10 QUESTIONS A WRITER SHOULD ASK ABOUT 2012

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT? There are very few people that have succeeded in achieving greatness on a trial and error basis. Every road to success starts with acquiring knowledge about what you are targeting to do and so is writing. You have to assess the new things you’ve learnt from all the writing you’ve done throughout 2012 and this will be very helpful in the future especially in making decisions and adjustments. If you didn’t learn anything then don’t expect to achieve much in the next year, but you can put this at the back of your mind and learn as you progress.

HAVE I ACQUIRED NEW CLIENTS?

If you are a freelance writer, you have to ask yourself whether you have acquired new clients. If the answer is Yes, then make strategies of satisfying and improving your services to them and if No, then you have to assess why you didn’t. And once you get the answers, work on troubleshooting the causes.

HOW MANY OF MY COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED? If you are a writer of novels or any other type of books, you have to first ask yourself how many manuscripts you completed writing throughout 2012. Then ask yourself how many of those have been published or are in the process of being published. If you have none, ask yourself why. If they had been rejected then work on improving them and if you failed to land a publisher then refer to my article (6 ways to guarantee that your manuscript is published).  

HOW MANY POSITIVE REVIEWS HAVE MY BOOKS GOT? This is a very important aspect in marketing your books but it is also crucial in giving you a reader’s insight or opinion about your work. Positive reviews will give you courage to do what you do and negative ones will tarnish your reputation, but will also give you a green light to improvement.

HOW MANY NEW FANS HAVE I ACQUIRED? As a book writer, this is a very important question. It is the number of fans that read or buy your books that will give you the opportunity to get good publishing deals and the energy to write more. If you have no fans then you have to improve your marketing strategies and social media marketing skills to lure them otherwise you’ll be wasting a lot of time writing for no one. 

     

SHOULD I SPECIALIZE IN ONE WRITING NICHE OR DIVERSIFY? Because of the need for a reliable flow of income, it may be necessary to diversify into other writing niches. For example, as a novel writer who earns royalty every after four months or so, you could think of diversifying into freelance writing like ghost writing, script writing, copy writing and very many other fertile areas that could generate more income. If you already have a job and take writing as a side career, then diversifying is not recommended for you.

HOW HAVE I HANDLED THE CHALLENGES? Challenges make very many aspiring writers quit writing because they fail to get better ways of going about the challenges that they face. For example many are discouraged by the poor compensation from publishers and freelance clients where as others are discouraged by the negative comments from family members and friends who find sitting at home on a computer from morning to morning worthless and keep nagging them to get clear jobs. Quitting as a writer and pursuing other careers may not be the answer but how you go about the challenges will take you heights.

WHAT ARE MY GOALS FOR THE NEXT YEAR (2013)? Big corporations make plans for the years ahead and as a writer, you should adopt this system. You have to outline clear, quantifiable and timely goals for the next year. Make a writing schedule on your calendar and set the achievements you would want to get. This will give you the drive to work hard so that you see your goals through.    

      

HOW SHOULD I GET MORE TIME TO WRITE? Some writers are overwhelmed with work on their jobs and usually find it hard to get time to write. If you fall in this category then you should create more time for writing. If you want to benefit from something, you have to give it time or you will have many excuses when you fail. I will give you tips on how to create more time for writing when you have a very overwhelming job in one of my coming articles. 

HOW HAVE I BEEN REWARDED BY MY WRITING? It all comes down to one thing, reward. Whether it is in terms of money, experience, acquiring new friends, it all comes to what you have actually benefitted from writing. The best reward a writer should expect from their writing is money, and if you didn’t get it, then it is not too late to start looking for ways to get it. I will be posting articles on the various ways of making money as a writer, so keep visiting my blog. 

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