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Blog 5: January 2026

My 2026 Regency Romance Writing Goals

Author Adelaide Acree shares her 2026 writing, marketing, and publishing goals, offering a deeper look at each and the strategies she plans to use to achieve them.

Hello, lovely readers!

Happy 2026! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with friends, family, or your fur friends.

I’ve been busy editing my fourth book, A Diversion at Dyrham Park, and hope to have it ready for beta readers by mid-January. I’ll also be road-tripping for two weeks, so it will be interesting to see whether I can keep up my workload while I travel. If you’re curious to learn more, I’ve set up a page with a sneak peek of one of the chapters. If all goes well, the book will be released before Valentine’s Day.

This month, I’m going to walk through the goal-setting infographic I created for myself. Is it ambitious? Yes. Is it achievable? I believe so.

Goal 1: 10,000+ Books Sold

You’re already shaking your head, aren’t you? Hear me out—I have data behind this number.

My financial goal for 2026 is to earn at least $40,000. Currently, Books A–C are priced at $3.99, with one novella priced at $0.99. I also plan to release five additional novels in my A–Z of Romance: Regency series this year, each priced at $3.99.

If I sell 10,000 books total, or roughly 1,250 readers purchasing all eight books, I will have reached that goal. Of course, I’d love to earn double—or even triple—that amount, but I’m aiming to be realistic as a second-year author publishing wide.

This year, I’ll also be learning how to package my books more strategically. By that, I mean selling them as book sets. Perhaps my first four titles together, or curated duos built around specific tropes (for example, Books A and E, which both feature enemies-to-lovers).

I also plan to begin offering paperback editions. What’s held me back so far is length. I’d like Books A and B to reach roughly 70,000 words, which is the range traditional publishers tend to prefer before selling paper copies. Now that Books C and D have been expanded to 28 chapters, I feel confident returning to the first two books and adding a couple of chapters to increase their word counts.

Just one more thing to add to the to-do list.

Goal 2: Publish Books D-H

What held me back from releasing more than three novels in 2025 was learning the writing craft itself. I made many of the mistakes new writers often make, such as starting nearly every paragraph with a name or pronoun.

I worked with freelance editors on Books A and B, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. When a beta reader, who happened to be a professional editor, critiqued Book C and pointed out recurring issues, it was truly eye-opening. I pulled my first two books from sale and had her critique them as well. I then spent the spring and summer addressing those issues and moving through the editing process again. The second round of releases was significantly stronger, and writing Book D has made me far more conscious of my craft. ProWritingAid and editGPT help a ton.

Last year, I also mapped out the books I plan to publish in 2026, so I know the beginnings, middles, and endings, as well as the protagonists, antagonists, and everything in between. I had originally written Book E, but later learned that debut authors are generally advised not to vary heat levels within their first series. Since Books A–D all fall between sweet and sensual (after I revised Books A and D from spicy), I couldn’t keep Book E as erotic. Once I replanned it, however, the storyline made far more sense and honestly became more exciting once I leaned into the mystery element.

Book H will be my first of two holiday romances. With a 26-book series, the tropes don’t divide evenly, so I knew I needed a fifth romance trope. Because each book in the series begins in a consecutive month, it was intentional that Book H would meet all the expectations of a Hallmark-style holiday romance. From what I’ve learned, these books should be released by Thanksgiving. That means if Book D releases by February 14, Books E–G will be spaced out across the remainder of the year.

I also plan to release one or two new reader magnets. Lily was a huge success, though it didn’t translate into as many readers continuing on to buy my first three books (something I plan to improve in 2026). I already have a side character in mind who will feature prominently in Book G, and I may be able to introduce a shorter piece tied to Book E, allowing me to release the reader magnet ahead of Book G’s launch.

Goal 3: 1,000 or more 4-5 star reviews

This may actually be my most difficult goal. While I can recruit ARC readers to read in exchange for an honest review, I can’t—and wouldn’t—expect them to leave a certain star rating simply because I asked. I’m still finding my reader tribe, and that can be challenging, especially when I’ve learned that many romance readers prefer to wait until a series is complete before starting it.

One lesson I learned the hard way is that romance readers are far less likely to pick up books without ratings or reviews. At first, I didn’t believe it. I’ll read a book if the blurb intrigues me, regardless of reviews. But data doesn’t lie. Even when a marketing campaign performed well, it didn’t translate into a proportional number of buyers. (Imagine if all 50,000 viewers of my reel actually bought the book.)

To address this, I signed up for Booksprout and am in the process of claiming my profile on BookBub to expand my ARC reach. I also applied to BookSirens, but was rejected, and from what I understand, NetGalley is primarily geared toward traditional publishers. Booksprout operates on a subscription model, so I’ll need to pay $29 per month to keep campaigns active for each of my four books.

On a SPA Girls Podcast episode, one author mentioned adding a short note on the final page of her books inviting readers to join her ARC team by emailing her directly. I plan to do the same, with the hope that I can eventually build a sustainable ARC list and cancel the subscription service.

If we break the numbers down, I need approximately 125 readers to review all eight books, with an average rating of four stars or higher, to reach this goal. Coming from a project management background, I plan to check my progress mid-year and reassess as needed. If the goal needs adjusting (perhaps removing the star-rating requirement), then so be it. As self-published authors, flexibility and the ability to pivot are essential.

Goal 4: Publish Direct to Retailers

While Goal #3 may be the most challenging, this one is far more straightforward—as long as I do it correctly.

The idea of publishing exclusively through Amazon Unlimited never sat quite right with me. While I could have made more money in the short term, I ultimately chose to publish wide. I knew it would be a slower path, which is why one of my long-term expectations was that profitability would come after two years or eight books.

I chose Draft2Digital after repeatedly seeing it recommended over IngramSpark. It’s easy to use, the reporting is decent, and I’m a big fan of the universal link feature. However, the fees do eat into my profits. I always planned to eventually publish direct to Kobo and Barnes & Noble, but late last year I learned that I could also publish directly to Amazon without enrolling in KU.

In 2026, I plan to research every retailer that allows direct publishing and fully understand what’s required to transition from an aggregator to individual platforms. Doing so should increase my margins and directly support my goal of earning $40,000 this year.

Goal 5: Increase SEO and AIO Discoverability

This goal sits closely with my marketing goal. Because I use Google Sites, I don’t have the same flexibility with meta descriptions or pixel tracking that other website platforms offer. Instead, I rely heavily on intentional keyword usage across my blog posts and website content.

In 2026, my focus will be on writing more evergreen blog content that aligns with how readers search—whether they’re looking for Regency romance, historical settings, or behind-the-scenes insights into my writing process. Rather than chasing trends, I want my site to slowly build authority through consistent, searchable content.

I’ll also be paying closer attention to how my posts perform in search results and adjusting accordingly. Small changes, such as clearer headings, stronger internal linking, and more descriptive page titles, can add up over time. My goal isn’t overnight traffic spikes, but steady, long-term discoverability that brings new readers to my books organically.

How I plan to measure it is the type of content I add to my website, like this blog, and ensuring it is being tracked on Google Analytics, so I can track the statistics of each page to ensure numbers continue to increase.

Goal 6: Attend More Writing Events

There are several writing events I’d like to attend, but since they all come with a cost, I need to be thoughtful about which ones are truly worth the investment, and which I might replace with a YouTube course or online workshop instead.

Later this month, PNWWA is hosting an in-person workshop. I’d love to attend, though I may still be traveling at the time. They also offer a monthly critique group, which I haven’t tried yet and think could be especially helpful.

I’m also considering attending the Romance Writers of America conference in New Mexico this July. It’s quite expensive, especially when flights and accommodation are factored in, but I have a strong feeling it will be a top-notch experience and a valuable learning opportunity. It’s slightly cheaper if I join as a member, and I have until February 15 to decide before prices increase.

On a more local level, I’ve found a few writing groups that I plan to make an effort to attend at least once a month. I’d also like to add a weekday group—there are several cafés nearby that would be perfect for this. While I have a pretty great setup at home, nothing quite compares to in-person interaction.

Goal 7: Batch & Automate Marketing Material

I’ve found genuine joy in creating social media posts, blogs, and vlogs, but it can be incredibly time-consuming, especially when I share behind-the-scenes content that requires research. Today, for example, was spent entirely on creating my goals infographic and this blog post. I’d like to leverage this work by creating several social media posts from it as well.

I’ve seen articles claiming you should be posting two reels a day, commenting thirty times, saving, sharing, and adding several more posts on top of that. Maybe if writing weren’t my full-time focus, I’d consider it. Through trial and error, I’ve learned that a more realistic pace for me is one blog and one behind-the-scenes post per month. Essentially one piece of long-form content every two weeks.

In the past, I’ve been guilty of not fully leveraging those articles for social media. But it’s 2026, and I’m a smarter marketer. I tried the “post constantly” approach (okay, not 20,000 times a day, but you get the idea), and it ultimately led to burnout. What worked better was committing to one quality post or reel per day, shared across Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, depending on the format. I really enjoy using Adobe Express and its “share to social” feature, though YouTube still requires manual uploads.

So, here’s the new, more streamlined plan.

At the start of each month, I’ll dedicate one day to creating an infographic, which will also become a blog post. I’ll then create at least one social media post promoting that blog. For larger posts (like this goals blog), I may not do individual posts for each goal. Instead, I’ll likely create a carousel that groups them into a few categories or consolidates them in a way that makes sense. These posts will be scheduled and scattered over the following two weeks. Alongside that, I’ll continue sharing book excerpts, quotes, and kitten photos.

Mid-month (most likely around the 15th or 16th), I’ll create my behind-the-scenes article. These are some of my favorite pieces to write, as they allow me to dive deep into Regency England and fully indulge my inner history nerd. While I’ve experimented with vlogs, I think I’ll reserve those for how-to content (such as building my website). I’d also like to return to creating ambiance videos. They’ve proven time-consuming in the past, but I plan to keep researching ways to produce them more efficiently.

I’d also like to explore automation tools like Make or Zapier. I follow a tech-savvy author on YouTube (@The Nerdy Novelist) who regularly dives into how these tools can support writers. While I’m still figuring out how best to implement them, success for this goal will likely be measured by consistency.

Finally, I need to reintroduce a Meta ad campaign. My previous campaign generated over 50,000 interactions, which was a success in terms of brand awareness. In 2026, however, I want to take it a step further and focus on selling books. I was supposed to launch a new campaign recently, but it got set aside and promptly forgotten. I previously spent $11 per day and may reduce that to $5 to keep my books visible, or alternatively, wait until closer to the launch of Book D later this month.

Goal 8: Fine-Tune Writing for Easier Editing

I can write a 70,000-word novel in about three weeks. Once I get into the zone, I can write continuously from my planned notes. I’m not a pantser, though perhaps a hybrid plantser. When I finish a draft, I set it aside for a day to clear my head. I then return to it as a reader, making changes only if something doesn’t make sense or if there’s an obvious issue, such as a naming inconsistency.

After that pass, I run the manuscript through ProWritingAid, editing chapter by chapter. This is the most time-consuming part of the process, though I expect it will become easier as I continue to write. I often uncover a high number of echoes, overused words, repetitions, and style issues. ProWritingAid is excellent for identifying these patterns, but echoes in particular can slow me down. When I see fifty or more echoes, I can easily spend half a day varying sentence structure and phrasing.

The goal is simple: to catch these issues earlier. If I can become more aware of my habits during the first draft or even during my initial read-through, my editing time will be cut significantly. Fewer problem areas in the editing modules means faster revisions, quicker handoffs to beta readers and editors, and ultimately earlier release dates.

This is an easy goal to measure. If my editing time is reduced by half, I’ll know I’m on the right track. Like most things in writing, I know this will come with practice, but it’s a skill I’m committed to refining.

Goal 9: Enjoy The Journey

I’ve worked in many high-stress jobs, and while 2025 wasn’t financially great, it was one of my favorite years. It was the year I realized that writing is what I want to pursue as my full-time career.

Some people might call me silly for starting my professional writing journey with a 26-book series, but that’s simply how it unfolded. I’ve always loved reading the big Regency romance names—Tessa Dare, Mary Balogh, Sophie Jordan—and I’ve long been fascinated by historical architecture, especially in England (one day I’ll be back!). At some point, the thought struck me: I should write a story. And that’s how An Affair at Apsley House was born.

Once I started, I realized that most Regency romances are written as part of a series. Rather than following the familiar paths—spinster sisters or devilish rakes—I wanted something a little more unusual. Around the same time, I had begun fostering kittens and named my first two Apollo and Atlas. I planned to name the next litter with B names, and suddenly it clicked: Why not A–Z of Romance?

That’s when my project management instincts kicked in. I started thinking long-term—what if I wanted to write a second A–Z of Romance series? That question led to the creation of the Raven Seal Branch and the connected series structure. Then another idea emerged: an A–Z of Romance set in the contemporary world. And just like that, my brand was born.

I don’t know many authors who’ve approached a series quite this way. The closest example I’ve seen started with the letter T and made it to about fourteen books—not even in alphabetical order, which I personally find a bit confusing. As a project manager, though, I thrive on structure. I’ve built a spreadsheet “bible” that tracks every letter, character name, setting, protagonist, mystery, romance arc, and how each book connects to the others. I have folders and subfolders, and I love using Google Docs’ tab feature to organize different sections of my work.

I’m absolutely loving the journey so far. I know I’ll feel even better once I can comfortably live off my writing, but that goal can only be achieved by completing the other eight goals first.

And that’s okay. This journey is the point.

Until next time…

MNP xx