April showers bring cloudy days to Minnesota this week. No one in this State who’s been here for more than a year blinks when we get more than one season in a day as we transition. In the past few weeks, there’s been days that started sunny, turned cold, and went from drizzle to snow flakes. The next day turned into 70 degree whether. If you haven’t lived here long enough you might question mother nature’s sanity.
Now, that you have an idea of what seasonal change means to a Minnesotan, then it’s time to move on to the changes a writer can experience. Writing is like all four seasons in a year. You can experience all of them. Some days we walk in the sun, and other days we hide inside our rooms hibernating. Layers are shed in Spring and some are added in fall. The flow of writing can trickle like melting snow, or freeze over.
I could go on but many of you know that our road as writers isn’t easy. Luckily, we have resources around us and a few who managed to create a successful career out of their passion. There is hope out there so don’t give up on your manuscript pile.
The example I’m sharing today is author, Dakota Krout, who self published Dungeon Born. He was a college student working on an engineering degree and he had 2 jobs. During the stretches between classes he decided he wanted to get the book in him on paper. He used his free time to write down his story and maybe not having exposure to the writing world gave him courage. He was so excited when he was finished that he didn’t bother to hire a book cover artist or an editor. He just hit the self-publish button.
Dakota wrote for himself and didn’t have a marketing plan and missed a few steps but I’m mentioning him because he was brave enough to put his work out there. He didn’t let fear hold him back. Was it good? Well, someone in a facebook group of 10,000 members thought so and shared his book. His book ignited and his numbers climbed. He didn’t aim for being on the New York Times Best Seller List but in less than 5 years he made $1.8 million by self publishing.
Do I need to repeat the number he made or is your jaw still open? I should point out that later he revised his first book by hiring an editor and he a had a book cover designed. His first sales inspired him to write a few more books. I know many of you are shaking your head out there by this story of beginners luck but none of us will know until we put our work out there. You never what your path is or where you’ll end up in your journey. The point is to keep walking and discover along the way.
You can find out more about Dakota Krout at https://usanewssite.com/news/this-30-year-old-went-from-writing-as-a-hobby-to-making-1-8-million-a-year-self-publishing-on-amazon-heres-how-he-did-it-in-less-than-5-years-and-his-best-advice-to-other-writers/.
Follow as I post on my progress throughout the month and share the experience.
~Yoon Ju
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Writer's Block Inc 