2 Million in 2012.
What would be the one goal that would change your life forever? I'm not just talking about losing 20 pounds, or paying off your credit cards, or any of those other "if only ___" goals. We can talk about those another time (mainly because it will feel more appropriate to talk about weight loss goals when I'm not currently stuffing my face with leftover Christmas cookies). What I'm talking about is: What is the one goal, if you accomplished it, that would change your life for-ever. No looking back. Everything is different. All of your wildest I'm-in-a-hot-tub-on-top-of-a-fucking-mountain-you-guys dreams just came true.
I've been playing with this idea on the regular, ever since this. It's called a Breatkthrough Goal. As Jack Canfield (I love that guy) states, it's "something that changes your life, brings you new opportunities, gets you in front of the right people, and takes every activity, relationship, or group you're involved in to a high level." It's when you dream so big and set a goal so fantastic that it's hard to go back from it, because after you've allowed your imagination to stretch that wide, regular life starts to seem like kind of a drag.
Since the publication of Holiday Chick, my Breakthrough Goal has been this quiet little secret...this small, delicious little dream I had scribbled on an index card and stuffed inside my wallet. I didn't want to share it because...what if it didn't happen? What if people did that thing where they kind of smile politely and nod at you all nice-like but deep down you know they're secretly thinking, "Yeah, good luck with that one, Amber..."? What if I announced it and I looked stupid?
Here's the answer to that, though, which I just realized today: I already look stupid. I look stupid all the time. Sometimes I even go out of my way to look stupid on purpose, just because I'm so okay with looking stupid that I don't even care if I look stupid while I'm looking stupid...or something like that.
The point is...I'm fucking doing it. And I'm gonna let you watch me as I do it.
That sounded a lot more sexy than it was meant to. You're welcome.
I'm selling 2 million copies of Holiday Chick by the end of 2012.
There's no "I'm hoping to sell" or "I'm going to try to sell" or "Maybe I might be able to sell". Nope. No built-in outs.
It's happening. Declarative. Definitive. Two million copies in 2012.
It's a lofty goal. A bold statement. I know it. That's the point. Here's why:
A. As most of you long-time blog readers know, I'm not that super awesome with follow-through. On Thanksgiving I said I was going to post 30 days of Christmas music, and I ended up posting two days worth. And one of those days was a repost of something I posted last year! Ha ha. So this is going to take guts. It's going to take dedication. Hard work. Digital pavement pounding. Follow-through. So I'm purposely not letting myself say anything resembling, "I might not make my goal, but (insert consolation prize here)" because then I'm just a wuss who's hoping you'll let me off the hook if I decide - much like most of the people who enter into sacred, must-be-protected-at-all-costs marriage these days - that this is really hard and I don't wanna do it anymore. And you know what I realized these past couple weeks? The "Ha ha, I'm really bad at following-through, it's just a part of my charm" attitude is some straight-up bullshit.
And -
B. Goals that are realistic may be attainable, but they are not inspiring. Selling 100,000 copies of Holiday Chick does not inspire me. Selling 500,000 copies of Holiday Chick inspires me a little. Selling a million copies of Holiday Chick....that stuff is in-spir-ing. But if I'm going to go that high, why not go even higher, then, right? Goals that are so ambitious capture the imagination. They challenge you to think in entirely different ways. And if you want to change your life, if you want to be in that hot tub on top of that mountain, you have to do and think differently than you did before (otherwise you'd already be in that hot tub, right?). Also: Hot tubs are awesome.
So it's happening. And to make it happen, I'll also be turning a part of my blog into a sort of experimental tutorial. We've all read the articles about Amanda Hocking (including this article that my friend Dave sent to me literally as I was crafting this blog post...how weird is that, right?) and other authors who have made millions through self-publishing. The articles make it sound so easy...just do what they did - turn it into an e-book! Sell it for 99 cents on Amazon! Pay other bloggers to review it! - and you'll be rich! Riiiiiich! So I'm going to try out some of the billion marketing tricks and tips out there for aspiring and indie authors to see what kind of results they shake out. Because at the end of the day, when it comes to bookmarks and Facebook fan pages and all that other bullshit, us writerly-folk really just want to know one thing - does it help you sell more books?
So that's my goal for this year, kids. I'm selling 2 million books in 2012. And I want you to ride along with me, every step - mile, kilometer...I'm not here to make judgements about where you're from! - of the way. This blog will be filled with madcap exploits! Hilarious hijinks! Adorable pratfalls and heartwarming lessons! And you will be stuck to your seats, blog campers! Glued to your screens! Mainly because the only thing more riveting than watching someone do something so stupidly ambitious is watching someone go on a string of horribly bad, nightmarish, oh-thank-god-it's-them-and-not-me dates.
And I've already done that for you, haven't I. Oh yes...yes I have.
I've been playing with this idea on the regular, ever since this. It's called a Breatkthrough Goal. As Jack Canfield (I love that guy) states, it's "something that changes your life, brings you new opportunities, gets you in front of the right people, and takes every activity, relationship, or group you're involved in to a high level." It's when you dream so big and set a goal so fantastic that it's hard to go back from it, because after you've allowed your imagination to stretch that wide, regular life starts to seem like kind of a drag.
Since the publication of Holiday Chick, my Breakthrough Goal has been this quiet little secret...this small, delicious little dream I had scribbled on an index card and stuffed inside my wallet. I didn't want to share it because...what if it didn't happen? What if people did that thing where they kind of smile politely and nod at you all nice-like but deep down you know they're secretly thinking, "Yeah, good luck with that one, Amber..."? What if I announced it and I looked stupid?
Here's the answer to that, though, which I just realized today: I already look stupid. I look stupid all the time. Sometimes I even go out of my way to look stupid on purpose, just because I'm so okay with looking stupid that I don't even care if I look stupid while I'm looking stupid...or something like that.
The point is...I'm fucking doing it. And I'm gonna let you watch me as I do it.
That sounded a lot more sexy than it was meant to. You're welcome.
I'm selling 2 million copies of Holiday Chick by the end of 2012.
There's no "I'm hoping to sell" or "I'm going to try to sell" or "Maybe I might be able to sell". Nope. No built-in outs.
It's happening. Declarative. Definitive. Two million copies in 2012.
It's a lofty goal. A bold statement. I know it. That's the point. Here's why:
A. As most of you long-time blog readers know, I'm not that super awesome with follow-through. On Thanksgiving I said I was going to post 30 days of Christmas music, and I ended up posting two days worth. And one of those days was a repost of something I posted last year! Ha ha. So this is going to take guts. It's going to take dedication. Hard work. Digital pavement pounding. Follow-through. So I'm purposely not letting myself say anything resembling, "I might not make my goal, but (insert consolation prize here)" because then I'm just a wuss who's hoping you'll let me off the hook if I decide - much like most of the people who enter into sacred, must-be-protected-at-all-costs marriage these days - that this is really hard and I don't wanna do it anymore. And you know what I realized these past couple weeks? The "Ha ha, I'm really bad at following-through, it's just a part of my charm" attitude is some straight-up bullshit.
And -
B. Goals that are realistic may be attainable, but they are not inspiring. Selling 100,000 copies of Holiday Chick does not inspire me. Selling 500,000 copies of Holiday Chick inspires me a little. Selling a million copies of Holiday Chick....that stuff is in-spir-ing. But if I'm going to go that high, why not go even higher, then, right? Goals that are so ambitious capture the imagination. They challenge you to think in entirely different ways. And if you want to change your life, if you want to be in that hot tub on top of that mountain, you have to do and think differently than you did before (otherwise you'd already be in that hot tub, right?). Also: Hot tubs are awesome.
So it's happening. And to make it happen, I'll also be turning a part of my blog into a sort of experimental tutorial. We've all read the articles about Amanda Hocking (including this article that my friend Dave sent to me literally as I was crafting this blog post...how weird is that, right?) and other authors who have made millions through self-publishing. The articles make it sound so easy...just do what they did - turn it into an e-book! Sell it for 99 cents on Amazon! Pay other bloggers to review it! - and you'll be rich! Riiiiiich! So I'm going to try out some of the billion marketing tricks and tips out there for aspiring and indie authors to see what kind of results they shake out. Because at the end of the day, when it comes to bookmarks and Facebook fan pages and all that other bullshit, us writerly-folk really just want to know one thing - does it help you sell more books?
So that's my goal for this year, kids. I'm selling 2 million books in 2012. And I want you to ride along with me, every step - mile, kilometer...I'm not here to make judgements about where you're from! - of the way. This blog will be filled with madcap exploits! Hilarious hijinks! Adorable pratfalls and heartwarming lessons! And you will be stuck to your seats, blog campers! Glued to your screens! Mainly because the only thing more riveting than watching someone do something so stupidly ambitious is watching someone go on a string of horribly bad, nightmarish, oh-thank-god-it's-them-and-not-me dates.
And I've already done that for you, haven't I. Oh yes...yes I have.
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