Name: Tamika Newhouse
Occupation: Owner/Operator, Delphine Publications
Previous Job Experience: Teacher
HB: Briefly describe your day to day activities and responsibilities as an author and publisher.
Tamika Newhouse: I usually rise to immediately power up my laptop to check emails. After eating breakfast and once I have answered as many emails as I can, I open my manuscript to re-read what I wrote. Proofing my previous scenes allows me to enhance or delete what I feel needs work. I may begin writing right then and there, or pause to go exercise or perform some house duties. This allows the scenes to settle within my mind a bit to develop the next plot.
On average when I write I aim to wrote no less than 1500 words for that day. I also perform tasks for my authors, host meetings with editors and designers and execute marketing plans.
HB: Briefly describe what prompted your interest in writing.
TN: It was not that I was interested in writing that got me here. I was born to be a writer. Once I developed the skills to write and then tell stories by the time I was eight-years-old, I was writing short pieces. A Martin Luther King poem of mine was entered into my 2nd grade contest and won. I wrote poems, songs and when I reached the age of twelve I had written my first novel. I didn’t choose to write; writing chose me.
HB: What suggestions regarding networking would you give to those seeking to become authors or publishers?
TN: Being an author is just like being an artist or art, an artist of music, an artist of acting and so on. You have to understand and develop your own personal brand and run with it. Your words are your power so always write what reflects you, be mindful of how you choose to market yourself as well. When it comes to networking being seen is the key so get from behind your computers sometimes and do the footwork.
You want to network with others who do not share the same outreach as you and who can help elevate your career as a writer. Writing a book is 20 percent of the job everything else is business.
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HB: What are the major challenges in your profession and what solutions have you deemed best to handle these challenges?
TN: One major challenge in this business is standing out. What can I do to ensure readers choose me over the next writer? I work quarterly on a specific marketing plan and then a yearly marketing plan setting goals and knocking out each task. I do not pursue the same things yearly. I do not attend the same events as well. I simply keep creating new lanes for myself so that I am the one making the moves and not following the moves.
HB: What would you contribute your level of success to?
TN: I would contribute my level of success to my obsession. I have taught myself to be my own cheerleader and to learn to depend on me for encouragement. The support from my community sometimes can be far and in between and instead of feeling discouraged and wanting to quit I create a tunnel vision, stay focus, and motivate myself. If I am not my biggest cheerleader then I might as well quit, right?
HB: Any advice for younger colleagues?
TN: Find someone you admire or someone you aspire to be better then and use them as your motivation. In addition do the research in what it is that you want to do, never be too lazy to learn the ropes because you open yourself up for the opportunity to be taken advantage of.
Keep Up With Tamika:
Twitter @TamikaNewhouse
Instagram @BossladyTamika
LIKE HelloBeautiful On Facebook!
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