Check Out Julian Rugel’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Rugel.

Hi Julian, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I began my journey as an independent author just over three years ago. I am since responsible for several series of books such as The Time Travel Football Club; a dystopian journey through the history and foundations of the beautiful game. I also have a hand illustrated series out currently of two picture books called The Kronicals of Willy Weedka; a parody of the Willy Wonka story. Since I began all this three years ago I have now written twenty books, mostly science fiction works and I am currently writing and illustrating the first comic book of the Kronicals of Willy Weedka series which will be the third book for the series. I am also writing my third novel. I began this journey illustrating with AI while I was teaching myself to illustrate but I have since abandoned the use of it for book covers and illustration to further develop my own style as an illustrator. The Time Travel Football Club(TTFC) was my debut series and now encompasses two novels, several AI illustrated comic books based on the novels, a team website, Youtube channel which features historical football matchups like the Romans against the Celts or Carthage, etc. and a jersey shop I designed through the printify platform themed to the science fiction football series. The jersey shop features jerseys from across all ages of human history and onwards towards the future in the second novel where the team is invited to partake in an interplanetary world cup style tournament known as The Battle for Orion’s Belt where twenty different alien worlds collide for a chance to win a device capable of freeing worlds from their oppressors.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all. In the past three years I have bounced from day job to day job trying to find a place in my part of town to cut down on the commutes I have had in the past. I just recently landed a job after breaking two of my fingertips in April, on my dominant hand. The breakages actually led to a tiny silver lining I suppose as the injury forced me to slow down and relearn how to hold a pencil to some extent which made me far more deliberate when illustrating. I have struggled most just trying to be found or noticed online. I am not only the author but also the marketing person and I have never really had much experience with that so I find it difficult to find readers or science fiction fans even after trying paid social media advertising in the past. It has been a long, difficult transition from being an athlete my entire life. It has been a very worthy learning process with that being said for me. I believe once the books can be found and/or are placed in front of people they will be surprised by them if nothing else!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an independent author and now illustrator of my own self-published science fiction works. I am currently creating my first hand illustrated comic book. I am completely self-taught, my last actual art class was in middle school, I am now going to be thirty this year and have taught myself through Youtube and practice anything I may know about writing or drawing. For me I am most happy that I have just stuck with the idea of being an author for the past three years. As I said before I have bounced around in terms of work but to still have enthusiasm for my writing after three years of very little interest, there were times I thought it would just be better to go back to work full time and never pick up the pen again. So I’m thrilled that I have stuck with this project of mine for this long.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
At this point even with very little “success” I have experienced coming from any of my writing I find that writing and creating worlds is beginning to make me happy as I am becoming more confident in my abilities each day. Also playing soccer(football) for all the Americans, has and always will be able to put a smile on my face. It used to be my release for life, now I’m trying to channel that into the worlds I am developing. Also it does make me happy to know that the people who have read one of my books so far have seemed to enjoyed them for the most part. I have received several reviews for the first Time Travel Football Club novel and those who did leave thoughts on it on a website called Goodreads loved the concept of science fiction sports, so that’s always nice to see and makes the work feel like it was worth it after all. I also enjoy seeing my friends succeed and seeing many of them begin to have their own families and children now as we get into our thirties.

Pricing:

• Books are generally no more than $20, unless it is the hardcover version
• All TTFC Jerseys are no more than $45
• I am currently running a 10% off sale on the TTFC Jersey Shop for the World Cup, all the way through the final day of the tournament.
• Ebooks through Kindle are free if you are a Kindle Unlimited user, otherwise no more than $3

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Timetravelfootballclub.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hub101media/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hub101media
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HUB101Media
• Other: time-travel-football-club.printify.me and hub-101-media.printify.me amazon.com/author/postrugel