I started from zero like every author out there.
JF Penn and Sacha Black are two authors. They have been generous in sharing their journeys to become successful and prolific fiction authors. The Spa Girls had a fun podcast about the timeline until they generated $1000 from their writing.
JF and Sacha are not exactly pure fiction authors. They do not make their living purely from publishing fiction. I wanted to record my journey and the publishing of my books. I’m not quite sure about The Spa Girls. No judgement, just a clarification.
Some backstory…
I’ve been writing most of my life. I dabbled around in self-publishing since 2009, but deleted and republished and deleted numerous times since then. Last year, 2023, I decided to give it another go. At this time, I was building 2 other businesses. Running 3 businesses is no joke, and I lack the energy and wisdom to keep it up. Hats off to those who do that every day.
2024
In May of this year (2024), I finally admitted that I wanted to focus on one business only.
I admitted that I can’t keep going.
Something was suffering. I’ve noticed my body struggling, something that’s still not completely healed.
I also admitted that I hated one of the businesses. I hated it with my whole being, even though I’m really good at my job! Just as things would have it, I lost my last clients in this business during April and May.
The long and the short, I had no income coming in. I figured if I wanted a sign, there it was, and what was it I wanted to do?
Writing. I’ve been coming back to writing year in and year out, but I’m always just too afraid.
2023
Last year (2023), around August, I started up the social media platforms and published annoyingly regularly, aka daily. I also reviewed what I’ve done on my blog, in the stories and on social media. Slowly but surely, I republished everything. I familiarised myself with all the changes that have happened with Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books and other platforms.
In one of my ‘off’ times, I deleted most of my social media platforms. These included Facebook, Twitter (now X) and Goodreads. I lost hundreds of supporters, followers and connections from way back then. Not my smartest move, but ‘it’s what it’s’.
At the moment, I’m having trouble getting my author Goodreads account back. Did you know that it’s one of the worst support teams ever? They are of no help and give no support. But love to tell you that they are volunteers… Love that excuse.
Back to the present…
I intend to get to at least 6 figures from my author-preneur business. Also, just for fun, I will keep a record of how I’m progressing year on year.
If there’s something specific you think I could add to these summaries, let me know.
I think I’ll list the blog posts where I record the progress here. And maybe highlight some specific successes! Who knows!
Cheers for now!