Do you look at success in terms of the number of books sold? Or is it seeing your title hit the top of your category on Amazon? Maybe it’s seeing your book in a store or library. For some, it’s the “thank you” emails they receive from grateful readers.

It doesn’t really matter how you define success. What counts is that you do define it. Because if you don’t have a goal for your book marketing efforts, you won’t know if you’re successful or not.

And I want you to be successful.

My goal-setting process

I always write about goal-setting here near the end of the year (see past goal-setting blog posts at this link) because this is when I start putting mine down on paper.

I’ll review them with my goal buddy, Marcia Layton Turner, when we meet next Friday for our annual goal-setting discussion and holiday luncheon (ugly Christmas sweaters required). We will review what we did and didn’t accomplish in 2017 and talk about where we want to go in 2018.

As I share mine with Marcia, she will say to me more than once, “Can you be more specific than that?”

I need that nudge! My goals should be specific and measurable and realistic.

We usually agree to meet again in two weeks with all of the holes filled in.

I use an official “planner”

My favorite part of this process is reviewing the current year’s highs and lows. I learned this trick when I started using Leonie Dawson’s “My Shining Year” workbook planners. This step tempers my disappointment at what I haven’t accomplished because it shows me what I have achieved.

I added another very different planning tool to my approach last year when I took Marcia’s advice and bought the Momentum Planners Bundle (affiliate link). (Try it out for free first with the planner download for December.)

This package of fill-in-the-blanks PDF files starts with the big picture — a yearlong look at goals. Then it breaks them down by quarter and allows me to add the steps I’ll take — and when — to hit those quarterly goals. From there, I shift to the monthly planning sheets, where I get more detailed about how I’ll get where I need to go.

It works for me because it forces me to list what I’ll do and when I’ll do it.

But what works for you? Honestly, for several years, all I did was list my goals on one page in a Word file. That approach was my equivalent of goal-setting training wheels. I eventually outgrew my Word file, but when goal-setting was a new concept for me, it was a great starting point.

Marcia and I try to meet at least quarterly in person or by phone for a goal review. Checking in with a goal buddy helps both of us feel more accountable.

What’s your process?

That’s my process. What’s yours?

What? You don’t have one??

Here’s my challenge to you: Set at least one book marketing goal for 2018.

Let it sit for awhile, then come back to it and start planning how you’ll achieve that goal.

If you find the process intimidating, take it slowly.

If you embrace it, maybe you’ll be willing to share some tips or advice in a comment here. You might give someone else the aha! they need to start planning for the best year ever.

Please share your goal-setting tips, advice, or concerns in a comment!