We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandra N Peoples a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra N, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been earning a full-time living as an author and entrepreneur since 2005 when I learned how to utilize my platform as not only an author, but as a small business owner.

Once I began to look past simply selling books and began to look at my books as products that my publishing company sold, things changed for me.

In 2o02, I published my first book through a company that promised that my book would be sold in 25,000 bookstores worldwide; only to discover that my books would be available online for the stores to order, and not physically be in stores for people to see. I thought that I was self-publishing, but instead I was using a vanity press to publish. A vanity press is a company that pretty much makes their money from selling services to authors with the promise that their book will be available in stores all over the world. Not only did I basically fall for the wrong company, I also basically sold the rights to my book away in the form of a copyright, for seven long years…

Authors who publish through vanity presses are pretty much forced to sell their books for ridiculously high prices just so that they can see a profit from their books, and the company pays the authors a small royalty from the books that are sold through the company site or that of their partners.

When I learned that this was the route that I had taken, I set out to learn how to do it the right way, learning from traditional companies and authors what it meant to truly publish on your own, as well as how to establish my own small press.

One day, I had an epiphany; if I wanted to know how to publish my own books, there must have been others who wanted to do the same; so I set out to teach my first workshop about self publishing, and ended up selling copies of my fiction books by default. My class attendees pretty much gave me clues to what they wanted me to offer next, which encouraged me to create more classes, workshops, books, etc to help aspiring authors navigate the waters of self publishing.

Now not under do I write fiction under the pen name of Sandra Nicole, but I am able to offer consulting, coaching, and services to authors who want to realize their dreams of becoming a published author. And that is how I have been able to earn a full-time living as an author and entrepreneur.

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 have actually been writing since the age of eight, when I entered my first writing contest sponsored by Ebony/JET magazine. Though I did not win the contest, the judges sent me a letter addressing me as author, and it lit a fire under me that was unquenchable.

Writing has been my passion from childhood. My highschool teachers and college professors all encouraged me to pursue a career in writing, which I had set out to do; but it was met with a constant stream of rejection letters which made me question if writing was really what I should have been doing with my life. Life also happened along the way, met with abusive relationships, failed marriages, unsupportive families, and so much more.

Then one day, while watching a movie called ‘Brown Sugar’, that I realized that writing was EXACTLY what I was supposed to have been doing with my life during a closeup shot of fingers gliding across a computer keyboard. It would take some hard life lessons to happen in life before I finally decided to take my writing career in my own hands, and learn how to publish my stories and share my own experiences in book form.

Using the power of the written word has allowed me to connect with readers all over the word, and my experiences with self publishing has made it possible for me to have a global impact. I have worked with clients from as far away as Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Ireland; and as close as my home state of Michigan. I have learned how to grow a homebased business, how to market online, and just amassed a huge skillset. And it all began when I published my very first book.

I am thrilled at the experiences I have had, the awards I have won, and the people I have met so far on this journey; and I don’t see any plans of slowing down any time soon.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to make a massive pivot in my business from an author standpoint when I noticed that readers were not downloading my books as much. During this time, I was offering coaching and consulting services, but felt like maybe I needed to promote my books more to gain the readers interest. My educational wing of my business was growing, and clients were coming, but I didn’t want to neglect my readers. I was feeling like I was being pulled in two directions emotionally. I realized that I would have to learn to do both.

This led to me creating schedules and plans that would help me manage my passion for writing, as well as my passion for helping aspiring authors understand the process of self publishing. I learned how to create courses that I could offer throughout the year, rather than just haphazardly doing courses and classes with no real prep and feeling overwhelmed with the launch process.

I also created a publishing calendar and focus on releasing books quarterly, rather than trying to live by a standard that did not fit my lifestyle. I am a single mom of four, so I plan my schedule around my kids activites and school calendars. All of this helps avoid having a life of chaos rather than order.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is two fold. I want to shine a light on toxic relationships through my stories and hopefully inspire my audience to move past those and learn how to heal. As someone who has survived financial and mental abuse, I use my books to not only shine a light on the realisty of these types of relationships, but to help readers understand that this does not have to be their reality. The second wing of my mission is to help aspiring authors avoid the pitfalls that I experienced when I first set out to publish my own books, by teaching them the correct path to follow.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://payhip.com/sandranpeoples, https://authorsandranicole.com (my author site)
• Instagram: instagram.com/sandranicolewrites
• Facebook: facebook.com/sandrap
• Youtube: youtube.com/bblit
• Other: Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/sandranicole

Image Credits
personal author photos