Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Campisi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Not quite, unless you count my dayjob as a copywriter, which draws on a lot of the same skills, although I think in a year or two I’ll be on track to. A writing career is a cumulative one, with payments from advances, royalties, speaking engagements and so on gradually building over time. One of the biggest challenges is that not only do you never quite know how much you’re going to earn, but it can take a long time between payments – six months is the norm for royalties, and contracts can take a long time to be finalized. I try to balance things out by doing events and talks where I sell books directly, or taking on work-for-hire creative projects that tend to have quicker turnaround times and more amenable payment terms. (Those are the books you often see stocked in supermarkets and big box stores!)

A writing career is about luck in many ways, so I’m not sure there’s any guaranteed way of speeding things up save for perhaps taking the self-publishing route. (That said, the length of the journey there there can vary immensely, too!) But I might have been more mindful of leaning more heavily into the marketability of certain projects and of the value of relationships in this business. The more you open yourself up to talking to people and sharing what you’re trying to achieve, the more easily things start to move along. Of course, it takes a certain degree of experience and confidence in your work to get to that point in the first place!

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’m an Australian born, California-based children’s book author with some 25+ books published or under contract. Some of my notable picture book titles include Luis and Tabitha (illustrated by Hollie Mengert), Five Sisters (illustrated by Madalina Andronic) and Quacks Like a Duck (illustrated by Maria Lebedeva); I also have a middle grade series and a chapter book series launching next year. My work is pretty diverse, and ranges from fish-out-of-water comedy to explorations of the natural world, but is generally quite whimsical and engaging – I write for curious minds such as my 4-year-old son’s! My books are all available from your favorite independent bookshop, gift shops and online – and you’re always welcome to drop me a line if you’d like a signed copy!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Being so rigid about what the “path to success” looks like. In a career like this, you work so long and so hard to “break in”, and when those opportunities come, they don’t always look the way you imagined. They can also be quite intimidating, especially when all the rejections and “no”s over the years have planted a seed of insecurity in your brain! I had a few opportunities earlier on in my career that I really wish I’d leapt at, but instead I let pass me by because I didn’t feel capable (or perhaps worthy) enough to step up to the challenge. I think it definitely helps to take a more flexible view of your end goals and the opportunities you’re chasing, because sometimes something potentially life-changing comes along, and you can miss it if you’re expecting it to look a certain way!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

At the beginning of last year, I had a handful of books to my name, and my latest novel (number six!) was making the rounds to publishers and was being summarily ignored. It’s heartbreaking every time this happens – and it happens often – because most writers also work dayjobs and often have carer responsibilities on top of their writing. There’s a point where you’re working two full-time jobs, but only one is working out for you, and you need to start making some hard decisions. I was very close to quitting, but decided to do the opposite: I told myself I’d double down on my writing career for a year, and then after that reassess where I was putting my energies. I put my hand up for everything, applied for a few calls for writers, and really put my all into marketing. And it worked! I signed on for two book series, sold several other books, and managed to hand-sell several thousand books at various events throughout the year. It was exhausting, but energizing in a way – and really helped me take back some control over my career.

That said, I’ve definitely taken multiple stabs at this career over the years, and at times I’ve had to back off to give myself time and space when needed – I think that’s really important. Pushing through isn’t always the best thing for you!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stephaniecampisi.com
• Instagram: @stephcampisi
• Facebook: facebook.com/stephcampisiauthor
• Twitter: @stephcampisi
• Other: Threads: @stephcampisi

Image Credits
Stephanie Campisi