Rising Stars: Meet Richard Fierce of Rockmart

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Fierce

Hi Richard, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, it all started when my dad met my mom, and… I’m kidding. My story as an author started in middle school. I actually hated reading. My school participated in the Accelerated Reader Program, so we were forced to read a book and take a test on it. I would spend a fair amount of time looking through the books available to try to find something that seemed interesting, but nothing I ever picked up was all that great.

A friend’s mom was into fantasy and all things “nerdy,” and when she heard I didn’t like reading, she told me she didn’t think I had found what I like yet. She handed me a copy of Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It was the third book in the series, so it was a little confusing, but as I got into the story, I was blown away. Dragons, magic, adventure… it was all the stuff I wanted but didn’t know was out there.

I started reading everything I could get my hands on, and as I continued to read, I started to get my own ideas for stories. It started out as fan fiction of my favorite characters from various series, and I eventually started writing about my own worlds and characters.

Fast forward several years and I met my current wife. I had made my own “book” of a story I’d written before we met, and when she read it, she said I needed to get it published. I’d spoken to many of my favorite authors before and asked what it was like being traditionally published, and their answers were all typically the same: it’s hard to get picked up by a publisher, and even if you do get lucky, you need to keep your day job.

I didn’t let that deter me, and so when Create Space and the Kindle became a thing, I started self publishing. It was truly the “Wild West” of publishing, and no one really had any idea what they were doing. I sold a few copies of every book I published for a few years, but that soon changed. A lot of indie authors were setting themselves apart by having professional covers, great editing, and were learning the best ways to advertise their books. People like me, who DIY’d their covers, were being left in the dust and no longer getting sales.

I continued writing and publishing because I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t afford to pay for premium looking covers, so I continued to make my own. In 2015, I met another author at a convention who had great looking book covers. She gave me some really hard feedback about my own covers, and instead of discounting what she said, I listened. She told me about several author groups on Facebook, and when I got home, I joined them and started reading through posts. I was amazed at the number of indie authors who were making 6 figures or more with their books.

I started getting better book covers, and testing the various things people said was working for them. Most of it didn’t work for me. Everything changed for my in January of 2020. I launched a brand new series, and using a book about Facebook ads from a successful author, my sales skyrocketed. With each new book that was released in that series, the income from my books continued to rise.

As of today, I’ve done over 6 figures in sales since I started my author journey, and I’ve sold over 300,000 books since 2020.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My road was anything but smooth. I made so many mistakes, it’s surprising I ever found my way to having some success with my books. The very first book I published didn’t have page numbers, because I thought the printer would put them in automatically. When someone pointed out the page numbers were missing, I joked it was because the story was too epic to be contained by page numbers. I think with anything new, we struggle to learn it. I definitely struggled to learn proper formatting for my books. Thankfully, there are loads of resources (a lot of them free) that can equip new authors jumping into self publishing today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Outside of being an author, I work for a mobile app company. It’s a mobile data collection app called doForms. We basically digitize paper forms to improve the workflow for other companies. You can email completed forms in real time, dispatch forms to users in the field, and loads of other capabilities. I’m not very technical, though, and while I wear many hats, my main role at the company is mostly billing related.

Prior to getting into the tech industry, I worked in retail from the time I graduated high school until 2015. I worked my way into manage at places like Target and Rugged Wearhouse (which no longer exists).

I’m most proud of my promotion to management at Target. I worked hard to prove myself, and during the interviews, I thought I messed up during one of the questions and thought for sure I wouldn’t be signed off on. It turned out the person who I thought I answered wrongly to wanted me to come work in his store.

I think what sets me apart from others is my discipline. This shines through in every aspect of my list, not just professionally. I always tell others that you must be disciplined because you are not always going to feel motivated.

What does success mean to you?
Wow, that’s an interesting question. Obviously, we all define success differently. My definition of success is being able to do what I love while being able to earn enough to make a living from it. Ultimately, I want my books to support me and my family so that I can step away from other obligations and just tell stories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.richardfierce.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richard.fierce/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dragonfirepress/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/richardfierce
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RichardFierceWrites