We recently connected with Preston Olson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Preston thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Smoke On The Cruise! The second book in my Shields and Shadows saga. Putting hours on end into my second novella over the last year and a half has been rewarding, challenging, and an eye-opening experience. There were moments I shed tears at the scenes I was able to create. There were nights I laughed away with some of the dialogue I came up with. Incredibly important feelings of completion and satisfaction knowing I created a full sequel. When I felt the mystery come alive, and each character found their voice, I knew Smoke On The Cruise was ready for readers all over the world. Please, join me on my writing journey as I continue to pump out wonderful stories for generations to come.
Preston, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I attended public school during the week and took Catholicism classes on the weekends growing up. I grew into my faith and writing. During my CCD classes I was challenged to write freehand. I wasn’t any good, but I was hungry to expand my imagination. Hoping it would transpire on paper. By fourth grade I was trying to make comics with a friend. I felt something when I came up with scenes, and ideas that I never felt before. That is when I knew if I worked hard, I could be a great writer and later an author. From that time forward I homed in on polishing my writing. Putting out over 100+ songs, 300+ podcasts, 2 novellas, 7 stories, a poetry chapbook, and a book of jokes. You may think that is a lot but that isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Stick around, I may just surprise you.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Stop second guessing myself. There was a brief time where I paused some projects due to believing they wouldn’t have much relevance in today’s society. I am big on contributing value to the literary world, so each decision I make is calculated. When I see a few things take off that I passed on, I knew then and there to stick with my gut decisions. My instincts may occasionally burn me, but those wounds heal faster than the scars of missing out.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
The best advice I can lend for you to build your following organically is stick to your niche group. Whatever you are good at, show people that. Scale it up and branch out from there. Make sure people know exactly what you are about and into. The biggest knock people had on me early on was I did so much they didn’t know what to follow along with. To that I responded, pick whatever you like and that works for me. For you, I would say start by clearly defining who you are before you even speak about it. If you get a post to go viral, make sure to squeeze the juice out of it. If you use Instagram, promoting through stories is a much better alternative than trying to keep up with creating fresh content every day. Be consistent, if you have new music out, show people that for a long time. If you have a new book out, show people that for a long time. If you aren’t behind your project than it will be hard for other people to believe you or take it seriously.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oddmanout.ninja
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/heavyp815
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/prestonsdayoff
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonolson/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/prestonsdayoff
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeavyP815
- Other: https://linktr.ee/prestoslice