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S2 Ep41: 2024 Yearly Wrap Up
27 Plays5 months ago
Heather and Veronica discuss how to best analyze your past year and their past year. They discuss giving yourself grace, setting goals, and how to be realistic in your plans for the coming year.
A podcast from 1852 Media.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 1852 Media and Literary
00:00:10
Heather Roberts
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to For Books Sake. I am Heather Roberts.
00:00:15
Veronica Adams
I am Veronica Adams and we are 1852 media.
00:00:19
Heather Roberts
An 1852 literary.
00:00:21
Veronica Adams
That's true. We are now also 1852 literary. I gotta start throwing that in.
00:00:24
Heather Roberts
Yes, I know.
00:00:25
Veronica Adams
Thank you.
00:00:27
Heather Roberts
We are the 1852 conglomerate, but if you will.
00:00:30
Veronica Adams
Yes, yes.
00:00:33
Heather Roberts
um So yeah, 1852 everything.
00:00:33
Veronica Adams
It was 1852 everything.
00:00:37
Heather Roberts
We are excited about
2024 Wrap-up and Holiday Break Announcement
00:00:40
Heather Roberts
it today. So I want to share this up front so that you know what you're getting with this episode. but
00:00:45
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:00:46
Heather Roberts
ah We're going to be doing sort of a yearly roundup. We're going to reminisce about some things from this year. And then this is going to be our final episode of 2024.
00:00:58
Veronica Adams
yes
00:00:58
Heather Roberts
We're going into the holiday season. So it's going to allow Veronica and I to take some much needed Friday recording time to prep for that and finish up end of year stuff.
00:01:08
Veronica Adams
yeah Yes. Yes.
00:01:11
Heather Roberts
And then we will be back in January of 2025.
2025 Plans and Excitement
00:01:15
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:01:15
Heather Roberts
And we are excited about that. We're going to be planning out, hopefully, Crossing Fingers, um some really good episodes with some guests um on the episode.
00:01:25
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:01:26
Heather Roberts
So we're going to be changing up the format a little bit.
00:01:29
Veronica Adams
Yeah, maybe not every episode, but like, it's not just going to be the two of us every time going forward.
00:01:29
Heather Roberts
um And yeah.
00:01:36
Heather Roberts
Right. We have a ton of content. If you are just joining us for the first time, there are two seasons of episodes.
00:01:38
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:01:44
Veronica Adams
I love that.
00:01:44
Heather Roberts
Uh, this, this is our four.
00:01:46
Veronica Adams
We're living our life in seasons now.
00:01:48
Heather Roberts
I know this is our 41st episode in season two.
00:01:53
Veronica Adams
Shut up!
00:01:54
Heather Roberts
Yes. So we did 41 episodes this year.
00:01:56
Veronica Adams
How?
00:01:59
Heather Roberts
I'm not sure how many we did in 2023. I'd had to go back and look, but now
00:02:03
Veronica Adams
It wasn't nearly as many, but still.
00:02:06
Heather Roberts
because we started in the middle of the year.
00:02:07
Veronica Adams
That's true.
00:02:08
Heather Roberts
Um, so yeah, we did 41 episodes this year.
00:02:12
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:02:12
Heather Roberts
That that's a lot of episodes. There's also 2023 content. So there's plenty go back and listen to that.
00:02:19
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:21
Heather Roberts
Um, get caught up.
00:02:21
Veronica Adams
Get caught up.
00:02:23
Heather Roberts
Uh, there's, there's plenty to go back and hear from.
00:02:25
Veronica Adams
Yes.
New Formats and Guests in 2025
00:02:26
Heather Roberts
So we're going to try to change up the format a little bit in 2025.
00:02:30
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:02:30
Heather Roberts
and bring on some guests that we can talk to you about some topics that are trending and popular right now.
00:02:37
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:02:37
Heather Roberts
So yeah, so we're really excited about that.
00:02:37
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:02:40
Heather Roberts
Wanted to let you guys know upfront before you got into this episode. So if you want to turn it off now, that's why I know.
00:02:46
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Peace out. We'll see you in January.
00:02:48
Heather Roberts
He's out. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I also didn't want to leave you guys hanging for without telling you what we're doing.
00:02:53
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:02:57
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:02:57
Heather Roberts
It's just a there's no episode and yell that.
00:03:00
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Right.
00:03:02
Heather Roberts
So yeah, it's been quite a year.
Reflecting on Major 2024 Accomplishments
00:03:05
Heather Roberts
I mean, let's talk about our accomplishments this year, because I think it's important when you look back, you know, like accomplishments, and then you have to
00:03:05
Veronica Adams
Hasn't it?
00:03:08
Veronica Adams
Okay.
00:03:13
Heather Roberts
think about like, what could we do better, right?
00:03:15
Veronica Adams
yeah For sure.
00:03:16
Heather Roberts
There's always so much that we could do better. And I feel like if everybody looks critically at their own business, there's always so much they could do better.
00:03:22
Veronica Adams
Absolutely. Yeah.
00:03:24
Heather Roberts
um But we had a huge accomplishment. I mean, opening 1852 literary, huge, huge thing, a huge goal.
00:03:27
Veronica Adams
The big. Yeah. Yes.
00:03:32
Heather Roberts
Um, we've been wanting at least on, you know, I've been wanting, um, Mikey, my husband has been wanting to open that. Almost since we started the marketing company, like literally eight, eight, nine years.
00:03:43
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:03:46
Veronica Adams
Yes, and expanding the business into the publishing side of things one way or another has always been at the top of his list. And I think on the back burner for you just because of the day-to-day with the marketing side, but like, for as long as I've been involved with y'all, it has definitely always been part of the future plan and the, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:03:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:04:03
Heather Roberts
overarching plan. Yeah.
00:04:07
Heather Roberts
So where it just, we didn't have the pieces lined up to slot incorrectly until this year.
00:04:12
Veronica Adams
Right. Yeah. It just worked out beautifully.
00:04:15
Heather Roberts
And yeah, it was time
00:04:17
Veronica Adams
It it was time.
00:04:19
Heather Roberts
And you know this this goes to timing. Timing is everything.
00:04:24
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:04:24
Heather Roberts
And just because you have an idea and a have and you have a goal, could we have forced this before?
00:04:30
Veronica Adams
Sure.
00:04:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah, we could have, but would we be as poised to be as successful?
00:04:37
Veronica Adams
No.
00:04:39
Heather Roberts
No, no, we would have been floundering.
00:04:39
Veronica Adams
No.
00:04:43
Heather Roberts
We wouldn't have been able to give as much attention to our marketing clients as we need to.
00:04:47
Veronica Adams
yeah Yes.
00:04:49
Heather Roberts
um And this has just worked out so beautifully and has really put us in a position to to be successful.
00:04:50
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:04:57
Heather Roberts
So we already have some things in the works.
00:05:01
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:05:02
Heather Roberts
that I can't talk about, but I really am excited about.
00:05:04
Veronica Adams
Very excited though.
00:05:07
Heather Roberts
And trust me, um if you follow me on socials, I will be screaming about the deals as soon as they are done. Like like you will you will get annoyed by me.
00:05:17
Veronica Adams
You guys are gonna be sick of Heather tooting her own horn.
00:05:17
Heather Roberts
I don't care. Yes. Right. But, you know, I'm just I'm really excited and things are things are happening.
00:05:27
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:05:27
Heather Roberts
So that's great. um But yes, that's that's a big win, a big win for this year.
00:05:31
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:05:34
Heather Roberts
And I know, Veronica, you have some things coming. You're lining things up to to start to start moving some things on your side as
00:05:38
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
Balancing Personal Life and Business Challenges
00:05:41
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:05:41
Heather Roberts
well.
00:05:41
Heather Roberts
The agents say.
00:05:41
Veronica Adams
I will, I'm sure trail behind you, but I'm coming. We're getting started.
00:05:46
Heather Roberts
You're coming.
00:05:47
Veronica Adams
It's, it's yes.
00:05:47
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:05:48
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:05:49
Heather Roberts
Yes. So it's been great. um And we love having Becky on board. That that really has been such a key you know thing for the business.
00:05:57
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:06:00
Heather Roberts
um So yeah, that's been really great. And then the marketing side of things, you know it's been good. it's It's certainly been good. We love all of our clients there. This is not like a client.
00:06:09
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:06:10
Heather Roberts
We hate our clients. No, I'm talking about business side of things.
00:06:12
Veronica Adams
Oh my, oh my God, no.
00:06:14
Heather Roberts
Yeah, like I just don't want this to be misinterpreted. ah The business side of things, it's been pretty good. We could have done better about marketing ourselves in different ways.
00:06:25
Veronica Adams
We're too busy marketing everybody else.
00:06:26
Heather Roberts
um Yeah, so that's one thing ah that we had being a marketing firm, we're very good at marketing other people.
00:06:31
Veronica Adams
I mean, yeah.
00:06:34
Heather Roberts
But when it comes to ourselves, it's like when you're a therapist, right? Or like anything else, you're good at giving advice to other people, but maybe not always for yourself.
00:06:40
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:06:43
Veronica Adams
Well, not only not only like not giving yourself or taking your own advice, but also like finding the bandwidth to do self promotion because it it changes a little bit like the way you look at things.
00:06:55
Veronica Adams
It's harder to be objective about your own business.
00:06:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:06:57
Veronica Adams
That's why we have clientele because authors are typically not really very self promotional or struggle to juggle
00:07:00
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:07:07
Veronica Adams
creativity, writing, editing, plotting, et cetera, with promotion and advertising and marketing.
00:07:10
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:07:14
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:07:15
Veronica Adams
Like they just, you know, two sides of the brain that you're using here. So it's kind of the same thing for us, right?
Marketing Challenges and 2025 Goals
00:07:22
Veronica Adams
Like having to stop and think about what we're doing with the business and maybe how do we put ourselves out there more and push 1852 media or 1852 literary for that matter.
00:07:22
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:07:32
Heather Roberts
Right, right.
00:07:33
Veronica Adams
And it's different when you're looking at your own interests rather than somebody else's. Completely different.
00:07:38
Heather Roberts
It is. It's completely different. So that's something that we've we've definitely done more of this year, but not as much as we should have done.
00:07:44
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:07:47
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:07:48
Heather Roberts
And it's not in a consistent way that makes me feel like, oh, we nailed that.
00:07:50
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:07:53
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:07:53
Heather Roberts
yeah know So that's a goal for 2025 is to be more consistent about our own promotions, our own marketing, um and pushing that out there.
00:08:00
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm.
00:08:03
Heather Roberts
So
00:08:03
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:08:04
Heather Roberts
um'm I'm thinking proactively instead of being in the moment and being swirled around.
00:08:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:08:10
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:08:11
Heather Roberts
um But I feel like I'm finally in a place where I can do that too. You know what I mean?
00:08:15
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:08:15
Heather Roberts
like These past several years have just been wild. I mean, you moved, I moved.
00:08:22
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:08:22
Heather Roberts
um finding you know I moved twice.
00:08:23
Veronica Adams
Uh-huh.
00:08:25
Heather Roberts
ah Settling yourself into a house. My son went off to college. Your son went to preschool.
00:08:29
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's been ah it's been a whirlwind.
00:08:31
Heather Roberts
you know
00:08:33
Veronica Adams
Like, honestly, it's the pandemic, really.
00:08:33
Heather Roberts
So and yeah, right.
00:08:36
Veronica Adams
Like, and maybe even a little bit before, because I got pregnant before the pandemic and that was unexpected. But um yeah, I mean, you know, like, the last five years, I would say, huge.
00:08:42
Heather Roberts
Right, right.
00:08:48
Heather Roberts
yeah Yeah. Yeah, it's been really an upheaval, an upheaval.
00:08:50
Veronica Adams
um
00:08:53
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yeah, because you guys packed up and moved right after my son was born. So like, it was
00:08:57
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:08:58
Veronica Adams
I had a baby then you guys left where you were and moved to a completely new place. But it was like a temporary situation because you guys rented for a little while while you worked worked out where you were permanently going to stay and where you wanted to be, where you're at now and found the right property and all of that.
00:09:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:09:13
Veronica Adams
And then you had to go through the process. doing the the final move into the permanent home and then we got the wild idea to pack up where we were and move all the way across the country too and it's just been yeah it's been weird and wild and but this has been kind of the most stable normal year we've had in the last four or five for sure.
00:09:17
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:09:20
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:09:27
Heather Roberts
Yeah. and sir It's been wild. turn turn Turbulent. There was the word I was looking for.
00:09:39
Heather Roberts
It has, it has. um And now, you know, my son went off to college, so it's actually a little bit more
Personal Changes and Business Impacts
00:09:47
Heather Roberts
stable because we're not having, you know, after school programs and like, yeah, yeah.
00:09:49
Veronica Adams
Yeah, you're not doing high school high school parenting stuff.
00:09:54
Heather Roberts
And now we're doing college parenting stuff, which is, you know. something else, but different, different.
00:10:00
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:10:02
Heather Roberts
And it gives, it gives more time, you know, gives us more time, gives me more time during the day.
00:10:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:10:08
Heather Roberts
I'm not thinking about, Oh, he's coming. I mean, you're a parent, everyone, everyone who's listening, who's a parent understands what I'm saying. Like your child comes home, you're thinking about what time are they coming home? What are their activities for the evening?
00:10:19
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:10:20
Heather Roberts
What, did what are we going to do for dinner on the table?
00:10:20
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:10:22
Heather Roberts
You know, like,
00:10:22
Veronica Adams
him Yeah.
00:10:23
Heather Roberts
making sure that their needs are met before your own needs are met.
00:10:27
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:10:27
Heather Roberts
And when that priority is in place, oftentimes other things get pushed to the back burner, right?
00:10:30
Veronica Adams
Sure.
00:10:34
Heather Roberts
And some people are able to balance that really, really well and some people aren't.
00:10:40
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:10:40
Heather Roberts
and you know And some people do it well in certain days and some people don't do it well in other days. And that's really me.
00:10:46
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:10:46
Heather Roberts
Some days I was i excelled and some days I did not.
00:10:49
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:10:50
Heather Roberts
um And thankfully, I have a spouse who's ah very much ah an involved parent and very much helpful around the house, but still very challenging.
00:10:56
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:11:02
Heather Roberts
so And when the kids are younger, it's even more challenging. So, I mean, this is not a parenting podcast, but y'all get what I'm saying.
00:11:05
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:11:11
Heather Roberts
Um, so my point being priority shift, right? When you're a business owner, your priority shift, when you have personal things going on.
00:11:15
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:11:19
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:11:19
Heather Roberts
Um, I imagine if you're a caretaker for a parent or a family member or something very similar, anytime you're in that caretaker role, um, it changes things.
00:11:28
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:11:30
Heather Roberts
So 2025, my son's at college. Hopefully we all keep our health to knock on wood.
00:11:34
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:11:37
Heather Roberts
it should allow me to be a little bit more proactive about certain things and you know have more bandwidth for for the business, yeah, for all of the businesses.
00:11:43
Veronica Adams
More bandwidth for the business.
00:11:48
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:50
Heather Roberts
But yeah, and I hope that you're listening to me speak and thinking, oh, what could I be doing with my business? Was I like this too?
00:11:56
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:11:57
Heather Roberts
Because that's really what this is about. Like, yes, of course I'm talking about myself and Veronica is talking about herself and about our business, you know, but at the same time, you should be looking back at your own business as well for this past year.
00:12:04
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:12:10
Veronica Adams
Yeah. where Where has your energy gone?
00:12:12
Heather Roberts
Where did,
00:12:13
Veronica Adams
What what did you pour yourself into?
00:12:16
Heather Roberts
yeah, how could you do better?
00:12:17
Veronica Adams
what what What were those things, your priorities, or were they things that were simply necessities and maybe you're clearing the calendar or those responsibilities are ending and you can pivot or add more things to your
Reflection and Planning for the Future
00:12:30
Veronica Adams
plate.
00:12:30
Veronica Adams
Or maybe you know something's coming up and you need to start planning to reduce the amount of responsibilities that you have.
00:12:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:12:36
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:12:36
Veronica Adams
Like this works in reverse too, for sure.
00:12:39
Heather Roberts
It does. It does.
00:12:41
Veronica Adams
You know, we've we've both had to spend some time these last couple of years focusing on being our best in ah so in in and stable for our active current clientele rather than on growing the business.
00:12:41
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:12:54
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:12:55
Veronica Adams
We're getting ready to to be able to do both of those things now.
00:12:59
Heather Roberts
Exactly.
00:13:00
Veronica Adams
um
00:13:00
Heather Roberts
Um, yeah. Cause it always felt like, well, I could go out and try to recruit new clients, you know, and try to grow the business, um, and, or offer different services or, you know, do something else.
00:13:10
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:13:11
Heather Roberts
But I also didn't want to take away from what I was providing the clients because that's our number one priority is quality of service.
00:13:16
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes. Yes.
00:13:21
Heather Roberts
So yeah.
00:13:21
Veronica Adams
And if it means staying in a lane for a while and, you know, just focusing on doing what you do and doing it well, there is nothing wrong with that. Like, you know, it, you can be in reduction mode, you can be in growth mode.
00:13:30
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:13:34
Veronica Adams
You can also just be in stay in your lane mode and there's nothing wrong with that.
00:13:37
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah, so I really feel like this past year was, till towards the end, um was a bit of you know continuing to stabilize, you know like let's stabilize and see where we're at.
00:13:44
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:13:48
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yeah.
00:13:52
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:13:52
Heather Roberts
And then we did feel mid-year, okay, it might be time that we can start moving towards growth. We can start a growth model approach as opposed to just a stability approach.
00:14:01
Veronica Adams
yeah Yep.
00:14:04
Veronica Adams
Mm hmm.
00:14:04
Heather Roberts
um And that's where, you know, the literary agency started to to come alive and um and all of that.
00:14:09
Veronica Adams
Yes. Everything has just lined up beautifully for that so far.
00:14:13
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:14:13
Veronica Adams
I know. No notes like
00:14:17
Heather Roberts
So it's been good. Yeah. And the thing is with your own business, there could be something you want for years. Like I'm not kidding. We've wanted this for nine years and it might just not have happened yet.
00:14:28
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:14:30
Heather Roberts
So don't give up hope that it's not going to happen. Don't be like, Oh, that's never gonna happen.
00:14:34
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:14:35
Heather Roberts
Just, you know, it might be that the timing hasn't lined up for you yet. You have to keep your ears open. You have to keep your eyes open. and wait for these things to market conditions to be correct, whatever it is.
00:14:44
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:14:49
Heather Roberts
Just don't give up hope on that dream because it very well could happen.
00:14:51
Veronica Adams
Yeah, I think. And it can be anything, right? Like a co-write, a reader signing event that you've never been to, that you want to, you know, that you want to have a spot at, a table at, whatever, like, um, audio book, translations, a new creative project, social media, video goes viral.
00:14:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:15:04
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:15:15
Veronica Adams
I mean, whatever it is, right?
00:15:17
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:15:18
Veronica Adams
It can be anything.
00:15:19
Heather Roberts
You can be banging your head against the wall for years. I know this actually sounds a little sad now, but no, but for real, you're banging your head against the wall for years.
00:15:22
Veronica Adams
here
00:15:27
Veronica Adams
hey This is a motivational speaker, guys, I promise.
00:15:28
Heather Roberts
And ah now I I know, but it can open, you know, like it can happen.
00:15:31
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:15:35
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:15:37
Heather Roberts
You don't want to throw all your energy into the thing that's not working.
00:15:40
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:15:40
Heather Roberts
You know, that, that's not useful, but you do want to allow yourself to be open for the opportunity if it does arise for you.
00:15:42
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:15:48
Veronica Adams
Right. Right.
00:15:49
Heather Roberts
So that that's my takeaway, um, for this year. And I'm really excited about next year. ah I mean, tentatively, I mean, well, yeah.
00:16:01
Veronica Adams
Well, I mean, it's all it's all still possibilities right now, right? Like we're here it is. It's the end of November. We're talking about it. It's five weeks around the corner, right? The kickoff of this six weeks at most.
00:16:13
Veronica Adams
So it's all still perspective, right? Like we're not in it yet. Of course we're excited about it.
00:16:16
Heather Roberts
yeah Yeah.
00:16:17
Veronica Adams
And you guys should, listening should be excited about whatever you have planned out and or ah are intending to achieve in 2025 too. Like this is the time to really be thinking about that.
00:16:29
Heather Roberts
Yeah, those are my intrusive thoughts reminding me about real life that's happening in 2025.
00:16:35
Veronica Adams
I mean, sure.
00:16:35
Heather Roberts
And so like, yeah, there's there's things that are going to potentially damper your success or your ability to be successful. But the best part about being a business owner is that you get to learn how to pivot around those things.
Treating Writing as a Business
00:16:50
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:16:51
Heather Roberts
That's literally your job as a business owner. How do I pivot to get around hurdles that come at me?
00:16:58
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:16:59
Heather Roberts
So that's the way I'm choosing to look at any changes that may come in 2025 and beyond. And I'm choosing to be excited about the business. I'm choosing to be mindful and to make plans that I believe will be successful.
00:17:16
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:17:17
Heather Roberts
So, and you should do the same with your own businesses.
00:17:21
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:17:22
Heather Roberts
Because as a reminder, I know we've been saying this for 41 episodes, but your books are your business. You are a business owner and you need to treat your writing career as a business.
00:17:30
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:17:34
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:17:36
Veronica Adams
Well, and anyone who's listening who hasn't yet really had that mindset shift, spend some time with that because it it's true.
00:17:41
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:17:45
Veronica Adams
it It may just be a creative outlet that you've monetized or attempted to monetize.
00:17:45
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:17:49
Veronica Adams
It may just be a hobby and you're doing it for the sake of the art, but still
00:17:52
Heather Roberts
that's fine That's fine.
00:17:55
Veronica Adams
uh, publishing and attempting to sell or maybe publishing and selling well, despite the fact that it's really not something that you've taken seriously. How many authors have you worked with who were like, I just sort of fell into this.
00:18:07
Veronica Adams
Like I decided to write the book I always wanted to read.
00:18:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:18:09
Veronica Adams
And then I was, you know, making five grand a month in KU accidentally, you know, like, ah yeah.
00:18:11
Heather Roberts
I fell in love with this and here I am.
00:18:16
Heather Roberts
Yeah. It does happen. It does happen. And then they don't know what to do because they're they're chasing their tail because they didn't start, they started backwards.
00:18:25
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah. Right. And they have day-to-day responsibilities. They're stay-at-home parents or they have a day job or a night job or whatever.
00:18:31
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:18:33
Veronica Adams
like They have a career or work that they do to you know for their regular income. And they're like, oh shit, what do I do with this money that's coming from Amazon?
00:18:40
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:18:40
Veronica Adams
Do I write another book? do i you know Where do I go from here?
00:18:44
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:18:44
Veronica Adams
um That's a business, babe.
00:18:46
Heather Roberts
to business.
00:18:47
Veronica Adams
Whether you like it or not, that's a business.
00:18:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:54
Heather Roberts
So you got to do something with it.
00:18:54
Veronica Adams
Treat treated it like treat it like one. Yeah.
00:18:56
Heather Roberts
Yeah, you got to do something with it. So, and that means taxes and expenses and all of the things that come with being a business and making sure that you're protected and all the businessy things.
00:19:01
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
00:19:06
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:19:08
Veronica Adams
ye Yes, absolutely.
00:19:12
Heather Roberts
It's going to be a little crash course now to run a business.
00:19:15
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:19:16
Heather Roberts
But that's something that we're good at helping you with. And we are not tax advisors that we'll send you to someone. We'll suggest somebody for you you know for that.
00:19:25
Veronica Adams
happily send you some referrals and recommendations.
00:19:28
Heather Roberts
Yes.
00:19:28
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:19:29
Heather Roberts
But we can at least give you you know some direction as to what you should be doing to make sure that you're you're positioning yourself correctly in this industry.
00:19:32
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:19:37
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:19:39
Heather Roberts
um But yeah, treat yourself, treat your books as a business. And I feel like the biggest mistake, I was just ah at the Green Mountain Book Festival. I think I mentioned this before, but it was just so shocking to me. Like when I was on the publishing panel and we had people in the room and this, you have to remember this is a general
Publishing Trends and Financial Success
00:20:00
Heather Roberts
um but festival of all so this is not a romance-spec book festival.
00:20:00
Veronica Adams
book festival. Yeah.
00:20:04
Heather Roberts
festival.
00:20:04
Veronica Adams
Right, right.
00:20:05
Heather Roberts
And most people there are thinking about traditionally publishing or doing some type of, um you know, publishing in that way, agenting, whatever, ah some self publishing talk, but not as prevalent.
00:20:08
Veronica Adams
Of course. Sure.
00:20:18
Heather Roberts
And, um you know, I mentioned that, you know, I have clients that they'll release a book, you know, every six weeks and they're making, you know, mid six fingers.
00:20:28
Heather Roberts
There was audible gasps in the room because when a lot of people in the general publishing world think about publishing, they think one to two books a year.
00:20:30
Veronica Adams
Yeah, yeah.
00:20:40
Heather Roberts
And that's prolific.
00:20:40
Veronica Adams
Max. Yeah, Max. Well, and there are there are some very well established authors who have always just been traditionally published who only write one book every couple of years, like, and they're doing quite well because they've been doing it for a long time.
00:20:50
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:20:54
Heather Roberts
Right. Like we gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to and um to a wonderful writer. I have no bones about this this writer.
00:21:02
Veronica Adams
the award, right?
00:21:03
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:21:03
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:21:03
Heather Roberts
No, Archer Mayer. I mean, I'm happy to share who it was. Archer Mayer, he writes detective novels. They're based in Vermont. He himself is a medical examiner, so he provides a fantastic perspective.
00:21:13
Veronica Adams
Look at that, like real life imitated in his art.
00:21:15
Heather Roberts
The books are great. Yeah.
00:21:18
Veronica Adams
Love it.
00:21:18
Heather Roberts
Love it. Great. The books are fantastic.
00:21:21
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:21:21
Heather Roberts
Um, but his publishing schedule is not a, I mean, in my opinion, not aggressive, but when they were giving him the award, the person who was talking, you know, talking about him was like, you know, Oh my God, look at how many books he's written.
00:21:35
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:21:35
Heather Roberts
And I was just like, you know, that's pretty good. But it's not like these romance.
00:21:41
Veronica Adams
like I'm not impressed.
00:21:43
Heather Roberts
Yeah, I mean, like he certainly has a great backlist. Don't get me wrong, but I think it's like 40 to 50 bucks.
00:21:47
Veronica Adams
now
00:21:50
Heather Roberts
Great backlist. But um um um yeah.
00:21:54
Veronica Adams
I mean, that that's no small achievement. That's a lot of writing. And and you're not denigrating that.
00:21:59
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:22:01
Veronica Adams
But like at the same time, we also work day in and day out with people who are publishing 12 to 15 a year sometimes.
00:22:01
Heather Roberts
Not at all.
00:22:08
Heather Roberts
Yes, yes. So he was writing I think at most like two a year. So because he's been writing for like 25 years or something like that.
00:22:16
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:22:17
Heather Roberts
um Yeah, two to three a year at most.
00:22:18
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:22:20
Heather Roberts
And like we're we're working with people who are writing 12 books a year.
00:22:24
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:22:24
Heather Roberts
That's not uncommon.
00:22:25
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:22:26
Heather Roberts
Sometimes more than that if you're counting in novellas and things like that.
00:22:27
Veronica Adams
Yes. For sure. Or box sets and like all of the other things that go into special editions and yeah.
00:22:30
Heather Roberts
Do you? Right.
00:22:35
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Now, do you have to write that much?
00:22:38
Veronica Adams
Of course not.
00:22:38
Heather Roberts
Of course not. But there are people, the people who are hustling in this industry who are making the money and making bank are publishing almost a book a month.
00:22:46
Veronica Adams
Bank. Yeah.
00:22:52
Veronica Adams
Yes, they they are agented and are getting traditional deals for primary and or secondary rights, or they are publishing on their own every 30 to 45 days.
00:22:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:05
Veronica Adams
And they're making six to seven figures in most cases, doing that.
00:23:08
Heather Roberts
Right. And then then then they're often getting agented to get secondary rights or you know for a print distribution, um translations, audio rights, all of that.
00:23:13
Veronica Adams
Print distribution, or yep, yep. Translations, yep.
00:23:20
Heather Roberts
they you know so
00:23:21
Veronica Adams
Yeah, because once you prove you can sell well on your own, there are publishers out there who will gladly help you sell in the markets they specialize in.
00:23:28
Heather Roberts
Absolutely.
00:23:28
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:23:30
Heather Roberts
And that's not a bad deal for you to do at that point.
00:23:32
Veronica Adams
Yeah, sure.
00:23:33
Heather Roberts
But my point being, there are many ways to do this industry.
00:23:37
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:23:38
Heather Roberts
And if you are looking at this like a hobby, which is totally fine, a creative outlet, that's absolutely fine. um You know, you're not going to think about it in the same way, but if you find yourself in the position, like Veronica was saying, where suddenly you're making money and you don't know what to do with it, you I hope you heed this lesson and remember, okay,
00:23:47
Veronica Adams
Sure.
00:23:55
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:23:58
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Hit the pause button. Think about it as a business.
00:24:00
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Think about it as a business, um, because lots of people are, and you can find amazing authors who can give you some great advice, um, as well to help you out.
00:24:03
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:24:08
Veronica Adams
Well, for sure.
00:24:12
Veronica Adams
You can go back and listen to every episode of this podcast.
00:24:12
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:24:14
Veronica Adams
There are some nuggets in there that will be helpful to you as well.
00:24:15
Heather Roberts
No kidding.
00:24:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah. We've talked about a lot of stuff.
00:24:21
Veronica Adams
Send us an email. We answer questions in real life.
00:24:24
Heather Roberts
Yeah, we do.
00:24:24
Veronica Adams
You don't have to, you don't have to be a client. You can buy our time by the hour.
00:24:28
Heather Roberts
Absolutely.
00:24:29
Veronica Adams
We still do that.
00:24:29
Heather Roberts
I actually, my realtor who helped us buy this house listens to our podcast. So hi, Tammy, if you've gotten this far.
00:24:36
Veronica Adams
Hey, Tammy.
00:24:37
Heather Roberts
Hey, Tammy. ah We love Tammy. I guess her daughter is thinking about writing a book or or publishing. And so she's been listening to our podcast and I enjoy that.
00:24:45
Veronica Adams
Love that.
00:24:50
Heather Roberts
So you don't, she's not in the publishing industry, but she has learned so much.
00:24:52
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:24:55
Heather Roberts
Um, as she, at least she's told me that she has. ah So that's great. And that, that's the whole point. You can go from zero to knowing things, right?
00:25:03
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:25:04
Heather Roberts
You don't have to know anything to come into the podcast, um, to start learning.
00:25:06
Veronica Adams
Yep.
00:25:08
Heather Roberts
So anyway, it's my pitch on the podcast.
00:25:11
Veronica Adams
That's the same thing for publishing, too, though. I mean, it's it's the Wild West.
00:25:13
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:25:14
Veronica Adams
You can just do whatever you want to. That's not really advisable, but it's possible.
00:25:20
Heather Roberts
ah It is possible.
00:25:22
Veronica Adams
and how you end up in a position where your hobby is now earning money and you don't know what to do about it.
00:25:27
Heather Roberts
Right. Exactly. Exactly. And now it's very cool. And I would encourage you to take a look back on this year.
00:25:34
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:25:39
Heather Roberts
What were your successes
Expanding Writing Careers
00:25:41
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:25:42
Heather Roberts
and what can you do better?
00:25:44
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:25:45
Heather Roberts
Where where did you maybe fall a little short? What do you want to focus on in 2025?
00:25:51
Veronica Adams
do Do you even want to expand and grow in terms of like authoring, writing? right like we We have a lot of friends and acquaintances in the industry who've taken writing and leveraged it into something else by becoming you know by selling courses or starting retreats or events.
00:25:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:26:12
Veronica Adams
or merchandising, you know, kickstarters, all sorts of things that you can do.
00:26:16
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:26:18
Veronica Adams
I mean, you know, um Patreon, Substack, just all kinds of things that you can take this career, this business and expand it a little bit wider.
00:26:19
Heather Roberts
So much. Yeah.
00:26:30
Veronica Adams
I mean, you don't have to, don't have to just write books all the time.
00:26:33
Heather Roberts
Yeah, exactly.
00:26:34
Veronica Adams
So.
00:26:36
Heather Roberts
Or is this going to be a consistency year? Is this going to be a year where
Planning Personal and Business Goals for 2025
00:26:42
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:26:42
Heather Roberts
you're just, okay, I'm going to just try to stay stable because of all the other things that are going on in my life.
00:26:47
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:48
Heather Roberts
And if that's that's if that's you, that's okay.
00:26:52
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:26:53
Heather Roberts
You just have to recognize that and recognizing it will help you accept it and will help you sort of deal with that sort of FOMO feeling that inevitably is going to come when you're looking at other people doing things and you're like, why am I not doing, you know, like I wanted to, you've already decided this is not your year for that.
00:27:08
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:27:13
Veronica Adams
Yep. Just come up with a plan.
00:27:13
Heather Roberts
And that's okay.
00:27:15
Veronica Adams
Come up with a plan to stay on task and and stay in your lane and just do the things that you know you need to get done.
00:27:18
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:27:21
Heather Roberts
Right. And know that your time will come to do something else in the in maybe 2026 and plan for that.
00:27:24
Veronica Adams
Yep. Yeah.
00:27:28
Veronica Adams
Sure. Absolutely.
00:27:30
Heather Roberts
So just wherever you are, Think about it and make a plan.
00:27:33
Veronica Adams
I saw somebody's, I saw somebody's writing schedule this week. This is totally as an aside.
00:27:37
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:27:38
Veronica Adams
She has tabs on her spreadsheet out to 2030 and I was like, just I'm just in love with the idea of thinking that far out about where you're going and what you're doing, right?
00:27:50
Veronica Adams
And not everybody has to be that ambitious or that organized for that matter.
00:27:50
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:27:53
Veronica Adams
But like that that's the mentality to try and slip yourself into right now at a minimum for 2025.
00:27:59
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:28:00
Veronica Adams
Like, where am I going? I got 12 new months coming.
00:28:04
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:28:04
Veronica Adams
They start they start soon. It's a little murky. What can I sort out for myself now? Is this a year where I can grow? Is this a year where I need to stay put? Is this a year where I need to kind of batten down the hatches and scale back a little bit?
00:28:16
Veronica Adams
That's okay too.
00:28:17
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:28:18
Veronica Adams
What does that look like for you?
00:28:21
Heather Roberts
And you know, I've, I've one client who every year she wants to potentially publish less, right?
00:28:21
Veronica Adams
so
00:28:28
Heather Roberts
Every year she's like, I don't want to necessarily, right.
00:28:30
Veronica Adams
Who doesn't? I want to write fewer books, but make more money.
00:28:33
Heather Roberts
Make more money.
00:28:33
Veronica Adams
How many times have you heard that?
00:28:33
Heather Roberts
Yeah. a million times. But the problem is every time she comes to me with like a schedule of something that she wants, she keeps adding things to the schedule.
00:28:44
Veronica Adams
I love that.
00:28:44
Heather Roberts
I'm like, well, this is not, this is not writing less.
00:28:45
Veronica Adams
This is not writing less.
00:28:50
Heather Roberts
This is not gonna happen.
00:28:52
Veronica Adams
i i love I love the determination to create though, right? like Because that's what it is.
00:28:55
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:28:56
Veronica Adams
It's a commitment to creation, and that's awesome.
00:28:59
Heather Roberts
Well, so whatever, whatever this, right.
00:28:59
Veronica Adams
But ahs it's sacrificing writing less to create more. That's just that's just the the bottom line.
00:29:05
Heather Roberts
Yeah. So I just always had to remind her when she says that I'm like, you you do this to yourself every year. This is what you do. And it's because you have this drive inside. It's not a bad thing, but like, you have this drive inside you to do more and to hustle more.
00:29:16
Veronica Adams
me
00:29:20
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:29:21
Heather Roberts
And that's okay. But you know, yeah, it's just funny. You know, some author, everybody's in a different place. I just hope everyone remembers that because some authors have written books for the next four years and are like are done and they're writing.
00:29:29
Veronica Adams
Yes. Oh my God, we had that conversation this week too, didn't we?
00:29:39
Heather Roberts
Yeah, we did. um We know of an author who literally has books done and written for the next four years.
Productivity and Individual Circumstances
00:29:47
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:29:48
Heather Roberts
And um so if God forbid something should happen to her, her but her her estate could
00:29:55
Veronica Adams
um but Her business is is set up to publish posthumously.
00:29:57
Heather Roberts
Her business for four years and new books, new titles, everything's done.
00:30:01
Veronica Adams
Like, yeah, yeah. Yep.
00:30:08
Heather Roberts
um Not everybody is that amazing, okay? You don't need to be at that level.
00:30:14
Veronica Adams
Right, and and do not hold yourself to a standard that you're a failure if you can't write ahead.
00:30:18
Heather Roberts
Right.
00:30:18
Veronica Adams
like if you're If you can just write the book in front of you that needs to be published by whatever pre-order date you've set up or whatever arbitrary deadline you've made for yourself, that's perfect. Just focus on the book in front of you.
00:30:30
Heather Roberts
Yeah, so there are authors like that. And then there are authors where like it is by the skin of their teeth in which they get the book uploaded by the deadline that is set by retailers.
00:30:40
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:30:44
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:30:45
Heather Roberts
And yeah, in some cases we have to push it out like a month.
00:30:46
Veronica Adams
and And in some cases, they don't even do that.
00:30:52
Veronica Adams
Yep, it happened.
00:30:52
Heather Roberts
um Yeah, it happens a lot. So my point being strive to be somewhere in the middle. if That would be ideal, right?
00:31:00
Veronica Adams
yeah Yeah.
00:31:02
Heather Roberts
To be like maybe a...
00:31:02
Veronica Adams
Yeah, those are those those are the extrements of the curve here. You want to be somewhere in the middle of the bell.
00:31:06
Heather Roberts
Yes. Yeah.
00:31:09
Heather Roberts
yeah
00:31:09
Veronica Adams
Yeah. somewhere between writing four years ahead and pushing your release out four weeks every time.
00:31:10
Heather Roberts
so
00:31:13
Heather Roberts
So...
00:31:18
Heather Roberts
That's the goal there. That's the goal.
00:31:20
Veronica Adams
yeah
00:31:21
Heather Roberts
So, um and listen, we've worked with both types of people and, you know,
00:31:25
Veronica Adams
Yes, and everyone in between.
00:31:28
Heather Roberts
and everyone in between.
00:31:29
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:31:29
Heather Roberts
So if you need help in the new year, sort of figuring out your life and figuring out what your schedule is going to be, feel free to reach out
Future Podcast Plans and Guest Episodes
00:31:38
Heather Roberts
to us. We are more than happy to have that conversation.
00:31:38
Veronica Adams
Yep, give us a shout. Absolutely.
00:31:42
Heather Roberts
be I love the planning phase. I love the planning time of year. I just had a planning call with a client the other day.
00:31:48
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:31:49
Heather Roberts
She's like, I need to vomit everything that's in my brain to you. And I was like, all right, let's go.
00:31:53
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:31:55
Heather Roberts
um And so
00:31:56
Veronica Adams
Sometimes they just need a little cheerleading, positive feedback. Sometimes they want to brainstorm.
00:31:59
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:32:00
Veronica Adams
Sometimes they want us to organize everything for them, like, and whatever the need is, it's exciting for us.
00:32:06
Heather Roberts
We're there.
00:32:07
Veronica Adams
Yeah, absolutely.
00:32:07
Heather Roberts
Yeah. Cause it's so fun. Cause it's like, all right, you vomit out your thoughts and then we get to organize them and figure out, okay, this is where your priorities should lie for XYZ.
00:32:12
Veronica Adams
Yes. Yes.
00:32:18
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:32:19
Heather Roberts
This is what you should be doing right now. This is what you should be doing in a month from now, et cetera, et cetera.
00:32:22
Veronica Adams
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:32:24
Heather Roberts
So it can be very helpful.
00:32:27
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:32:29
Heather Roberts
We also are going to look back a little further in the coming weeks and see you know what we could be focusing on more and planning more um with these podcasts.
00:32:39
Veronica Adams
For sure.
00:32:40
Heather Roberts
So like I was saying, we do have a new format that we're planning to try in 2025, bringing some guests on and all of that. um If there's somebody that you want us to interview, if you want to see on our podcast, please let us know, reach out.
00:32:51
Veronica Adams
Yeah. Yeah. First story.
00:32:55
Heather Roberts
um you know If you want to be on our podcast, please reach out.
00:32:59
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:33:00
Heather Roberts
um we We'd love to have that conversation.
00:33:02
Veronica Adams
Yeah, pitch us. Let us know why you'd be a good guest or what it is you have to offer.
00:33:04
Heather Roberts
Yeah.
00:33:05
Veronica Adams
Absolutely.
00:33:07
Heather Roberts
So that's ah that's, we're going to be trying to be a little more focused in 2025.
00:33:10
Veronica Adams
Super exciting.
00:33:12
Heather Roberts
That's our goal.
00:33:13
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:33:13
Heather Roberts
Be a little more proactive, planned and focused. So hopefully you can pick some goals for yourself that are realistic and achievable.
00:33:21
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:33:24
Heather Roberts
That is the the mark of a good goal is that you can actually
00:33:26
Veronica Adams
Yeah.
00:33:28
Heather Roberts
you know, do it and achieve it and also that you can track it.
00:33:30
Veronica Adams
Right.
00:33:32
Heather Roberts
That's very important too.
00:33:33
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:33:34
Heather Roberts
You need to be able to track the goal.
00:33:34
Veronica Adams
Yes. Being being able to measure it and and see how well you've done achieving it or how close you are to achieving it or what portions of your plans to achieve it are working or are not working.
00:33:48
Veronica Adams
Pretty important.
00:33:49
Heather Roberts
Yeah, so make some goals, start planning, start figuring out how you're going to achieve them and measure them.
00:33:52
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:33:56
Veronica Adams
Yes.
00:33:57
Heather Roberts
and we will see you in 2025.
00:33:59
Veronica Adams
Yes. Come join us next year.
00:34:01
Heather Roberts
Yes.