Notes from Chris

Episode 1256

New Zealander Steff Green spent years studying to be an archaeologist. In addition to countless hours spent in the library, she volunteered at every museum and excavation she could. But after graduating, she had no luck finding a job. She was repeatedly told she was a health and safety risk. You see, Steff is legally blind and while capable of the work, that put a bookmark in her story of becoming an archaeologist.

She vowed to one day be in a position where no one could say there was something she couldn’t do.

Ever since childhood, Steff had written stories about characters she created and the worlds they inhabit. She took it so seriously that she had four full-length science fiction novels to show for her time in high school and university. That youthful passion was still with her so she decided to put pen to paper on becoming a professional writer. She just had no idea how to go about it.

Like some of us might do, she went to Google, searched “how to make a living from your writing” then proceeded to try everything listed. She pitched articles to magazines, started a blog and even wrote product descriptions. Soon she got her first check for ten dollars and fifty cents for an article, then another twenty-five, then fifty and even more.

She learned not to accept rejection and keep going when the world told you “You can’t do that”. Even more relevant to our story, Steff brushed off one of her old novels. She cleaned up the narrative, edited it and ended up pitching it to an editor at a writers conference.

The editor worked with Steff to try and get something published. But she quickly learned that interest is not the same as a book deal, and it took nearly five years for one of her manuscripts to land a deal. Her dream of being a science fiction writer was about to materialize, someone had finally told her “You CAN do that!”

Around that time, she first heard of self-publishing, where writers can sell their own books on Amazon. She decided to edit and create a cover for one of her old novels and put it up for sale. When it sold around one hundred copies and made a few hundred dollars overall, Steff was hooked.

Over the course of the next few years, Steff published dozens of more stories in the supernatural romance world. Whatever she published her audience soaked up, an audience she kept building through a personal newsletter and Facebook page. By the time 2018 rolled around, Steff was making enough money from her books and freelance writing gigs that she didn’t have to work a day job anymore and promptly quit.

Since then the pages have kept turning. Steff has seriously upped her output and now has thirty-five books published and is making the sort of money she only dreamed of. Earning six figures a year for telling stories is like a fantasy come true.

Her success so far has led to her starting a blog and speaking at events telling anyone who’ll listen about the benefits of self-publishing. Her goal is to let as many people as possible know, if she can do it, maybe they can too.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Steff and her books at her website, RageAgainstTheManuscript.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Finance Employee Sells 200,000 Self-Published Romance Novels: When she can’t find anything good to read, a finance employee starts writing romance novels of her own. The books go on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies and pull her family out of debt.
• Sports Writer Wins Big Gambling On His Own Book: When a sports blogger creates an accidental success story, he becomes an independent publisher helping people write winning books of their own.
• Layoff Leads Journalist to Build Kindle eBook Empire: Cracking the code of Kindle self-publishing, this former journalist earns up to $7,000 month publishing niche eBooks.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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