Year-End Author Checklist: 15 Things to Refresh, Revamp, and Revise Before the New Year

Reading Time: 5 minutes

The holiday season is a magical time to reflect on the past year and set yourself up for success in the next, and what better way to do that than with a checklist?

As an author, it’s the perfect time to check in on all the nooks and crannies of your brand to ensure everything is polished, current, and ready to impress. So often we forget to check all the boxes, like making sure that your website no longer says: “Coming Soon!” for a book that’s been out for a year. Or updating your Amazon retail pages with new awards or reviews!

So to help you stay on top of things, I’ve compiled an easy-to-implement and practical checklist of 15 things you might want to review and update before the new year!

1. Update Your Website

It’s easy to forget our websites, I get it. But make sure to remove anything that’s old, like that “Coming Soon!” banner for a book that’s been out for months. Make sure your website actually reflects where you are now.

And while you’re updating, check your social icons and make sure they’re still relevant. Did you get interested in TikTok this year, maybe add a link to your profile. Or if you stopped using Facebook, pull it off there. Everything is your resume.

One final note, it’s good to update the copyright date on your website before the end of the year, too!

2. Polish Your Amazon Retail Page

Now is a great time to review your book descriptions for “what’s missing?” or what could be updated to add more pizzazz or clarity.

Did you win any awards or mentions? Be sure those are listed on the correct retail pages.

Do you need to add any reviews that maybe didn’t land on your book page – like Editorial Reviews, for example?

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to add a review (or two) to your book description.

3. Refresh Your Author Bio

So often we forget our author bios, but it’s always good to update or refresh them, especially if you’ve published new books, received awards, or achieved milestones this year.

4. Audit Your Media Room

This one is especially easy to forget, but adding recent reviews and/or media coverage to your website is a great way to showcase the good that’s happening with your book and your author brand. Add links to interviews you’ve done with podcasts or in media. Add in all awards or mentions.

Remember your media room is your brag space, so take advantage of it!

This is another one that’s easy to forget. We get busy, or we abandon a social media account and forget to update it. So now is a good time to go through all of them.

Make sure your bio is up-to-date, add a new profile picture if you have one, and are all your pinned posts current?

If you abandoned a social media site, don’t forget to pin a post to invite users to follow you elsewhere so you don’t miss out on your fans!

And update your banners. And while you’re at it, if you have a new book coming out in 2025, create a few banners for the new book and bank them till you need them!

6. Update Links Everywhere

This is such a revealing exercise but most definitely a good one. Check links everywhere. And I do mean everywhere: click through every link in your email signature, website, and social profiles. Are they still working and directing people to the right places?

7. Review Your Mailing List

When was the last time you sent a newsletter or checked your sign up form? Do you have an automated message that goes to subscribers? If so, now might be a great time to make sure it’s still working (because website things can break!)

If you haven’t sent a newsletter in a while, maybe now is a good time to send one – an end-of-year message to your subscribers is always appreciated!

Also, if you use a service like MailChimp or Constant Contact, they charge by subscriber number so make some time to clean up your email list – removing people who haven’t opened your newsletter in a while could save you some money.

8. Revise Your Amazon Keywords

Are your Amazon keywords still working? I generally recommend refreshing these once a quarter – so get it done before the clock strikes midnight on a new year!

9. Check Your Book Pricing

Have you checked your book pricing recently? Make sure it’s still competitive for your genre. Look at what’s trending and adjust if necessary to stay marketable.

10. Out with the Old

While you’re going through your website and social media, take note of expired discount announcements, giveaways, or pre-order campaigns that are over and get rid of them. You don’t want to look like you’ve abandoned your own party.

11. Clean up and Organize Your Files

Unfortunately we all have a lot of digital clutter. From manuscript drafts to marketing plans this is a good time to clean up your digital clutter. Label, file, and back up everything for a fresh start in January. There’s also an app that I love for phone clutter called SwipeWipe – you can go through your phone and clear off old images – this is especially helpful if you bank a lot of social media images on your phone. Get rid of old promos, etc. and free up space for new stuff!

12. Send Thank You Notes

Year end is always a good time to express some gratitude and a handwritten thank-you goes a long way to honoring those who helped you throughout the year. Whether it was an editor, a cover designer who you love working with, influencers who stepped up to review your book, or your loyal fans. A thank you can leave a lasting impression. This time of year is a great time to celebrate the relationships that helped you thrive!

13. Plan Out Your 2025 Goals

Have you downloaded our planner yet? If not, now is a great time to do that. And best of all it’s free! This time of year is a great time to start planning for the new year. Sketch out your book release calendar, marketing plans, or even writing goals for the year ahead. Having a roadmap changes everything!

14. Update Your Author Photos

If you haven’t had a headshot update in the last two years, consider booking a session. A fresh image keeps your branding visually compelling. And I know it’s easy to use the one photo from forever ago that you love, but believe me, there’s nothing more awkward than interacting with a fan either in person and online and having them not recognize you because they assumed you still look like your photo. Bite the bullet, get a new one.

15. Evaluate Your Author Toolkit

When was the last time you checked on the services you use and the app subscriptions you have? If you’re like most of us, probably not recently. Take a moment to review the tools, apps, or services you use. Are there subscriptions you no longer need or new tools you’d like to try? Or perhaps you’ve considered hiring out some of the things mentioned in this list and now is the time to make those connections and start getting quotes so you can work it into next year’s budget.

Bonus Tip: Reward Yourself!

Once your checklist is complete, it’s time to treat yourself to a little end-of-year indulgence. You’ve worked hard all year, and you deserve it! Spending some time on this checklist before the year is over will help set the stage for a successful and productive year. Here’s to finishing the year strong and starting fresh—happy holidays and happy updating!