How to move to New York — The full ebook Guide
by Tobias van Schneider
first appeared ✍🏼 on my personal blog
The time has finally come, I’m excited to share my first e-book with you.
This e-book is the first I’ve ever written and it’s also meant to be an answer to some of the most asked questions I get on a daily basis: Tobias, how do you move to New York?
You can see this e-book as a step by step guide to help you with your move to New York. Essentially that includes everything, from finding a job, calculating the cost of living, getting the right work visa, finding an apartment and even going through all the details needed to get settled in the city.
This ebook isn’t so much a city guide nor is it about personal stories, but it’s about everything that I wish I would have known when I first came to New York. My goal was to write a book that I would have loved to purchase myself.
To get a quick chapter overview, go to:
→ letsgoto.nyc
For those who don’t know about me and my backstory, here is a little intro:
A bit over six years ago I decided to move to New York City. I was born in Germany but lived in Austria at the time, where I ran my own design studio. Like many who moved to New York before me, I packed my bags without a plan but with big dreams. Fast forward to today and I’m still living and creating in NYC.
This city never stops, and I love that about it. As you can imagine, moving from a small town in Austria to one of the biggest and most expensive cities in the world wasn’t easy. One of many obstacles I had to overcome was the language barrier, because my English wasn’t great. On top of that, the only traditional education I had was high school, and I dropped out at the age of 15. I knew without a degree it would be harder for me to enter a new country known for its demanding immigration procedure.
But I did, and it was worth it.I learned a lot from my move to New York and even more in the years I’ve lived here since. Now I’m sharing everything I know with you, with the hope of making your move as easy and enjoyable as possible. (in case you ever dreamed of living here, even if just temporarily)
Most of this information is available in some form on the internet but it’s either scattered, outdated or written in complicated government language. In this new ebook I’ve provided all the information you need when planning your move, collected in the simplest form possible. No bullshit, no fluff.
A few fun facts behind the book
1. It took a year to write it, it ended up being a little more than 150 pages long but I ultimately managed to cut it down to just 106 pages. I wanted to keep it short and snappy. It’s easy to write long stuff, but hard to keep it short.
2. I didn’t do all of it myself, I had a wonderful team who helped me with it. My editor Lizzy who basically saved me from the occasional depression (thank you for that). Then my designer/illustrator Lu who I worked with me on the beautiful city illustrations of Manhattan & Brooklyn. And then of course, my lawyer friends who helped me go through the information multiple times to make sure I don’t spread any bullshit. It was a big challenge, given that especially US immigration law is changing constantly. So please, always consult a professional, especially when it comes to visas.
3. I’ve designed & layouted the ebook myself in InDesign (for those who’re wondering). I first started with a pretty fancy layout (I’m a designer after all) but slowly figured that I needed to simplify in order to make it work for e-book reading on a Kindle for example. The cover is inspired by these famous pink, green or grey legal forms you probably know. I’ve always had a slight obsession with legal forms, there is something I love about them. As romantic as it might sound, moving to New York essentially will come down to filling out forms, hundreds of them. I’ve always had a little obsession with forms, so I thought, why not design the cover to look like a form?
A few words on the price
I thought long about the pricing of the e-book, especially considering it took me almost a year to finish it including the hard work of a couple more people. I settled on $39 which is a little more than two cocktails in New York ($15 each). This might be expensive for some, but ultimately it will save you hundreds of dollars in the process. If in doubt, ask me first.
What about a sample chapter?
Easy! I’ve released the first two chapters for free, all you have to do is sign up to my weekly email list and you get a download link automatically. ✌🏼Also: The first two chapters are all about job hunting, interview tricks and networking. So it might be interesting to you even if you DON’T want to move to New York.
Questions?
For more questions, check out the Let’s Go To NYC website there is a little FAQ sections and please do forward this e-book to anyone who you might think is interested in moving to New York. Please do NOT purchase the e-book if your are NOT seriously considering moving, it’s a waste of money for you.
In any case, thank you so much again for supporting my writing. All money that will be made on this e-book (well, at least what’s left after taxes) will be re-invested in this blog, which I currently keep alive independently.
Stay awesome & Keep creating,
Tobias
Thanks for hitting the 💙 if you enjoyed this article. This will tell me to write more of it!
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Tobias is a Designer & Maker + Co-Founder of Semplice, a portfolio platform for designers. Also host of the show NTMY — Previously Art Director & Design Lead at Spotify.
