You come to realize certain issues growing up in the life of
a starving artist. You become humbled, you see what you’re willing to do to
make it in the business but most of all you realize what you have to sacrifice
in order to make it. This is what’s happened to me as I try to become a
successful author and as of late, I realized one more issue that I’m going to
address. The fact that as good as you may believe you are or as dedicated as
you are, sometimes you need help. I’m ashamed to admit that I am a stubborn man
with a hard head and it’s hard for me to accept that there are some times that
I need a hand.
Attending college, I heard every voice telling me how hard
this business is and read every book about how to best benefit from this
career. I didn’t listen. I honestly believed that I was going to get the ball rolling
as soon as I got the degree and that my work would hit it big as soon as it was
released so at first, I was naïve. Then I graduated and life happened, that’s
when I got a big right hand from the forces of reality. That’s when I was
humbled and realized that success is going to take time for me to achieve,
nothing is going to happen overnight.
I read about how other authors had to build an audience
first before having best sellers and that’s what I did. I created blogs, I
developed a following on social media and I continued on with writing my short
stories, plays and novels. I used my own money, developed a budget and
advertise when I can to expose my author’s page and novels. As much exposure as
I got, sales weren’t coming and I was strongly considering just throwing in the
towel. Then I got a kick in the rear from the most supportive friends I have
and reminded me that if you want something, it’s going to take time.
Time. That’s something I still can’t believe has been flying
since I’ve been self-publishing my work. I’m going on 4 years and I can’t
believe that it’s been this long already. Where has my life gone? My friends
have moved on, most of them are married with kids and have the lives they want.
I almost feel at times like I was left behind and stuck in a vortex, constantly
spinning around going in circles but never leaving the same area. That leads to
this point in my life when I realize now that I most likely don’t know what I’m
doing and it’s time to finally get help.
I’ve started searching for an agent and it’s the hardest
step I’ve had to take so far in this business, not because of the searching
issue. It’s the trust issue because if there’s one thing I’ve never had good
luck with its being placed with a “good group.” It’s hard for me to work with
someone and trust them to represent my work and get them the exposure that I
know they deserve. To be honest I still don’t want to do it but the fact is I don’t
want to starve anymore and clearly self-publishing isn’t something I can
accomplish on my own. So wish me luck because I’m not going to stop until I get
where I want to go in life.
Until the next is written.
Anthony Labson
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