The Beauty of Self-Publishing — I Don’t Need Permission Anymore
be your own boss
You can’t write this.
You can’t write that.
Don’t become a writer.
Don’t you know writers starve forever? They get paid after their death!
There is no such thing as a full-time writer!
This was what people around me used to say.
I can go on and on what my friends and family used to say about my writing career.
Believe me, the day I became a full-time writer, they were astonished and still ask me how to become one.
It took me 5 years to become a full-time writer
It could have happened sooner but …
My starting days were writing books during college breaks, lunch times, and summer vacation. I used to spend less time with my friends and more time with my fictional friends.
My days were all about studies and jobs. My night went by writing tirelessly my next great book (of course that never happened!)
My submissions to traditional publishing houses
I never considered self-publishing at the starting stage.
All I knew was — that if I wanted to become a writer I needed an agent and a publisher.
I submitted my work to various publishing houses and received only one rejection and no answers from anywhere. I published not only to major but also small publishing houses (mostly for ebook rights only). But I had no success at all.
After one year, things started turning in my favor.
My first ebook payment was $0.33
You read it right. It was a short book I wrote in a few days.
I don’t know why but that number boldly written on my dashboard made me somewhat proud. I mean I got my first reader!
Things changed when I left my data engineering job
My mom always used to say, “If you need to make big, go all in!”
I was really worried at the start. I even talked about this to my family. I mean I was taking a huge risk. What if I didn’t make enough to survive?
I was doing really well as a data engineer. Leaving the job means leaving my financial security.
But… writing is and always will be my first love.
The starting days weren’t good. I have mentioned the backstory several times already. I won’t advise you to do so.
Don’t jump into writing full-time. Don’t make the same mistake as I did.
Go slow. This career is never going to get saturated. Enough room for everyone.
It took months to see some results. This was also the time when I started self-publishing wide. I decided to break my income into small streams in case if one gets close, I will have another running.
So just write, edit, and hit publish!
I won’t guarantee you overnight success because that never happened to me.
But if you are consistent then surely you’ll see the success sooner than you ever thought!
Write your book and hit publish.
No better time to start than now!
Happy writing journey!
If you want to learn more about self-publishing then do check out my ebook — My Mistakes In Self-Publishing
