study suggests a 20 minute work/5 minute break cycle is optimal (known as the Pomodoro technique). Find what works for you. This gives you the same downtime procrastination offers, but keep it timed and then get back to work again.
Use what I like to call the Nike philosophy- “JUST DO IT.” Scream it at yourself a few times, and if that doesn’t help, go and have Shia LaBeouf yell it at you. Really. Sometimes it’s just the kick up the butt you need.
Still scared you’ll suck? Remember the catch phrase “Dare to be Bad!“. Print it out and stick it over your work area if you need to. It’s a good reminded to cut back on the self criticism a bit and just create unhindered by expectation.

What do you do when Procrastination wins?

As with all things in life, you pick yourself up again. First, forgive yourself. Nobody succeeds 100% of the time. And we learn the most from “failure”.

Guilt is a useless feeling, so try to channel it instead into motivation. Turn your story into an underdog story- from failure to hero! See it in your mind, that success just ahead of you! Embrace that feeling, and keep moving forward.

Remember, you NEVER truly fail, you’re just pre-successful