Today we’d like to introduce you to David Niemitz
Hi David, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been writing almost as long as I can remember, but I suppose there are levels of ‘getting serious’ about it.
Teachers – at least in Connecticut – are expected to get a Masters Degree in something appropriate to our subject. Rather than get my graduate degree in Education or Literature, I chose to work toward a MA in Creative Writing. Part of that involved a weekend in New Jersey at Fairleigh Dickinson, at the beginning of the summer, and that’s where my first novel, A Sea Cold and Deep, really started to come together. I remember I would rush out of a lecture to go sit in the sun with my chromebook and type, trying to get all the ideas down before I lost them.
I looked at shopping the manuscript around, but by the time I was hitting a writer’s conference, it was covid, and it was all virtual. It felt like paying money to go through a series of incredibly stressful job interviews, and after doing it once I decided I couldn’t take another day like that.
Instead, I self published on Amazon. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Royal Road, a website that hosts serial fiction, predominantly some variety of fantasy or science fiction. I wrote the Faerie Knight specifically with that site in mind, and have had modest success there. I was fortunate enough to be picked up by Tantor for the production of Audiobooks for all three volumes of that series.
This October 31st, I decided to take part in Royal Road’s Writathon competition with an entry titled Guild Mage: Apprentice. I’d learned a good deal from the experience of Faerie Knight, and Guild Mage has done very well over the past month and a half. At the time I write this the story has accumulated about 2,400 subscribers, is in the 25th day of a run on the Rising Stars list, having reached #6 on the list, and has made the first page of top ongoing series. It’s also quintupled my Patreon subscribers.
We’re still early in the run for this series, but I’m very excited to see where this opportunity goes.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh, there have definitely been struggles. As I’ve said, I found the virtual writing conference process excruciating. Figuring out how to format ebooks and handle Amazon releases has been a learning experience, as have live author events. Marketing is quite intimidating, and I had no idea how many scammers were looking to make money off indie authors. There’s this entire very manipulative ecosystem of people trying to fleece you by preying on your dreams.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a teacher and author, currently writing fantasy of various flavors. By definition, I’m probably most known for Guild Mage: Apprentice, at this point, based on the number of subscribers.
While I’m proud of all my writing, and I try to improve with each new project, I’m particularly happy to have a group of collaborators and a support network that are very positive and encouraging. Caffeinated Terrier is a group of indie creators who help each other find opportunities, cheer each other on, and share resources.
I’m committed to making all of my projects entirely human endeavors; there is no use of generative AI of any kind in my writing, and I’m fortunate enough to have cover art provided by my very talented wife, Sarah Murphy.
How do you define success?
If I could reach a point in my writing that I was able to retire from teaching, and where my pension combined with writing income would be enough to live on, I would consider that success. At that point I could transition to writing full time. Anything past that level would simply be a icing on the cake.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.patreon.com/c/DavidNiemitz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558007085046
- Other: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/97554/guild-mage-apprentice-slow-burn-epic-fantasy
Image Credits
Art and Map by Sarah Murphy