I’m trying to get more organized in how I write, so to that effect, I am going to outline my plan for next year. Because I like giving things cutesy, punny names – I hereby declare 2022 Pander-monia!

Have you switched over to Reddit yet? No? Good.

I have a couple of tools at my disposal that I really don’t use as much as I should if I want to make this whole writing thing a little more profitable than it is now.

One of them is a subscription service (then again, what isn’t?) called Kindletrends. This goes through the top 100 in various genres and tells you what’s selling, what the most popular key words are, what do the top 100 covers look like and other vital things to help one market or write. Let’s face it, I’m a one-man band here. As much as I would like to think my cannibal romance book is destined to be a New York Times Bestseller once it’s finished, I do have to put out things that are going to get looked at and hopefully bought. I’m going to use the keywords and other trend things to give me a head’s-up on what’s popular. Let’s face it – if 50 Shades of Grey can be successful…so can I!

The other tool is called KDSpy. This one measures the popularity and uniqueness of various keywords. It tackles the same issue that Kindletrends does, but from the other end. With this, I can find out what other keywords I could use, and how often they’re used – the idea that if I use a popular keyword, I run the risk of being overlooked because I’m not in the top 10 or 25.

What I’m trying to do is maximize my visibility.

Of course, I can hear you screaming at the screen: “WHAT GOOD IS BEING VISIBLE IF YOU’RE NOT PUTTING OUT WORK?”

This is the second part of the equation. Next year it’s going to be a novel a month. Can I maintain that sort of pace? I can do it in November, and I have done it before. I can do this. All I have to do is really, really set aside my ego a little and…pander.

Yes, it does gall me a little. I think I have some great independent ideas, but no one’s going to see them unless I get my name out there. The best way for me to get things out there is to work more towards the marketing end of things. Like I said, I have these tools and I’m not really using them. I really, really need to start putting out material. I need to get King levels of prolific. My big ideas will have to wait until I can spare the time.

There are other things I have: beat sheets, editor programs and word processors whose name doesn’t rhyme with Schmicroschmoft Schmord. This is me putting my drive to the test. If I fail at this, then I really need to relegate this to a hobby. This year, I’m going to finish up a couple of projects that I’ve started and try to clear the table a little.

Wish me luck.

Also – I’m going to want pictures of adorable pandas. Just to help me carry on. Thanks in advance.