We’ve had a surge of enquiries about book publishing in the first week of January – which does make us wonder whether New Year resolutions have anything to do with that. The manuscript that’s sat there for months (years?) – has the writer finally resolved to do something with it?

Whatever the prompt, resolutions – or better still, clearly written goals – provide a great impetus. Many people set goals for their weight, fitness, work/life balance, hobbies etc and the start of year is an obvious time to establish the tone and structure for the whole year.

It’s incredibly easy to prevaricate and put things off, but research has shown that having written goals really helps to counter this tendency. Break your goal down into manageable chunks, set yourself deadlines – and, above all, be realistic.

So, make 2013 the year you put off no longer. Join the thousands of self-published authors who are fulfilling their ambitions and seeing their name in print (or on an e-reader!). Set your goal – and go for it.