One Year Anniversary…

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

As a full time writer.

Actually, it was  September 17.  The day, one year ago, that my regular paychecks stopped, my cell phone allotment ceased, my ridiculously generous healthcare insurance ended, and “the man” quit paying for my car (and gas).

ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!  

Life has been hectic…no doubt about that…but I have never once looked back. Probably because I don’t have the time! Here’s what I’ve accomplished in the past year.

Published 423,772 words broken down into:

3 Novels—The Perseid Collapse, Event Horizon, Point of Crisis

3 Novellas for Kindle Worlds—First Contact, Last Betrayal and Sanctuary (coming very soon)

1 Non-fiction collaboration on personal readiness and disaster preparedness—Practical Prepping: No Apocalypse Required.

Pursued several franchising opportunities:

Re-edited and re-issued 2 books—The Jakarta Pandemic and Black Flagged.

Launched 4 audiobooks through Audible—The Perseid Collapse, Event Horizon, Point of Crisis and Black Flagged Redux. The rest of the Black Flagged franchise is on the way.

Signed a deal with Amazon Crossing to translate and publish The Jakarta Pandemic in German. E-book and hardcopy.

Signed a deal to translate The Perseid Collapse into German. I’ll publish it as an e-book.

Sounds like no time for fun and games, right? Don’t shed any tears for me. I had plenty of downtime.

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Big News Part Two…

Posted on by Steven Konkoly

Last week, I alluded to a second big change in the works, though I suppose the word “change” is a bit of an understatement. The news is a complete paradigm shift for me. The bottom line?

I RESIGNED FROM MY POSITION AT PFIZER INC. about two weeks ago, in order to pursue a career as a full time writer/author. For those of you who know me outside of my books, this move should come as no real surprise.

My passion for writing long ago eclipsed my enthusiasm to continue working as a pharmaceutical sales representative. With five books published, and an endless supply of ideas rattling around in my head, I had reached the point where it no longer made sense on any level to continue donning a suit every day and driving all over Maine to do a job I had long ago ceased to enjoy. It was truly a no-brainer, and couldn’t come at a better time. As you can probably guess, this is a good thing for everyone…not just me.

Most importantly for you, the books will come faster. The Perseid Collapse will now be available in mid to late November, instead of December. Instead of writing for two hours in the morning, I now have the entire day…and I have no intention of abandoning my early morning routine. I anticipate releasing 4-6 books per year, instead of two. It’s amazing what I can accomplish without having “report for duty” at Pfizer every day. I’ve written more in the past several days than in all of August, and I haven’t settled into a routine yet.

Tomorrow will be my first FULL day writing, and I couldn’t be more excited. For the first time in 24 years, I have no work uniform to pull off a hangar. No Service Dress Blues (Navy). No camouflage (USMC liaison days). No suit (Pfizer days). Just shorts and a T-shirt…I couldn’t be happier.