Monthly Assessment: April and May 2015

What I’m reading: God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
What’s on the iPod: Everything by Michael Bublé

What a great Writers Worth month! Thank you to every single one of you who contributed your stories and ideas. I’m always amazed by the incredible talent and insight of my colleagues at all career levels. Everyone has something of value to share — that’s the beauty of this job, and it’s the core of this annual event. If you come away from Writers Worth Month with any message, it would be how much value you bring to the profession.

There is one more post from a new writer coming this week. We ran out of space in May, but June is an excellent time to remind ourselves why we do this. Her story, coming this week, will inspire you, I promise.

Back to regular business then huh? Because I was fresh off a conference trip and running to catch up with the Writers Worth stuff, I didn’t give an assessment for April. No matter — we’re going to look at it today. Those of you who are new to the blog, this post is a good time to reflect on your activities for the previous month, including your earnings and marketing, and share it with everyone here. We don’t do dollar amounts — percentages measured against your goal is just fine. And if you don’t have a monthly earnings goal (or even an annual one), now’s a great time to see how others are doing it and maybe start your own goal-setting.

So here we go —

April 2015


Queries:
With the conference preparations this year, my queries were minimal. I did send out one. The editors called and asked me to write a different story instead, which is all good in my book.

LOIs:
Conference month, so lots of these went out. I think I topped out at 38. Too many to count. The result: just a few meetings at the conference, but those meetings hit pay dirt. I’m in talks with a few companies right now.

Social media:
I attended a few Twitter chats in my specialty area. That resulted in more follows and a bit more name recognition — a great thing because of the conference trip. A few people who’d followed me recognized my name and chatted me up. No work out of it yet, but I’m making some great contacts.

Job postings:
None. No time. Those of you who know me know I don’t normally bother with job listings, but occasionally there’s a good one I come across or am alerted to.

Existing clients:
April was all about regular clients. I had two magazine articles plus some projects for another regular client.

New clients:
Pre-conference, I was hired by not one but two new clients. One is an ongoing project with no end date. The other is a retainer project through the rest of the year. These two gigs make up two-thirds of my monthly targeted earnings.

Conference:
I had to give this one its own category. The conference couldn’t have been better. I came away with not a few, but a baker’s dozen of clients who wanted further conversations. It seemed like every time I sat down, someone wanted to hire me (in two cases, that was true literally). Truly this was the easiest time I’ve had at a show. I barely worked for the leads — they came naturally through conversations. But I’ve contacted everyone and am about to follow up with each one now that a month has gone by.

Poetry:
I’ve not sold anything more, but I saw one poem published and I sent out four different submissions, including one book-length submission.

Earnings:
Despite having a week chewed up by the conference (along with plenty of time spent marketing and polishing my marketing pieces), I came within a few hundred dollars of my monthly target.

Bottom line:
The month was spent in preparation for my big sales push at the conference. It was time well spent netting 13 serious inquiries. The regular clients kept me busy and working, and I’m grateful for them.

May 2015


Queries:
I’ve sent out two queries at the moment, both for a client ghostwriting gig. Nothing netted from it yet, but I expect one editor to say yes this week (I hope).

LOIs:
No new ones, but plenty of follow-up notes from the conference.

Social media:
No work netted, but I’m still attending webinars and Twitter chats to keep my name in front of potential clients.

Job postings:
Zero. Didn’t even bother looking.

Existing clients:
I have my ongoing work for two clients, plus I have a few small projects completed for a regular client. This is where the bulk of my income came this month.

New clients:
Thanks to the conference, I have one new client I’m currently working with. Another client who works within a sister company to an existing client’s business has been in touch, and I may have some work this week from them. I’ve had two conversations with two new clients, but no contract yet.

Poetry:
I’m sure writing a lot of it, but I’m not sending out much. I’m slowing down a bit to make sure what I send it as good as I can get it, so the number of submissions is down. I sent out four this month.

Earnings:
Once again, I’m just a little short of my monthly goal. I’m off by a thousand. Not bad, but I need to get those numbers up.

Bottom line:
With all the focus on the conference and then Writers Worth Month, I didn’t devote much time to marketing. I did, however, follow up with contacts I’d made, and the plan is to get back in front of them this week when they’re all back from vacations.

Writers, how did you do these last two months?
Any surprises? Did you reach your target?
Where do you think things are working/aren’t working?