Goals for 2012 UPDATE

I just read my first post of 2012, the one where I outlined the writing goals I'd set for myself. Well, here are the results. 

There's bad news. I only accomplished three of my eleven writing goals. Three is so much better than none, or one, or two, though, so I'll take it! 

Heartless was on the agenda for 2012. I managed to get that done, even though it wasn't until November that I finally got it submitted. It's now [again] my bestseller. 

My Lady Coward got her HEA and the compiled short stories were submitted and published by TreasureLine Publishing. It's now my second bestseller, even though all the shorts are still free for online reading (with a little site-hopping). 

The biggest [and hardest for me] goal that I accomplished was SELL MORE BOOKS. This goal was achieved beyond my wildest dreams. The only reason it happened was due to all the lovely book lovers out there who decided to take a chance on one or more of my books.

Just to give you an idea of the upsurge, in October 2012, my Kindle sales totaled 23 books. That's for six (6) titles, worldwide. The combined sales of my titles from all the other eBook retailers was even less. Sad, right? 

Then Heartless came out in early November and I enrolled it in KDP Select. I sold a few dozen copies of Heartless and a handful of my other titles before making Heartless free for two days near the end of the month. After that, sales spiked. Over 14,000 copies of Heartless were downloaded worldwide during the two free days and my November sales totaled 191 books (7 titles) worldwide. Quite a difference. 

My December sales have been through the roof and I couldn't be more pleased. I had another free day mid-month where 1825 copies were downloaded. Sales didn't really spike after that but remained between 25 and 50 books sold per day.

As I watch these numbers I experience a certain amount of shock and awe. There was a time when I considered 50 sales in ONE MONTH as a good month. This month I've sold over 1300 books worldwide, just in the Kindle Store; over 650 of those were Heartless. It may be possible to make a living at this writing thing after all. ☺

I am deeply grateful to everyone who has taken a chance on one [or more] of my books, written a review, told their friends and family about it, or even just enjoyed the story. Thank you! ♥

In other writing accomplishments of 2012, I scored a fab job with InD'Tale Magazine as a regular columnist. I write serial romances—currently Regency-era—for this rising star in romance magazines. And I LOVE it!! ♥

Stay tuned for my first post of 2013 where I'll reveal my NEW goals—OK, I admit, some won't be new at all.

♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥

There's a jukebox in my head. It's currently playing
♫♪ Linkin Park ~ MY◄DSMBR

Short Story Success

I recently played with short stories, writing one on top of the other, as a personal writing challenge. I entered four of them for inclusion in an anthology and two were picked. I'm tickled pink, let me tell you. :o)

One of the selected is a personal favorite of mine, The Assassin's Keeper. This story is about Sable, a female assassin in Regency London. It's my typical offering, dark, morbid and a little depressing. Does it have a happy ending? You'll have to read it to find out.

The other selected was Survival, a dark fantasy-type story that barely qualifies as flash fiction. It's about 20 words over the 1000 word limit. The lead character is Faolyne and it's her job to make sure the balance of life doesn't shift. Another somewhat morbid offering.

So when can you expect to read this anthology? The lovely editors are giving us a release date of August. The exact date is unknown at this time. The good news is, the completed book will be available as a free e-book. Isn't that awesome?!