Finding a job and starting your career in any industry is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to the sphere of writing. Due to this seemingly impossible sector to break into, I feel that I should give you an overview of what self-publishing has done for me in terms of my employability.
Finding a job and starting your career in any industry is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to the sphere of writing. Due to this seemingly impossible sector to break into, I feel that I should give you an overview of what self-publishing has done for me in terms of my employability.
Please see my new post How can I start a career in writing?and read about my view on recruitment, the writing sector and how avid writers can build up their writing experience with the assistance of self-publishing.
Something that I have learned from writing and self-publishing is that indie authors stick together – we help each other and as a growing and global community, it’s great to be a part of it. So, I want to help my fellow writers out by spreading my story; which has only just begun. I haven’t achieved everything I want to achieve, I only have just over three years of experience, but I feel I’ve come a long way in those three years, on a personal and professional level.
Feel free to find out more about me by looking through my blog:
It’s been three years (on the 28th of March) since I self-published my first novel Endurance. I remember working on it whilst at university, and I most of all remember having doubts about self-publishing Endurance – mostly because there was a niggling fear of what people would say or think about me for doing it.
I personally love the freedom of self-publishing, even though it does require some more work – who am I kidding, some? A LOT more work.
I believe new writers should try their luck with self-publishing; mainly to engage with readers, create a following and allow people to review your work and help adapt you as a writer. From my experience, encouraging people to read your stories is the key part to self-publishing; even if you give them the book for free
Covering: What are the benefits of self-publishing? & Self-Publishing on Createspace
How time flies – why did I choose to self-publish?
Time. It’s a funny thing. We have so much of it, but we still don’t always take advantage of it.
This blog post is just a quick post about why I chose to self-publish and how it’s changed me.
It’s been three years (on the 28th of March) since I self-published my first novel Endurance.
I remember working on it whilst at university, and I most of all remember having doubts about self-publishing Endurance – mostly because there was a niggling fear of what people would say or think about me for doing it. Once I adapted a hardness and carelessness for what people would say about me, my decision was made. The decision though even after that wasn’t simple, because then I needed to consider whether to self-publish Endurance after an edit, or to finish Endurance and then just see if I could get the story published.
However, when I thought about it, I knew that would be a challenge for anyone, let alone a nineteen year old university student. In the end, I thought ‘you know what? fuck it, I’m going to give it a go’ and decided to start my self-publishing career as T. J. Blake.
‘Why?’ I here you ask; because firstly, I could, but secondly, I wanted to see what people thought of my writing. I had a slight idea of what people thought of my work, because of my Creative Writing and English Language studies, but I wanted to know what more people thought; more than my family or my peers. This is exactly what self-publishing has done for me, it’s given me a great amount of experience, a huge boost in confidence and now I’m ready to self-publish more.
So here I am, nearly three years later with three books self-published, and a fourth & fifth in the works, I’m very happy with my writing progress.
Having self-published two out of three books from The Endurance Series (Endurance& Endurance: Apocalypse) and standalone novel The Author, I can proudly say that I am looking forward to self-publishing my fourth novel DECEPTION, the finale of The Endurance Series (Endurance 3) and the many more books and book series to follow.
Since I have decided to self-publish my first book Endurance, people have instantly asked ‘how much are you making?’ or ‘How much money do you get from selling the book?’
Well I want to just say to the people who have asked those type of questions, I do not care how much money I’m making.
Writing is a hobby, I just love it! Writing to entertain is my dream job. I love the power and freedom it gives you. It can be hard work, but if it does it’s job and entertains my audience then job done, it makes me happy and the audience.
The reason I decided to self-publish Endurance was to get my name out there and to entertain people reading my book. My dream is to write for a living. I would love to be an author full time or/and write for TV and Film. Writing for entertainment is just incredible, whether it is writing a book or TV programme or Film. As the author/writer you create your own world, your characters, your setting, the lives of the characters, literally everything… It is as if you’re god!
The feeling of writing in your own created world is a great feeling, I get it every time I write, even if you’re not an author yourself you still get the same feeling when reading.
That feeling when you are reading your book and the surroundings around you evaporate and you enter the book. You are the character, you imagine other characters and you imagine the surroundings. That feeling is similar if not the same as when I and I’m sure others write.
Anyway, just thought I would explain my reasoning and my motives for writing. I am enjoying myself promoting Endurance and I am currently writing my next book ‘The Author’ which will be out nearer to the end of this year.
And I would just like to finish by saying to YOU out there, not just to the many aspiring authors and writers like me, but to everyone and anyone who has a dream of any kind, don’t let anyone try to change or ruin your dream. You fight for it. Go out there, be noticed, be singled out. You are responsible for making your dream happen. It’s easier to let your dream disappear than for it to actually happen. Prove the doubters wrong, it will make you stronger and hungrier for what you want to achieve. That is what has spurred me on even more, the doubters out there. Make everyone who truly cares about you proud and prove those negative, worthless, bitter people wrong.
Last thing (I promise) don’t forget, Endurance is FREE on Amazon for Kindle download. That ends today though so go get your copy now!
T. J. Blake #Author 