How Russell Earle Jr. Turned Six Months In South America Into A Book

We sit down with Russell Earle Jr. to trace how a six-month solo trip through South America and a daily journaling habit turned into his debut memoir, Until I Came Home. We also get real about the craft and business of being an author, from editing and audiobooks to reviews, distribution, and showing up consistently. 

Make sure to visit https://russellearlejr.com/ to learn more Russell's story and to check out his Substack, https://russelljearlejr.substack.com/.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Welcome back to the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Russell Earl Jr., a husband, author, and entrepreneur hailing from Columbia, South Carolina. He is a graduate of South Carolina State University, and he has honed his craft in creative writing from Midlands Technical College. As of last year, he released his debut book, Until I Came Home, a Sunset Journal. Russell is not just an accomplished writer, he is also a devoted husband, father, and a beloved dog lover. Currently, he's working on the audiobook of his debut book, ensuring that storytelling reaches an even wider audience. In addition to writing, he is a vendor at the Soda City Farmers Market and will be featured as an author at this year's Read Freely Fest in Columbia, South Carolina. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah, this is the second year. Oh, okay. So it's new.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Okay. All right. His book has been nominated for this year's prestigious Eric Hoffer Award highlighting highlighting its impact and excellence in the literature literature field. Okay. How are you today?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Doing pretty good. Pretty good. Um it's beautiful weather out, so you know, glad to be here. I hope you guys are doing well also.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Recovering from the time.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, yeah, that that R Ford, I tell you, you you know, you got to recoup a few days to get back right.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

How was the drive? Yeah, it wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Um, I know it's I've noticed a good bit of patrol men out here, you know, this weekend. Yeah, it's a little hot on the interstate today. Yeah, yeah. But um, outside of that, it's it's been not too bad. Not too bad.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Okay. I'm glad you weren't speeding.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Right. We appreciate you coming here today. Thank you for having me. One time. Right, right. Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

All right, so we like to start off each episode kind of giving a background of your childhood. Can you tell us what it was like growing up? And you having siblings?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, so um, so I'm the only child. I do have uh like stepbrothers and sisters, and um, and I have brothers as well, too. Uh, but for most of uh me growing up, is I've been, you know, by myself, only child, uh raised in a single parent household. Um my grandparents were a big influence on me, you know, raising me and things like that. Um took a uh liking to writing very early on. Um I kind of got that from my mom. She enjoys writing poetry and stuff like that, so that's kind of where my writing gene came from. Um I remember enjoying uh the book fairs back in elementary school and all that stuff, and you know, wanting to go and check that out. And uh I actually remember trying to write my first book uh at in elementary school at one point. Oh wow. Yeah, but you know, I guess just during that time I didn't have enough life experience to really.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, it's good practice though.

unknown 4:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

But uh, yeah, you know, moved on. Um middle school, that's when I kind of got introduced of paying attention a little bit more to like hip-hop and like rap, and um I started doing like a little rap journal, um, and then I kept with me and stuff and rode in from time to time. Um stayed in uh certain like summer camps and and and basketball camps and stuff. They always had me involved um like that growing up. So um, and even the high school that I went to, uh Richard Northeast, is right near the you know, Fort Jackson. So, you know, you got the military kids. I was in ROTC, so you got the military kids, and you know, I was exposed very on like the different communities and ethnicities and stuff like that. So I enjoy being like social and things like that. So uh so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I used to love book fairs. I'm like, Really?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Oh yeah, book fairs I'm telling you. I take my kid to book fairs now, and of course, he only wants to get like the little prizes and traffic and stuff now, uh pins that light up and all this. I'm like, no, we gotta get books. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I wonder if they still do that for like schools and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

They still got book fairs, yeah. Okay, they try to twice a year.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Yeah, we used to.

From Daily Journal To Manuscript

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah, they were special when we were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a big deal. So do you remember like a specific moment that kind of gave rise to this book?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah, so um uh during my my traveling, uh, during that time, uh, I kept a journal with me. I wrote in it, you know, just about every day. And I remember thinking to myself, like, man, I could really like turn this into a book and do something with this. But it was just more difficult thought. I didn't really take it too serious then. But it wasn't until I got back home um that I had a conversation with my grandmother. And she had mentioned, you know, with your, you know, I know you kept your journal and stuff with you. You might be might need to turn this into a book. And so I kind of took it a bit more seriously. And uh I sat down and I started writing back in nine uh November, yeah. November 15, right, right, right. Back in uh November 2015. So that's when I started, and uh yeah, it took me several, quite a few, close to 10 years actually, to like it's it's it's challenging, you know, trying to put a book together and stuff. But that's kind of what started it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Do you still journal?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I still do journal. I actually got my small journal on me now, but uh I still write in it every day, whether it's you know, little ideas or thoughts that I have, something I want to, you know, I might write a little poetry in there from time to time, um, and just like uh, you know, things that happen throughout the day or stuff like that. Just keep in the writing and keep it. Yeah, yeah. And I think I think that's important, you know, saying um they kind of it helps me kind of get in order, you know, listing out certain things what I need to get done and stuff like that, so I keep a pen and paper on me all the time.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Tell me a little bit about your writing process. I mean, I know you started from a journal, yeah um, but then did you like use uh a fictional outline or like how did you how did you come to this uh uh finished? For the book, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Um so what I did my process was um I would refer to that journal quite a bit. And also I took uh quite a few pictures and videos. So like if I wanted to kind of go into detail or like remember how some something looked or like any particular sounds or something like that, I would go to that stuff like pretty often in order to, you know, um go to my book. And I actually started writing it with pen and paper. I didn't start on a computer, like I was like literally, you know, writing um in notebooks like my book and everything, and then transferred it later. Uh it's just something I enjoy, you know, the process, like the actual act of writing.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Right. So when you gotta do more drafts, it doesn't bother you. It's part of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah, it's just part of it, you know. And um, yeah, that's that's how I started it out. Um, and that was you know, it was quite a process. Like I said, just uh it took close to 10 years to do. So wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

So it's the the marathon. Definitely a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Did you have like editors along the way that kind of helps you put it together? Is that yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Had an editor, um, uh Erica James, uh that's that's my editor there, and uh she helped me kind of structure it um as far as you know how it should flow. You know, I was just more so just kind of like writing and stuff, going through it. Right, because it just seems like going from a journal to like, you know, that's that's a thick.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

That's thick. That's okay. That's not a lot.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she definitely helped put like structure to it and you know, help organize it and and things like that. So um big shout out to her. But um, but yeah, outside of that, you know, it was just more so pen to paper and just just writing.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

How did you meet her? It was like happenstands.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Yeah, so I checked out a few, a few, um, I went to uh different places like Fiverr and Upwork and LinkedIn, just trying to find because I I didn't know anything about like book writing process. Right. This is just like straight new. And um, crazy enough, out of the list of names that I came up with, she was like the very first person I I wrote on my list, right? I I met her on uh LinkedIn. And um, you know, just kind of looking at the backgrounds of different editors, seeing what worked and um like who uh uh had experience with memoirs and stuff, just trying to really tone it down to who would be the best fit. And uh it it was her. And uh we reached out, we communicated, you know, um uh via um like the Zooms and like Google and stuff like that. And uh yeah, she she I mean she did a slam up job with it, I gotta admit.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Now, not to go off track, but I want to know what was it like with your creative writing um in at Midlands Tech? How did that help you bring this level to this level?

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, yeah. So that's the one thing I say. Oftentimes I would like to beat myself up for how long it took me to write. But during that time, I also realized I became a better writer during that time and like taking that course. I took that around like year seven of me like trying to write. You know, he gave me more tools that I could use to go back and refine, you know, the book and do drafts and stuff like that. And uh my instructor, Don McAllister, is also, you know, someone who um is kind of like a mentor um who was an instructor of the class. You know, he he gave some good insight and um I shared with him like pieces of my book and he gave his thoughts and and things like that with it. Uh so yeah, it was it was a uh I'm glad that I took the class. I'm glad that I took the course um to go through that and uh just helped me become a better writer.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

And what led to you actually traveling? Like what led to I want to get out of this place. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

It was um it was a number of things actually, you know. At that time for me, I felt like I really wasn't enjoying, I was a computer programmer during that time. Really? This is back in 20 years, 14. Really didn't enjoy it that much, you know, and it was like I'm just trying to find, I was 25 at the time, just kind of really trying to find, you know, what I love, like more, get more aligned with my passion. And I really didn't know at that particular time. Um, so between that, part of me felt like um I wanted to run away too, like as crazy as that sounds. It just felt like it was different like factors and contributing to me wanting to leave. Um quarter life crisis. I'm telling you. And so, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

That's what other generation does. We do like multiple quarter life crises. We remember in like 1020.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Screw this. Right, right, right. It might get lesser than that too. But uh but uh yeah, but uh, but yeah, yeah. And um, I ended up reading an article one day about this guy um from Croatia, I think, and I think he was like a stockbroker or something like that. And he ended up uh losing like a lot of money and just said, you know, I'm done with this. And he he went backpacking. He called it like the thousand days of uh summer or something like that. And uh I was reading this story and I was like, man, this seems pretty doable. Like, you know, it didn't seem too crazy of how we went about like going about and that kind of like planted the seed, and like and and also two things I was reading at that time. Uh one of my favorite books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelo, and like just these different stories about, you know, you have this protagonist going on this quest to find, you know, some you know purpose or like some treasure or something like that. But uh, but yeah, so all of that kind of contributed to me wanting to go and just love traveling, you know, wanting to go and see the world and stuff.

Seven Countries And The Aftermath

SPEAKER_00 13:13

So tell tell us about your travels. Where'd you go? What'd you do?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, yeah. So I I went to uh seven different countries. I went to Venezuela, which you know is a top hot topic right now. Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia. Wow. Um fluent Spanish? Uh no, and that's and we'll probably get to that too. Uh but I did take a uh I took a course back to good old Midlands Tech again. Yeah. Um But it wasn't until I actually got better at Spanish once I was there because you kind of like forced the like when you in that environment, like you kind of immersed in it. Immersed in it, yeah, yeah. So I knew enough to where I could like get around and do things like that. And you know, um so needless to say, you know, I did it was a challenge getting you know, getting you know, starting out and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Now, were you by yourself or did you take your wife with you?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I was well, I I was I was single at that time, so I was by myself. It was a solo thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

But travel in South America, not knowing the language, not knowing the language. That's brave. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So you can imagine, you know, how I was telling my my grandparents, you know, that hey, I'm gonna go ahead, I'm gonna quit my job.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

What did they say?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Oh man, it's in the book, but they did they definitely uh I put it, you know, like being homeless.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Yeah. Weren't they worried about you?

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Like oh, were they? Oh my goodness, you know, and I get it, you know, like I said, I mentioned before, I'm the only child. Yeah. Um, you know, I'm the only grandson, so you know, you know, and the oldest and stuff. So uh yeah, they were it definitely a sense of worry there, you know. But uh it was it was a great experience. I know back to what you were saying about being, you know, going solo and stuff. Uh the cool thing about it was, you know, you meet other backpackers and stuff like that. So there may be one or two people that are planning on going to the same place you going, and you go together with them. And so, you know, that was a pretty cool little aspect about that, you know, being out there and traveling. You may meet others, you know, that you can be be with going certain places and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

How did you feel afterwards? Like, did your soul just feel like so much alive? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

I definitely came back with uh I had a greater appreciation for for where I was because I've seen like some, you know, some rough, you know, area like mentioning Venezuela earlier, like it's just and just how much we take for granted here, you know. Um, but one thing I will say is just how you know the it didn't seem like they were too places that I've been, it didn't seem so commercialized, you know, like how like brands and stuff like that. It was a sense of like like just calmness or like you know, real easy going in certain places and stuff, and I really enjoyed that too. Um but getting back, I mean like I had a you know different perspective. I felt like I had something I could share with people, which is you know where this book came about. I felt I felt like I found that purpose a little bit. And uh that was a question I had, like what because I didn't have a job to come back to, you know, I had to, you know, go back home and like trying to figure things out. How would that be after six months of like being away and stuff and getting adjusted and and uh you know during my trip I ended up losing people um along the way and um I think I made the the mention in it that it felt like pieces of you know like pieces were missing, like holes, like when I came back home. Like it didn't feel like certain felt like parts were missing from my life that when I first that were there, and then when I came back, it's just like gone now. Like it was like it was it was a weird time, but you know, that's that's just kind of how it was, you know. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know um some oftentimes when you hear about trips like that, you think, you know, a lot of uh wow, you know, that's amazing and stuff like that. But there's also like uh unfortunate side about it too. You miss out on a lot back home, you know, you miss out on different things, and um and I and I share that in the in my book, you know, the the kind of uh the highs and lows of it, you know, of being away for that long.

Memoir Choices And Travel Advice

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, talk about that. How did you know which moments during your journey to put into the book and which to keep to yourself?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah, so I I knew that I wanted to make this, I wanted to share with people like my human experience. So like things that were like meaningful, things that I felt like people could relate to and connect to, you know, so I'm very vulnerable in it. You know, some things I'm not too proud of, but I I just wanted to share it, you know, to let the to because it you never know who might you need to hear certain things and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um, so that's how I kind of went about. So some the kind of help the story flow in progress too was another thing I kept in mind. Like if it didn't really serve the purpose in like the overall story, I knew that kind of maybe I shouldn't left and uh and my editor kind of went through and kind of you know determined what might be best to kind of share and things like that too. But um that's the process of kind of a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So as you were on this journey, like you were very conscious about like this is going to be in my book.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, yeah. Like it was it was already sure, like uh for for sure, like some certain parts and like certain areas I was in, I was like, oh yeah, this, you know, I know I'm keeping a journal and stuff like that. I said if I were to write a book, this is definitely going in it, you know. And uh so there were definitely highlights like that, highs and lows.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

If somebody else wanted to take a journey like this, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Um did you face any hardships or I would say no to language, you know, at least because I I feel like that definitely impacted, you know, um my experience to a certain extent, you know. Um but what advice I would give, yeah, definitely, you know, do do your research. Like I said, I was I admit that I was a bit ill-in-informed when it came to uh like when I mentioned about the Venezuela situation, and and I could have done a lot better at educating myself and not being so naive, you know, in certain places. Um and crazy enough, I feel like at times it even worked to my advantage. Because, you know, sometimes when you aware of things, like I don't know how you guys feel about like energy, it's almost like it attracted to you, you know, when you know about certain things, but you kind of go, you know, la la la. I don't know. That angel bubble. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh, you know, so definitely inform yourself about where you're going and things like that. Um at the time, and I think they still got it, they had this thing called couch surfing, um, where you can kind of like stay with certain individuals um for a time period and you kind of live like somewhat like you can see how it is to be a local, opposed like hotels and things like that. I stayed in hostels and stuff, but but uh yeah, just be prepared and you know that's all I can say.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

So what do you think? What about this book makes it different from any other book in this genre?

Launching Sunset Sundays

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Uh I think it's just the perspective. Like, you know, African-American male from the South, you know, going on a six-month-you don't really hear too many stories like that, you know. And um, and I just feel like it's an interesting take and a perspective that I can share with people. Um, and also too, just being a black author, male author. Like I've been to like certain book events and stuff where you don't really see, you know, too many people like me there, you know. So I just feel like I have a different insight, you know, to offer from my words and things like that. So that's that kind of what differentiate my book from, you know, the others in the j in the same genre. So tell us about your podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my podcast. So this is called Sunset Sundays, and um, it's very much so in his infant stages. Uh this is it kind of came about from um promotion content when I was getting ready to prepare to release my book. Um so I would release content uh a few days out of the week, and two days were like themed-based. So I had something called Storytime Thursday and Sunset Sundays. Storytime Thursday was me posting a video um about a and I would share a picture that I took on my trip. And I would, you know, go into the backstory about this random photo, and at the end of the video, I would um post three more pictures for the viewers to decide what they want me to talk about next week. And I did that for several weeks, and that was a good way to kind of get engagement and stuff like that. Uh, but anyways, uh storytime, I mean a sunset Sunday was kind of something, it's a it's a moment of like reflection that I did, and that's kind of like what my journal is, really, is like the reflection of my day. Um, it goes off that sunset. Every time I hear sunset, I think about like the end of the day and just a time to a moment to wind down, reflection and things like that. And uh I've done that for like a year now. Uh I was posting mostly on social media, and it wasn't until recently, I think towards the end of February, where I started to put it like on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and stuff like that. And uh, like I said, it's very early on. I'm still trying to figure and learn it out. You know, it's my wife said to me the other day, she was listening to it to it, and she said, um, she said, well, what you know, what's your plan with uh your Sunset Sunday? I was like, well, you know, I'm hoping to kind of like kind of continue to work on it and maybe like look at like the ads and stuff and really build upon it and stuff like that. And she said, Yeah, I think what you need to do is maybe get a little better structure, because it it just you just it just sounds like you just be talking. It sounds like you just be talking. Well, she's not wrong, but like I feel like I just want to at least start, you know. I'm somebody where like if I can just continue to like do something because like we can try to wait for something to be perfect and never get it out. So I feel like if I can just stay consistent with something and just start it, I can always build upon it and like do certain things and structure and stuff. But uh right now it's just like just starting and just putting it out.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

But I thought we were like that in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

We were on during a wow, wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

You're what six? Six, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

You're six, so come a long way.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

So if you got any questions for us, okay, feel free to ask us.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

That's what we always tell people is start with whatever you got and try to keep it going consistent. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

And then we also like the Podcast energy. Like, so if you need help with anything, we like we produce podcasts for other people. Like I said, with the kids, separate Chef J. So if you need help with anything, just let us know. Got any questions? Okay. Okay. Appreciate that. We don't gatekeep over.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

I definitely uh I definitely enjoy it, you know. Um, as I mentioned before, well, I don't think I mentioned this. I actually got a um a background as well in audio engineering. I'm familiar, yeah, with editing and stuff like that. Uh I don't use it as much, but I just enjoy like recording. Um as I said before, I had a rap book and I I write music, I write raps and things like that. So I'm familiar like with the recording process. And for me, like it's just something about putting the headphones on. It feels like intimate, it feels like, you know, it's a moment, you know. I know people got they're certain ways to like like meditating, things like that, but just hearing myself and like talking, and I feel like I can flush out ideas and things like that. It's just a real, you know, peaceful moment for me to kind of get on the mic and just so like podcasting and like recording music, I really enjoy like that too.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

So I listen to it um on your Instagram and it does sound like it's like a release for you.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It sounds like I'm just talking. It ain't really no structure to it, but you know, I I do like I said, I like it. It's only 10 or 15 minutes. I go on and just, you know, anything that happened throughout that week or just anything, you know, I just kind of shared and stuff like that. So I enjoy recording. That's nice.

IT Work And Mindful Balance

SPEAKER_02 25:17

So what are you doing for work right now? Because you said you were doing computer.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Yeah, yeah. I was a computer programmer, so I'm I'm still in IT, I'm an endpoint technician, and I really like it. I I feel I enjoy the uh social aspect of it. It's almost more like help this, and you get to help, you know, many people across the state and stuff like that. So that's currently what I do. Um, and so I like it. I I think that's one of the reasons why I'm still kind of like sticking with it, is because I get an opportunity to kind of like speak with like various people, like no one you know, incident or issue is the same. Like uh, you know, and so I really enjoy, you know, doing what I what I do and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

So technical person.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Yeah. It comes up a lot when we talk to artists about having um a source of income that's not directly tied to their creative skills sometimes, you know, because it can burn you out if your day job is a creative job and you're trying to do art too.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Yeah, yeah, that's that's true.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

That's true. Um I feel like I don't know, I feel like nine to fives, I know we've kind of it's like we've created a culture where it's like almost bad. But I mean, like nothing wrong with that. It's right to have a job. I don't even want to do it no more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. It's um like I say, I enjoy it, you know, things I do. So that's that's what I do. I love writing too, and you know, that's that's my passion as well. You can do both.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Yeah. So how do you find balance between, you know, work and then also with your book and then your personal life, yeah, all of that?

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Um I pract I practice mindfulness. Like I know a lot of times I realize that I I can't control everything. I can only control what I can, you know, my which is myself. And um, you know, realizing I was thinking about that, like, you know, how to keep balance. And I feel like in that context, in that context, balance means it it necessarily balance. It's more so adjusting at times. I recently just got married, so now I got a a role of a role of being a husband now and like knowing how to navigate that. And um, I think of like uh, you know how they say walk ride the wave and like kind of I think about a surfer. I like when they balance and they got to adjust their arms up and down and stuff. So I um I kind of just think about that, you know, and um realize I can only control what I can and just you know, and and practice mindfulness because the only common denominator between everything else is between everything is just myself, you know. So a lot of time, you know, just being with me, you know. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Is writing still therapeutic for you? Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Definitely. Writing is still therapeutic. Um, I do it, like I say, just about every day. I got my my notebook. I like the little smaller like journals. I like the thing. Little moleskin kind of traveling, yeah, travel journal. Keep it in my back pocket. Yep, yeah. I have it with me. Pull it out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Matter of fact, you might as well just start your own um journal. Yeah, where people can buy your journal. That's it right here.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a good kind right there. It's got a little pocket in the back too. Yeah. Uh no, they got the pocket, but he got like a little strap to keep it together and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

So that's it.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Riding in traffic, getting mad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh what can we expect from you in the future?

SPEAKER_01 28:52

In the future. So I'm I I'm working on an audiobook version of it right now. And I'm I'm doing my recording. I will probably have someone else mix it though. But um, but I'm I got little home set up, and um, so I'm working on that currently. Very excited about that. Um, I'm looking towards the summer to having that release. Excellent. Um I'm gonna make it a bit more like a bit immersive, you know. So I'm gonna have like certain sounds, like when I'm in the Amazon or something, like that.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

That's that's a touch.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

I'm a big audiobook fan. Nice, nice. I always like it when the authors read their own stuff. That's a whole other level on it. Now I'll say this. Like, I thought I could read.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

I thought I was, you know, I had a good grasp on the English language. But but uh no, like that that was when someone asked me, like, you know, was it harder, like how hard was it to write? It was hard, it was tedious, like to write a book, right? And then it was even more challenging, like trying to promote it and like the business aspect of it. But audiobooks, oh my goodness, like it's a different, it's a difference between like reading, like if you're just reading to yourself, it's a certain flow. Right. But with audiobooks, it's a rhythm you got to have. You got to be articulate and you know, being able to say certain things and don't be hungry because your stomach picking up. Yeah, and every little thing. You think you recorded something good, you go back to listen to it, and you realize you're hanging it in the mic, and it's like, that's man, yeah, that that's tough. That's tough. But uh, but outside of the audiobook, of course, I'm gonna continue to sunset Sundays um and get that out. Uh I am working on another book currently um or getting some ideas flushed out for it. Um I'm gonna, you know, take my shot at writing a fiction um novel. Oh fine.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Try that. And uh I think that's pretty much it. Read Freely Fest coming out. I mean coming up here shortly. Um uh Soda Cities, um, I'll be out there. You know, I try to make it out there at least once a month. Um, yeah, so that's what I got going.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

And um, where are your books at currently?

SPEAKER_01 30:57

So currently, uh, if you're in the Columbia area, it's at all good books. Uh you can get it from there. Yep, yep, you can get it from Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, um, Books a Million, uh, like from online. Okay. Um, yeah, so and and and then I got digital versions as well, too, for it. So if anybody wants a digital copy. Accessible.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Yeah, too.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

And if people are trying to find you, where should they look? How do they Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

So you can go on uh I'm on social medias, on uh Instagram as RizzyMet, R-I-Z-Z-I-M-E-T. Um I have a website, Russell Earl Jr.com. Earl is spelled E-A-R-L-E. Um, you can find me on the Facebook and and TikTok, but I'm mainly on Instagram. Um I do have a sub stack as well, too, that I'm working on putting out like writing pieces on there. Um you can search for my name as well as the you know Spotify and and uh Apple Podcasts for the uh Sunset Sundays.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

So Okay. Now one last question. Yeah. Do you watch every sunset?

SPEAKER_01 32:00

It's like you know, all in the book. Right, right, right, right. I don't watch every sunset, but I do enjoy like around that time to put, you know, to take walks and like go out. I used to like, I still do like sunrises and more, but it's something about sunsets where it just feels like, man, you know, I can feel like I can exhale, you know, and like it's that time of the day. Energy changes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So um, so no, I don't see all the sunsets. Okay. I'm just wondering.

Self-Publishing Realities And Reviews

SPEAKER_02 32:27

I like sunsets. I'm just wondering. I have one more last question. What was it like promoting the book? I know that's a whole different Oh yeah. You know, like the these book release, yeah, yeah. Sign and party.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Oh man. So that was a whole thing in itself, like just really learning the ins and outs of promotion. So, you know, I've I've utilized like the social media, um, like ads to be able to get that out. Um, you know, word of mouth. Um, you know, I had my website there, I shared it on there, promoting it, making content to get it out. Um, so a big thing for authors uh is like reviews, you know, especially for your first book. If you don't have, if you don't, that's kind of like that's like make it break your book. I know you sometimes you look at a book and you look at the back, you see, okay, this person reviewed, and like not having that is like is challenging. So you want to try to get your book out to like certain reviewers and have them check it out. So Goodreads is a good one. Um Kirk's reviews is one is expensive though. Like, you know, they will give you a review, and that don't necessarily mean it'll be good or bad, you know. But uh, you know, and it's just getting reviews out. So that's that's kind of like the I can't think of the word, but like reviews, like real big.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

That's yeah, that's the real big thing. So you have to pay to submit them for reviews?

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Uh for for some, for some. Um now you it can get kind of sketchy depending on because that is it ain't it's not ideal to do, but you do have some legitimate reviewers like uh Reed Z and like like established ones that you gotta you know pay for to have them look because it just has that name attached to it. Right, right. But then you got some little shady little, you know, they try to get you, you know, get you, you know. But uh, but yeah, that's the lifeline like for a first time author.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Did you have help with that or did you just find out all this on the I didn't yeah, I just kind of found out.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

I did ask around, you know. I did ask around, but uh it's mostly just going online and like finding what's like some legit, you know, stuff, you know, that I can go about doing that.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

So you just like show up at all good books with books.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah, like how do you get the yeah? So you submit, um, you submit uh they usually have like on their website like submissions if you want to get books in stores, how you go about it. Okay, and you just reach out to them. Um I use I I think I heard uh you guys say a Terrence Elmore on there one time before. And uh he I believe he had mentioned Ingram Sparks or something like that one time. That's how you get them in like the major stores like with Barnes Nobles and distribution like you would with a record. Yeah, like how you would, yeah, and that's how they get in there. I tried to get my books phys physically in like those stores, but that if you if you're not back behind like your own publisher, I have my own publishing company. So I publish my book through my own publish corner's publishing, and that adds like a level of legitimate uh legitimacy when people see, oh, but bending corner, they don't know it's mine, but when they see that, like it gives, they take it a little bit more seriously. You send it out to people. Uh so oftentimes self-publishers, you know, self-author, you know, authors will do that, you know, for their first time books. But anyway, um, yeah, submissions online and things like that. Um, and that's kind of how you you get your book in stores and get it reviewed, reviewed and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

How do you get the number one bestseller? Uh you know, all the books that come out, they they say like how do you get that?

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So how you go about so the key with that is is um it's like the what you call it, like the pre-sale, like building up to like how you get um when people pre-orders.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

So that's a big thing. If you can build enough hype up to get there, so the closest I got to the best, I got the four for for my genre. Okay. For like rank number four, not like the overall, like on Amazon, but like for uh South American travel and like uh travel references and memoir, I got to like number four. So that was the closest I got. Thank you. And uh I think I I think the number one was like learning Spanish while you sleep or something like that. I was like, huh? Like, but uh, but uh yeah, so um pre-orders is big and they they look for consistency. So like if your book can s have like certain sales, if if it can like continues, it's like they look for uptrends pretty much. It can't be spotty, you know. That's that is what kind of dictates where your book falls in line too. Um so even now, like when I make a good bit of sales, like at Soda City, I can see the uptick, like it'll jump from like 238, and then like if I if I if I you know do well at Soda City, it'll go to like 107 or something like that, because they keep track of that stuff somehow. But um, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh so that's how you go about doing like pre-orders is key for it. Yeah, that's key.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

And they go on tours, like would you ever do a tour?

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Um, I I thought about it. Well, I was just so drained. I I did a release, a book release party for it at um Curiosity Coffee and had a really great turnout. Yeah, yeah, that's that's my guy. Shout out to Greg. But um that is uh I I I thought about doing a tour and like I reached out a few and that was a whole thing in itself. Like some some like book ex establishments, if you're not backed by like a uh publisher, like a well-known publisher, they won't like allow you to like do anything at their like place. That was kind of interesting. But I thought about it, and uh that still might you know be something in the future. Um I think like sometimes my book hadn't been quite out a year yet. It came out April 15th of last year, and uh, and I already feel like I keep thinking like it's old now, but that's really not the case. Like it's books grow over time, like music works. Yeah, yeah, and that's it, you know. But uh you just you know, telling myself, you know, I can still do certain things if I if I want to. So that might be in the works sometime. So a book tour or something.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

So now are you looking to put other authors to submit their books to your publishing company or um I've talked yeah, I've talked to a few.

Where To Find Him And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Right now, I feel like my book is kind of like almost like the guinea pig, just to kind of see like what works and stuff, because you know, publishing my book is one thing, but when you start talking about publishing others, people like you know, is you really want to make sure, you know, because you want to do right by them and things like that. So I'm really just testing it out, seeing what works, what what doesn't work, like that. But um, so that's where the main focus is right now as far as a publishing company, but that's something I do want to do, start taking on, you know, other books and stuff, because I had a few, you know, reach out and I say, Yeah, I'll keep in touch, but let me just, you know, get make sure I, you know, do right by you and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

So you have any last words, anything you want to say to the people or yeah, you know, shout out, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Right, right, right. So just uh thank you guys, you know. Well, thank you all for you know letting me appreciate all your classes.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

I learned a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thinking for information.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we don't think we were prepared for the business of books, but it's very interesting content.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Yeah, it is, it is. Uh but yeah, um, yeah, if you want to follow me, you know, go to my website, RussellRoyJrunior.com. Um, interested in the book, like I said, I am working on the audio book because I realize not everybody, you know, would want to pick the actual book up and read. They would rather hear it, or they, you know, receive it a little better by hearing it and stuff like that. So yeah, check me out on social media. And uh wanna shout out my wife, you know, and my my family and everything, you know. Yeah, that's it. And uh yeah, thank you for tuning in. Thank y'all for having me too.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

No problem. This was a great episode. Yeah, I I feel like I learn more and more every time we interview someone else.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Lots to learn. And I wanna I want to thank uh Asylum Studios for hosting us again. This is a wonderful venue. I always always love shooting.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

We're in Charlotte, we're traveling, you guys. Support us. Well, yeah, thank you guys for watching another episode and like and subscribe and tell someone you love them because onward isn't here to say it, but tell someone you love them. Oh, yeah, one more thing. Watch the sunset.