Meet Niko Sheffield of Young Universe Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Niko Sheffield.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Niko. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in Richmond, VA. It’s a unique place to be raised. My mama wanted me to be some brainiac so I wasn’t allowed to watch TV on the weekdays growing up so my entertainment came from books. I read so much that it made me start writing little short stories in class. My mom took notice of all that shit and had me doing some form of creative writing everyday after I did my homework. In middle school, I used to get detention for writing little mini-books and printing them out on the classroom printer. I stuck with it and ended up getting my BA in Creative Writing from Elizabeth City State University (HBCU y’all), and released my first book in October of 2019. I probably should find my old science teacher and send her a copy.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh, most definitely. I was focused on music for the longest time, so that has its own struggles. Realizing my heart and passion for my writing was growing was a battle within itself. Then finishing the book and figuring out how I wanted it to be released was another thing. I didn’t want to leave it up to chance by waiting for an agent or publisher to give me the green light when Amazon just lets me put it up. Plus, Stan Lee inspired me with how he started the Avengers. So I just stacked up some bread to get things looking how I envisioned and formed Young Universe to own all my work. Everything you see is either done by me or funded by me solely… at the moment.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
This is just the book to set up the world my series is based on, book zero. I plan on dropping the first official book in Spring of next year. I’m excited because I know my tone of voice is still considerably new. I write and sell imaginative books geared to kids growing up either in the hood, or a racially/culturally diverse environment. It’s written for them in their language. I used to be one of them, and so many books and shows underrepresent is. Most mainstream writers aren’t the type of bilingual that I am. I mean, GLOW got approved for a book club inside of a juvenile detention center in my home state of Virginia. Super, duper proud of that. In general, the book has gotten me the attention I didn’t see happening as quickly as it has. When it first dropped, it got me into a meeting room with Krystle Garner. She won that Grand Hustle show on BET. Amara La Negra posted about it on her IG stories not that long ago too. These people don’t know me from an atom, so the nod shown is appreciated.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is a bunch of accomplishments that in turn, creates recognition on some kind of scale. I want that, but I also want it to transfer into wealth. When I see that my books are steadily in the top five on The NY Times Bestseller list, when my series gets adapted into motion pictures, etc., the markers I’ll be looking for will be my bank account. It needs to add up with everything I just stated.

Pricing:

• Glow: An Anthology – $21.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eyestothesun.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nkowakeup/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/nkowakeup

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