authorbusiness – Page 5 – John Irvin, Author

June 25, 2020June 23, 2020

The Books I Plan to Take with Me on the Toward the Pacific Author Book Tour!

An Independent Author still needs his Team and Community!

By John Irvin

Through these horrendous times, my team and I have still been trying to raise the needed support for my book tour planned for August.

Though, I’ve been getting a lot of negative responses from bookstores I’ve been emailing along the planned route, I’m still holding my head up high. Can you see me? Yeah, my chin’s up.

So, I want to talk about the books I’ll be taking to these events across the States. I hope to have other odds and ends like bookmarks, catalogues, t-shirts, and such for display and give-away as well.

But, by the time August rolls around, the plan is to have the printed copies of Longevity published up to Book 3!

https://johnirvinauthor.com/book-series/longevity/

If I can keep on track with the Magic’s Time Split series, I’ll have up to Book 8.

I’m bringing my iPad along to display all the ebooks. Then there will be print copies of Shattered: the Complete Collection, StarQuest: A Novel, and the three Longevity books. We’ll see if I can’t publish a print copy of one other book before then.

But, it takes a lot of gas to drive across the country and more money for hotels and food. I believe this a worthy cause, though. We’re promoting reading and books and that is an art that has lost its appreciation in today’s generation.

We’re forced to compete against television and social media scrolling.

So, if authors could become more personal with their readers, I feel this relationship with books might get a healthy vamp up.

Longevity, Books 1 & 2: Revelation and Independence

But, we can’t do this alone. Each of the members on my team—and myself—are all struggling artists of various fields. We need our communities as much as we need each other.

You can help us and join our supporters who’ve already donated. Just click through and send us a warmly welcomed gift!

Let’s believe in reading again!

gf.me/u/xp24cf

Until next week, y’all have a great life.

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I’m also a Patreon artist–the cool thing about Patreon is it allows people to support artists by monthly pledges which allow the artists to have more time to work on their own passions. Here is my account: PATREON.COM. If you’d like to support me, I would be eternally grateful!

I’ve now been hosting a YouTube channel called John Irvin, Author Journey Series. Check it out at YOUTUBE.COM/AUTHORJOURNEY

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October 23, 2019October 20, 2019

Freeing Myself From the Traditional Lies that have Enslaved Me. You Can Too!

The Continued Rant of an Artist who No longer Believes the Lies of Corporatism.

By John Irvin

Welcome back, thanks for suffering through this rant with me. I’m seriously trying not to let this be a rant. But, I don’t know about you, this whole “you need a real job” advice I get from friends and loved ones has pushed me to the line.

I don’t want a ‘real’ job, I want a job that’s real to me

Every job I’ve worked at I end up going through the same routine. I make friends with my coworkers—I fall in love with them. But I’ve never had the urge to advance in my positions no matter what job I’ve worked, whether it’s warehouse or hospital or pizza delivery.

Many bosses have tried to promote me—it’s not a promotion when you already don’t enjoy the work. Why would I want to add more responsibilities and stress on my own shoulders?

But most of my coworker-friends don’t think this. They see a promotion as something profound they can add onto their Resume to make them look good for the next job. I get this, not hating on them for this.

The problem comes when the job suddenly gets between us. Whether it’s a miscommunication between us or their higher-ups stuffing things down their throat (in general, I’ve come to learn, the higher in power you go, the more common sense you lose. You forget the people under you when all those numbers start to parade in front of you) and suddenly we’re no longer friends, but rather boss and employee.

It hurts. It stings. And when people outside of work tell, Apply to other jobs. That frustrates me. Why would I want to repeat the cycle again? I want freedom from this monotonous soul-crushing like society places on our shoulders as soon as we graduate from high school or college.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of or taken the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, but according to it, there are 16 types in the world. I am an INFJ, the rarest of all—making up only 2 to 3 % of the world population. I’ve always been independent, butting heads with anyone who tried to boss me around.

But ever since I decided to set out on this authorpreneur journey, become my own boss, my mindset has shifted even more. I no longer feel the employee-employer relationship. Yes, I still obey the rules and policies of the company. Yes, I still do my job. But I can’t stand being treated like an employee—an underling beneath some manager who hasn’t even been working at the company as long as I have.

It just doesn’t work in my brain anymore.

Okay, this is now sounding more like a rant. But all I am trying to do is explain to those who tell me I need a real job or more on to another company since I’m frustrated.

To you wonderful people, I love you, I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but no. That doesn’t work for me.

My writing IS my real job and I have come to no longer expect you to understand that. You still see it as just another hobby.

You still see writing as just another hobby…

To those of you among my readers who are of a kindred spirit, I love you. Whatever you do, do NOT give up. If you know what your passion is, stick to it. One of these days, we will find our dream careers. We will be able to kiss corporatism good-bye and we will figure this mess out.

Here’s to making money in our sleep or while we build a life we no longer have to take a vacation from. Here’s to us who believe dreams do come true. Let the peasants stay stuck at their dead-end jobs living from paycheck to paycheck.

To each their own.

We’ll build the new world without them.

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October 21, 2019October 20, 2019

Why Do You Want to Be a Writer? Why Don’t You Want a Real Job?

Find What is Real to You and Stick to It!

By John Irvin

I get these questions so many times—every since I quit a corporate job and became a full-time author. I had to grab a pizza delivery part-time job to help with the bills, been there for two and a half years and it is running thin.

With Freedom comes Responsibility, but also Happiness.

Society has trumped up these lies that if you don’t work a 9 to 5 or you don’t work 40 hours or more a week, you’re not working a real job. Society has us believing we must trade 8 to 12 or more hours every single day just to live from paycheck to paycheck.

Lies, lies, and more lies.

Corporatism in America has done a great job brainwashing us.

And our friends and family are on that bandwagon so it makes it that much more of a struggle to stand for what we are passionate about. Everyone has plenty of advice to give, but no support.

This traditional way does not work for me, it never has. I believed the lies for too many years. Now that I’m about to hit 30, my mindset is finally flipped. I no longer think the same way I did five years ago after wasting 5 years and over $40,000 on an education that—though fun for the most part—has no worth in this corporate-led economy we slave under.

I’m not angry, I hope I don’t sound like it. I’m just tired of people not getting it.

You don’t need a ‘real’ job—you were NOT made to live the same year 75 times and call it a life. You were NOT made to live from paycheck to paycheck, slaving at a job you either hate or simply have no love for—don’t call that a life.

Find what you love to do then find someone who needs that and get them to pay you.

Shed those lies of traditional corporatism and take the risk of freedom.

To those who love this traditional way, forgive me. It’s not for me.

Why do I write? Because I was born to be a writer—it just took me twenty-six years to realise it! I have no time to waste on a 40 plus job just because I need to pay bills the government or some other business decides they have authority to slap on me.

For now, I’m working a traditional 9 to 5 (or rather, in my case, 10am to 7 or 8pm), because I have to pay those bills, but I only give them part of my time, only what is necessary for the bills as well as paying for publishing my books. My friends and coworkers at the job understand this: it is a means to an end.

But I’m also finding the job is now threatening some friendships I’ve come to cherish. When I got written up for something stupid a couple days ago, I was a hairline away from putting in my two weeks not just because it stung (I’m not the kind of employee who gets written up often) but suddenly the job was a threat to this relationship.

Only logic and reason convinced me to hold on a little longer. My books are a source of income, but it’s still too small for freedom…yet.

Maybe I should split this into a two part series, it’s getting rather long. So I’m going to cut it short and I’ll continue on Wednesday.

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September 11, 2019September 18, 2019

How Did I Become an Author Entrepreneur—Authorpreneur?

Find Your Passion and Figure out How to Make Money from It

By John Irvin

When I graduated high school, I thought I was off to college to complete a Pre-Medicine degree. Then it would be off to Medical School after that and finally a three or four year Residency, etc. etc.

After writing somewhere around 10 or 15 books in High School, I figured my writing was over for the rest of my life. Because who has time for writing books when the real life is where it’s at? A “real” job is what we’re supposed to do. Right?

Funny how life throws you curves and next thing you know, you’ve graduated college with a Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Humanities and you’re thinking, Well, maybe I could take the class and obtain a Medical Assistant’s Certification?

Wrong again.

I lived with one of my brother’s in Kentucky for the year following my college graduation. I worked a warehouse job dragging in 40 to 50 hours of overtime—sometimes more—per week. I was making good paychecks, but I had no life. I somehow managed to write one book though.

I decided I had enough in 2014 and moved back to Pensacola, Florida. I worked an Emergency Room Patient Access job as well as pizza delivery for the next couple years, before one friend asked me this question.

“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

I did some soul searching, found some books. By then I knew I wanted to write, but could I really make a living off of my writing? Thankfully, there are more and more books out there on that very subject.

The answer, yes, you can.

I quit my full-time job in December of 2016, just a few days before Christmas.

It has taken trial and error and more trials—tons of reading and researching how to make a website, how to self-publish books, how to write better, how to keep motivated, how to be an Authorpreneur.

I have to throw in Business for Authors by Joanna Penn is one of my top go-to books. She’s an Authorpreneur with more experience than me. She’s also one of the many examples that you CAN make a living off of writing books.

I’m reading more and more about how to run this business of mine and I’m slowly seeing promise and potential.

I haven’t reached my goal yet, but all great things take time.

You need to find out what your passion is and figure out how to make money doing it. Life is too short to work a job you hate. Life isn’t about working 9-5, go home, binge Netflix and pay bills, then repeat every day, except maybe weekends.

Yes, it is hard. Yes, there is a huge struggle. Yes, you will wake up barely able to breath from the stress—but you learn to let it go like the ice princess says. You learn to smile when it dawns on you, this is just the first chapter of living your dream!

Another work, I haven’t read yet except for snippets is Turning Pro: Tap your inner power and create your life’s work by Steven Pressfield.

So, chase your passion, chase your dreams. Determine to NEVER give up. You’re just one more day away from success.

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