We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christian Cook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christian, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about growing your team – how did you recruit the first few people, what was the process like, how’d you go about training and if you were to start over today would you have done anything differently?

As an author, I don’t have employees that work for me as a bulk of what I do is writing and telling stories to their fullest extent, but once the book is complete the other key element is marketing and promotion.

I like to think of this portion as a creative venture as well, due to the fact there are so many ways to market your work. Reaching out to artists who specialize in video editing, animation, and graphic design has brought my stories to life and created an experience for my audience. I spend the majority of my time looking for freelancers on sites like Freelancing Females, fiverr, and Instagram for artists to collaborate with.

People love feeling connected to their favorite brands, shows, and stories so including visuals that made my audience feel like they were in the story was important in the avenues I chose for promoting my book.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up an avid reader and that inspired me to want to tell my own stories, growing up reading books taught me the format in which it should be created. I stumbled into the industry just like I do most things, and by that I mean I perpetually put myself out there at literary events and marketed myself as the writer I eventually saw myself becoming.

Collecting business cards, getting involved in writer’s groups, and maintaining the relationships I built with people I met helped me gain industry knowledge and an inside scoop on industry events. As I continue to progress in publishing I also make a note to pass on anything I learn and the resources I gain along my journey.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Anytime I get discouraged while on my creative journey, I remind myself of why I started and my original goal. I want to write about characters who are complex to illustrate there isn’t a such thing as one version of a person. Rich character development and scene telling are also two areas I spend the most time working on as I want readers to truly feel like they are growing with the characters as they evolve and always feel like they are wherever the characters are.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Before you can manage a team you have to be able to manage yourself. Focusing on time management, effectively communicating your goals, and being able to consistently motivate yourself will prepare you to lead a team.

Contact Info:

• Website: craftedbychristian.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-cook-554000bb/

Image Credits
Aya Alvarez