What will 2012 bring?

Spending the last year studying the publishing industry in depth has been a godsend, equipping me with the knowledge and advice to tackle an industry which is clearly in turmoil as Publishers fight for survival - and writers realise that there are other markets and avenues available within a rapidly changing environment. We've seen an explosion of eBooks and eReaders, the closing of Borders, Waterstones fighting its corner, Amazon becoming a publisher enabling the rise of successful mid-list self-epublished authors, and self-published millionaires taking the limelight.
What will 2012 bring? We honestly don't know. However you see yourself fitting into the publishing picture, the most important thing is to embrace those changes without getting distracted, whilst staying in charge of your writing career.
Stay on top of your game, grasp the opportunities and above all - keep writing.
You need to keep an open mind, understand it's going to be a long journey, and even though I preach on about writing from the heart, have the market and reader in the back of your mind to keep you on track. If you want to grow your readership and ultimately sell lots and lots of copies of your books, you must do your market research and follow the trends.
Update your professional portfolio whether that be as part of your website and blog, or in the form of a hard copy. Look at making your social media author platform more effective (we'll come back to this). Organise old work and look at ways you can re-use it. And keep working on new material so you don't get stale.
I'm hoping to take my writing career to the next level this year. How about you?