Hey friends, and welcome to the blog!
I can hardly believe it’s the last day of 2024. It’s been quite a year!
In June, I decided to take a leap of faith and start self-publishing some manuscripts I’d been sitting on.
I was scared out of my wits.
I’d self-published things before around 2016, but had taken those books down. They didn’t represent me, or who I was anymore, and I wanted a fresh start.
I also was looking for ways to possibly make income off of my writing. I knew it could be done with self-publishing, so I decided to give it a shot.
Now, I know that in general, self-publishing is a long game. It can take years to gain traction.
But I decided, what do I have to lose? So I went for it.
In June, I published The Amish Schoolmarm. This is a novel I wrote in 2016 for a Harlequin contest. It made it to the final round, but wasn’t chosen for publication.
So at the end of June, I held my breath and self-published it through KDP. The process wasn’t too hard, so I decided to keep going.
In July, I published Her Island Summer, which is another manuscript I’d been sitting on. Also in July, I wrote and published The Relaxed Homeschool, and Redeeming Home. Both of these projects were super fun.
In August, I published Becoming His Amish Sweetheart, which was yet another manuscript I’d been sitting on. I also wrote The Shopkeeper’s Match.
In September, I completed writing An Appalachian Engagement, to be released in November. And friends, by then, I was beginning to burn out.
I had read Maria Secoy’s book, The Truly Successful Author, and wanted to follow her method of publishing at least four books per year to gain traction as an indie author. I also wanted to get as many books published as possible, to build a backlog.
Now, I know my method isn’t the best. For example, I skipped around genres, and didn’t use a pen name to separate them. But I did what felt right, and am happy with most of my decisions.
At the beginning of October, I wrote 31 Days of Rest. It will release on January 7th.
And then do you know what I did? A whole lot of nothing. My Etsy shop had picked up, and I found it difficult to fit in writing when homeschooling my children. So I took a break until December.
In December, I felt refreshed, and started to write again. I knew that I was able to write so much easier in the summertime, and I thought our winter break would be a perfect time to get back to it.
This month, I rewrote another manuscript I’d been sitting on, finished an Amish novella, and wrote my first book in a new school-age mystery series. Phew. I’ve been busy, but I’m very pleased with what I’ve accomplished.
Going forward, my #1 goal is to learn how to get more reviews. On Amazon, reviews are everything. They provide social proof that a book is worth buying. On that note, if you’ve read one of my books and liked it, I would be so grateful if you would leave a review!
All of the advice I’ve read has said that it’s pointless to run Amazon ads unless your books have at least 20 reviews. Last week, I decided to test this theory by running ads for my three books that have the most reviews after watching a how-to video on YouTube. They sit at 14, 9, and 8 reviews, respectively. It’s only been a few days, but I’ve sold one book each day through the ads, which seems promising.
Going into 2025, here are a few of my goals:
Promote my first four books that are available for pre-order now. They are:
Dear Diary: I couldn’t believe my good luck when Mom told me she’d been asked to solve a mystery, and the rest of the family could tag along, too. Pink lady slippers have been disappearing from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and it looks like a thief is to blame! Spring break is about to get a lot more exciting!
Claire, Faith, and Hannah Stone are 12-year-old triplets who live with their family at a native plant nursery in the Appalachian mountains. Join them as they solve mysteries and go on adventures in The Garden Girls series.
Will Josie be able to leave her Amish past behind on Tybee Island?
Josie Lantz’s life is left in shambles when the Amish teenager finds herself both pregnant and alone. When her Aunt Meredith takes her in, she settles into her new fancy life on Tybee Island, yet something is missing.
Islander Hudson Reed has not been able to pick up the pieces of his life after his fiancé was killed in a boating accident, but things start to change once Josie enters the picture.
When the two are forced to evacuate to Josie’s childhood home during a hurricane, will they grow closer together? Or will the forces around them cause their relationship to snap?
This contemporary romance is a clean read, and does not contain foul language, sex, or graphic scenes of any kind.
A secret sent Clara away from Harbor Bay nearly a decade ago, but now she’s back…
When Clara Bennett left her Amish community on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, she didn’t think she’d ever return. But when a devastating accident causes her to be named the guardian of her sister’s adopted daughter Harper, Clara reluctantly comes back to confront her fears.
Tyler White is still reeling from the loss of his family when his new neighbor Clara moves in. As the two of them work together at the Beaufort County Conservation Trust while supporting Harper, love starts to blossom. Will it be enough? Or will Clara’s secret tear them apart?
This Amish romance is a clean read, and does not contain foul language, sex, or graphic scenes of any kind.
I also plan to write two more novels for my Amish of Appalachia series, one Amish of Appalachia novella, and two more school-age mysteries in 2025.
Phew!
These are my writing goals, at least. We’ll see if they all come to pass.
I’m going to try my best.
I hope your goals go wonderfully well this year, whatever they may be.
Nicole Crone 
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