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s it worth creating your author goals for your future? Discover the types of author goals that are worth creating, and how to achieve them.

What are author goals?

Author goals list out your desires, to help you work out the steps to take towards achieving them in your future.

It’s like making a map for turning your dreams into realities.

When it comes to building your author platform, it helps if you know your author goals. Find out how… Share on X

There are three types of author goals:

According to the goal-setting geniuses, there are three types of goals.

For an author we have:

1. The author processes goals—the number of books you want to write. This goal type is controlled by what you can do as an author. Simply by working on your daily word count.
2. An author’s performance goal—is to have a book draft completed and ready for submission to either an editor or a publisher.
3. Author outcome goals—is that dream of becoming a bestseller, or winning an award, or getting that publishing contract?

To achieve number 3 (the big author outcome goal), you start at number 1, working towards completing number 2.

For example:

1. Achieve your daily word count to—
2. Finish the book for submission, and then—
3. Get the publishing contract.

Why have author goals?

Writing a book is a marathon, and it’s easy for your motivation to lag. Authors are notorious for procrastination (*raises hand*), we all have the best intentions to sit and write, but life gets in the way.

Having a set of author goals helps you to stay on track.

Setting author goals gives you a clear path of what to do with your future, but you need some sort of motivation to help you succeed.

This is your why!!

I’d first learned of the why from the book Find Your Why by Simon Sinek.

The why is your inspiration. It’s what gives you that spark to keep moving forwards. It’s like having your own personal muse written down in a few words.

Knowing your why will help you keep focused on what you want to achieve in your goals, so if you’re tempted to indulge in Taco Tuesdays, you’ll know why you’re willing to sacrifice those tequila shots today, for the long-term tomorrow.

Having your author goals clearly stepped out means you have a plan that will make it easier for you to manage.

Every amazing author out there has a unique reason to want to sit in front of a screen and type at all hours. 

What’s your reason?

Every amazing author out there has a unique reason to want to sit in front of a screen and type at all hours. What's your reason? Share on X

10 author goal examples:

The following are some suggestions of a potential reason why you want to start, to keep you going, and why you’ll be willing to surrender your free time to write that story.

 See if any of the following resonate with you:

1. You want to be a famous author, like JK Rowling or Stephen King famous.
2. To live the lifestyle of writing in the morning and drinking by the pool in the afternoon.
3. Because it’s on your bucket list.
4. You want to hold a copy of your book in your hand.
5. There’s a story rattling around in your head and it needs to get out!
6. That moment you see, smell, and feel your book cover that has a special space on the bookshelf in a bookstore. Now we’re talking.
7. To have a big Hollywood producer knock on your door with a request to turn your book into a movie.
8. You want to win a bunch of book awards.
9. Because you’ve just read a bestselling book and know with every fibre in your being you can write a book better than that! (No offense to any bestselling authors reading this).
10. You want to pass your story down to the generations to come.

Another 5 author goals of a different kind

 Author goals become plans and in the publishing industry, there are a few terms you’ll hear floating around, but they’re still goals named differently. 

Here are a few:

1. Book sales per year—are part of your publishing plan.
2. Social media followers per year—this is your social media plan.
3. People on your email list—are part of your marketing plan.
4. Fill a bucket full of rejection notices—publishing plan.
5. Start blogging—a content marketing plan.

Keeping being inspired by your author goals

Knowing your why is your motivation and should be plastered all over your wall! Or build a huge billboard out front of your window so you, and the rest of the neighborhood, can stare at it every day.

An author friend had his kids draw out his why, which he then made into the screen saver for his phone.

Its proven that seeing your goals, your reasons for the goals, helps cement them.

It’s like a vision board that will stab at that soft spot in your soul propelling you to put your bum into that seat to write. 

Not telling you anything new here, but authors are notorious for procrastination (*raises hand*), we all have the best intentions to sit and write, but life get in the way so having your motivation and your goals in your face helps you take that one step closer towards achieving them.

It’s as simple as putting your author goals on a simple piece of paper stuck to your window. Some authors use a chalkboard they change monthly, others have a whiteboard prominently displayed in their writers’ cave. Oh wait, that’s me.

Having your goals written in stone (or in erasable ink) and where you see it daily helps you keep your focus.

Having your goals written in stone (or in erasable ink) and where you see it daily helps you keep your focus. Share on X

When do I start my author goals?

Anytime you like. 

Most start thinking about their author goals at milestone seasons like at New Year of Mid-year. Others on their birthdays when they sit down and work on their goals. 

But really, any time is a great time to start working on your author goals.

To start, you just take the time to work out what you want to achieve as an author.

Dream up those Big Picture Author Goals.

Go big. Really big. Dream of whatever you like.

These are what are known as big-picture goals that allow you to see that big epic moment in a movie. The End of that book. That cold and weighty writer’s award nestled in your hands as your ears ring from the standing ovation!

The big-picture goal helps you overcome those boring smaller tasks. when you know what you’re doing is for the greater good of your overall goals.

Seeing the bigger picture means you don’t have to sweat too much over the details.

Have a go at looking at what you’d want to achieve in one year by choosing a big-picture goal. But be realistic. Please, don’t set yourself up for failure, my friend.

New to setting author goals? Start small and be gentle with yourself

Setting huge author goals is daunting it makes you want to clean out your sock drawer! Overwhelm and fear may set in where you could end up berating yourself for not doing anything when you had the best of intentions.

Guess what?

This is perfectly normal.

You can create simple steps to start the process, such as:

I will make a space to write in…

Tomorrow I will set up a file in the cloud for my book.

The next day, I will set up the document page to write in my writing tool of choice.

The following day, your word count can be 20 words, then 50 words, to become 100 words or 150 words, working up to 500 words per day. Do keep a low word count in the beginning. That way, if you’re busy, you won’t berate yourself for being human because writing a book is a long journey.

So please be kind and do remember to reward yourself when you achieve any of your author goals. No matter how big or small. Every step matters.

Review your author goals

Life can get in the way, and you’ll find some of your author goals are impossible.

Guess what?

You have the power to adjust them. All at the stroke of a pen. Coz we’re authors and that’s what we do. Right.

Anyway…

Each month, I’d recommend you buy yourself a coffee somewhere and look over your goals for the past month. See what you achieved, then look at your annual plan and see if you are still on track. Pst, you get FREE Author  Goal Planning Kit, it comes as a free bonus with the book, Your Author Goals, to help you achieve success.

Life and your Author Goals

You may have blitzed your word counts for the month by skipping a day at the office and two taco-tequila nights! Yay. You’re going to crush your goals well in advance.

Or you won a holiday to Disneyland to go on every single amusement ride. You won’t have time to write, so don’t stress yourself out.

Be kind and make those goals achievable, because setting deadlines and achieving your goals is an amazing feeling that will motivate you to want to write more books.

Also, regularly reviewing your goals makes it easy to see where you are going, also giving you room to adapt.

You’ll surprise yourself when each of those small steps you make, helps you reach your bigger picture goal.

They’re your goals, and you know yourself best, so set them to suit you but have fun doing it.

If you want to learn more, do check out the short book Your Author Goals. It’s made for authors, by authors.

Happy goal setting.