Rashid Hill, MPM ⋅ San Diego, CA United States Navy ⋅ 33 years experience

Hello Jaylen, great ambition. As I am an AF veteran I decided to offer some assistance concerning your inquiry.

First, I see your profile shows you are only 1 year into your AF experience. Yet, you are talking about moving on to selling your novels and financial freedom... Listen, not sure of your motivation for joining the military but there is a lot that you have yet to experience on active duty. You can take advantage of building your dream while you maximize your AF opportunity.

I mention that because when I was in the AF I had other aspirations as well. Looking for ways to make more money. I was a popular DJ when I entered the AF so I continued to play locally and also did some events for my unit when I was overseas. One thing I made sure of was taking care of my AF career; even if I had no intention to retire. I intended to do 4 years yet, I ended up completing 10 years then I left to pursue my passion. By that time I had acquired new skills and travelled to many countries.
Protect your current opportunity and it will help fuel your passion.

Now, about the writing and financial freedom. These are 2 very separate paths. First, I wrote and published my first book in 2013. A nonfiction, personal development book. I self published, have print copies and digital versions. I used blurb.com for my first draft. It's a bit expensive but gives you the freedom to draft all aspects of your writing and upload a back and front cover, graphics etc. You can self edit or have a professional do that(I did it myself) and print as many copies as you like. This way you have full control over your work.
Now, if you want to connect with the world, websites, blogs, social media etc, that's a longer answer. I did create a workshop that teaches people how to write and publish their book in 90 days.
One thing I want you to know, your book is not what earns you financial freedom. Your writing helps to build credibility. You can sell some online and some at live events. Will you sell a million copies? I don't know; highly unlikely unless you have millions of followers around the globe willing to buy your novels. Or, you look at the marketing, promoting and branding in order to get you in front of as many audiences as possible to tell your story behind the book writing...then you will realize the bigger picture.

Send me an email if you would like to discuss further.

Rashid Hill

David Daugerdas ⋅ Palatine, IL IBM ⋅ 36 years experience

My neighbor used to work for NASA and is a self-published author with multiple book series available on the internet. I'd be happy to connect the two of you if you're interested; please email me offline.

Suzanna Molino ⋅ Sparks Glencoe, MD writer, editor, author ⋅ 35 years experience

I agree with Bob. The publishing world is extremely competitive. One of the biggest myths is "write a book and get rich." No, not true. Books sell SLOWLY - one by one. Unless you're a celebrity first-time author, it is highly doubtful one book will make you rich. (or even more)

I am not discouraging you from writing or selling your books, Jaylen, just be realistic in realizing it will not grant you financial freedom. The Internet is a bustling place; there is a ton of competition for books, blogs, news sites, and everything under the sun involving readership.

I have written seven books and have been a freelance writer and editor for decades; it's a very good thing my husband earns our family's income or our kids would have starved! :D

Much success with any endeavor you tackle.
Suzanna

James Bond ⋅ San Diego, CA iBDC Business Solutions ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Jaylen,

I work with this gentleman https://www.aaronphilipclark.com/ we are both in higher education and hold administrative positions, he also teaches on the side. I would suggest joining a writers group in the area you settle down in and network away. From my understanding the goals you have set for yourself will take some time to accomplish, building a fan base and getting your novels optioned for film sounds like the road you will want to take.

Have you taken a look at the Writers Market https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Market-2018-Trusted-Published/dp/1440352631

This may give you some helpful tips. I have tried a couple of SCORE advisors but didn't really connect well with the 3 different mentors I tried. This was early on as I was just putting together a business plan for my couples program. If you try them out I would love to hear how it went.

Gerald Mannikarote ⋅ Houston, TX dMann Training Technologies ⋅ 20 years experience

Hi Jaylen,
I would suggest looking into James Altucher. He talks about self publishing. I believe you will get a lot of great information from him, a lot of it for free.
Warm regards,
Jerry

Dana Bobko ⋅ Jupiter, FL AT&T ⋅ 25 years experience

Jaylen,
I'm co-authoring my first book with my DIL. She has self-published several books already in the contemporary romance genre. I will give you a few tips she provided me, prior to the novel being released (I write under a pen name). If you are trying to grow this organically and don't have a lot of capital, this will help you.

* Buy your domain name now. It will cost you $11 (if that). Park it if you have no site ready - you don't want someone snagging it when you start marketing. Find a company that does WordPress hosting because that's a super simple way to get a site up and running quick.

* Establish a social media presence as soon as possible. Find reader/author groups on Facebook and start interacting with people. Establish an author page and begin to gather followers. I found that once I established a relationship with a few authors, my friends list and followers started growing very quickly. The self-published book world is extremely competitive so you need to start networking and putting your name out there as soon as possible.

* Decide how you are going to publish digitally. Are you going to do it yourself? If so, you need to secure software that will convert your book into various formats, like Kindle. If no, you'll have to find a company that will do it for you. Are you going to sell on Amazon? If so, you'll also need to encourage folks who read your book to write reviews.

* Find yourself some good beta readers and folks you can use for ARCs (advanced reader copies). Betas will catch any typos not caught during the proof/edit process; ARCs will help "spread the word" about your book. Try to chose folks who are not close to you, as they may have an unconscious bias. You want folks who will be honest with you and not sugar coat anything.

* If you have published before, then you know that proofreading and editing are worth the cost. Don't apply for your copyright until *after* the proofing and editing are done (or right around when it is wrapping up) - and make sure you secure your copyright before you put out any teasers.

* "Teasers" - memes with short quotes from the book are an effective marketing tool to get your book out there. Done well, readers will start sharing them and getting the word out.

* If you want to sell D2C (direct to consumer), you can use something like SquareUp to establish a storefront for free. But again, this comes back to how will you digitally delivery it. There is a fee to collect credit card payments (2.9% + 30 cents per transaction).

* I saw a blog mentioned, but really, what I have seen work well is getting your book to someone who has an established book blog and writes reviews. Many times authors are too busy writing their book to keep their blogs current.

Bob Molluro ⋅ Wilmington, DE Benchmark Consulting Services ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Jaylen I hate to be the messenger on this but selling novels online is not likely to produce any appreciable income. And by the way there will be lots of promises from people who say they can help you for a price that never deliver any significant results. However they will be happy to take your money. Sounds to me that you have a flawed strategy to begin with.

Vicki Lightcap ⋅ Bally, PA Paradigm Project LLc ⋅ 16 years experience

You need to be sure your novels are protected. You will need tools to drive traffic to your website, like a blog. Are your novels for a specific target market? These are questions you will also need to answer. SCORE can give you guidance.

Frank Tripi ⋅ Duxbury, MA Business Resource Inc (professional recruiter) ⋅ 45 years experience

Jaylen - check out Score.org as potential source for professional guidance and mentoring. It is a part of the SBA and a totally free service.

Frank Tripi
frank.tripi@gmail.com