Boyd Craven is Writing What He Knows to Success

Boyd Craven might not be a household name yet, but like all the other authors I featured here in my website, he had already gained enough online fame that when you do a Google Search of his name, his author career and books would be prominently displayed on top of the search results.

He is a self-confessed “survivalist” or “prepper” and his was of thinking is reflected in his fictional novels of an earth after civilization had fallen. The main protagonists of his novels are ordinary people in stark contrast to the “action hero” type characters written by most authors.

He has made so much money as an author that he was able to leave his job as a coop farmer. He is now a full-time author and continuous to sharpen his skills by practicing what he preaches. He is actively living the life of a prepper and is now almost living “off grid”.

He is a good example of how finding your niche and knowing what the market wants can have a very big impact on the success of your author career. Although he admits that at the beginning of his career he made a lot of mistakes, just like most beginner authors are.

The Details:

1. Who is Boyd Craven (III)?

His complete name is Boyd Craven III. He is an American who lives in Michigan. He is married and has children. Before he became an author, he had worked on a variety of jobs. He was a coop farmer back then when he decided to give writing a serious try.

Before he became successful, he was an avid reader of novels and a fan of many authors like Dean Koontz, Robin Cook, Stephen King and John Grisham.. He had also dabbled in writing before but wasn’t writing about prepper or survivalist type novels.

It was only after the instigation of his teenage foster daughter who was very sick then that he finally gave writing a serious try. His initial novel didn’t sell well and he admits it was full of typos such that you won’t recognize his writing style today based off it.

It nevertheless started the ball rolling for him until he finally found success when he wrote about survivalist or prepper themed novels. His even found more success when he added romantic elements to his novels which he decided to do after studying the book reader market.

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2. His “Prepper” Niche

He mainly writes about prepper and survivalist themed novels. They are what he is best known for and they are his best selling books. According to him, not many authors are writing in this very specific genre.

He has gained enough fame with his prepping niche that he gets invited to speak in prepping events like prepping/survivalist expos together with other experts in prepping/survivalist which includes other authors just like him.

As you can see, he is an example of how a book, even a simple novel can establish your personal brand. The people who read his books must have learned a lot about prepping through reading his novels that they consider him a professional or an expert at it.

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3. Why is Prepping Popular?

But prepping as a concept and not just a book genre have been becoming more and more popular over the years. There are entire communities/organizations especially in the USA which are dedicated to it.

This is because more and more people are getting alarmed with the bad things that have been happening all around them: famine, wars, political instabilities, disappearing water supplies, financial instabilities , soaring inflation, the list goes on and on.

There are a lot of online personalities making a lot of money creating YouTube videos, podcasts, courses, books, and even eCommerce stores themed after prepping/survivalist. There is a genuine demand for prepping related products and it has only been growing.

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4. Being Very Productive

Just like some of the authors that have been featured here like Steve Higgs and Amanda M Lee, he is also a very prolific author who writes a novel or a short story almost every three weeks.

Writing prolifically these days as a strategy for probable writing success has gained significant momentum among the writer community. Many writing coaches these days even advise that if you don’t turn out a new book at regular intervals, you would be likely forgotten by your readers.

If you have been following the careers of very successful and rich authors like Stephen King, you would notice that they are prolific writers as well. They release a couple of books each year without fail.

But being prolific at least initially in your writing career can also pay big dividends to your discoverability. The more books you produce, the more are the chances of you being discovered by readers.

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5. Practicing What You Preach

But there’s more to him which probably also adds to his writing success. Besides writing about what he knows which is prepping/survivalist, and being a prolific writer, he also practices what he preaches.

He has been practicing living offgrid and plans to further do so after his children have all grown. This not only makes him more “genuine” as a prepper to his readers, but it also makes him look “professional” or even an “expert” at prepping.

Besides this, living the prepper life although not entirely, enables him to gain more knowledge and ideas from prepping which he can include in his novels. This I believe, is what enables him to write prolifically: because he always have plenty of knowledge and ideas gained from real life experience.

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6. Almost Anyone Can Be A Writer

He admits that he was so bad at English as a child that he failed his English subjects in the schools he attended and even had to resort to repeating his English classes twice just to pass them. This was how bad he initially was with English.

He has also worked on jobs totally unrelated to writing of which working as a coop farmer was his last before he considered writing as a career or as a way of making money. He even rates his first novel very poorly in terms of writing.

But he is a good example of how anyone can be a writer despite being bad at English (well, at least initially) and not having formal education and prior experience in writing novels. He too never found success in writing instantly, but gained it eventually because he kept on trying.

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7. He Earns About $20,000 a Month

In a 2016 online writing article which included an interview of him, he stated that he earns about $20,000 per month. Unless you’re already a billionaire or even a millionaire, these book earnings are already a big amount for a common person, even an American.

Let me emphasize to you why he, Boyd Craven, can be a very good role model for many aspiring authors especially from poor to developing countries where the US dollars is priced at a premium.

If an author like me who is currently residing in a developing country ever earns the same book income as what Boyd makes in a month, in one year alone, I could have saved enough money for a very comfortable retirement already.

Even an average American can live a comfortable life with the amount of book income Boyd earns in a single month. This is the reason why I suggest that you research about him more and try to learn about him and his books. Maybe he can lead you to a better life if you ever did duplicate his success.

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Final Words

Boyd Craven, or more formally Boyd Craven III is a good example of how anyone can become a successful author even if you have a handicap (at least initially) with the English language, which is one of the most profitable, if not the most profitable language to learn today.

You don’t even have to have a formal education in writing or have previous experience in writing novels or any books. Maybe it was Boyd’s voracious novel reading habit which taught him ultimately, how to write novels.

He writes what he knows about, studies the market, and writes prolifically. All of these are important ingredients or strategies for a possible success as an author. We can also add that he writes about something that really interests him. He is an author worth studying.

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You Might Be Interested To Read This Article:

Steve Higgs: A Successful Author That Deviates From The Norm

Author Steve Higgs might not be famous enough yet to warrant his own Wikipedia page, but his writing career and style is worth a study even if you are a seasoned or a new author.

I spend a good deal watching YouTube videos. I especially make it a point to watch videos about the book publishing industry including author podcasts. And I have heard the name ‘Steve Higgs’ a few times already.

Some of the authors who know him says that he’s quite a character. He’s well known for his well built muscle which is a result of his regular muscle building exercises. He’s well known in the author community as the soldier from the UK who became a writer.

And the discipline instilled in him by the army has definitely affected how he conducts his writing career. He for example is a very prolific author who can write more than one novel a month....

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Amanda M Lee: Unconventionally Successful Author

When you Google Search: “Amanda M Lee”, you might be surprised that she has gained enough online fame that Google Search has a dedicated feature of her profile in its search results.

She has made enough money in the few short years that she’s been writing novels that she’s now a certified millionaire many times over, even buying a new house using cash from her book earnings. This is how much she’s earned from her book sales.

As you can see, she’s an author that you should watch out for and even emulate if you want to be a successful author yourself. Another interesting thing about her career as an author is that she has no previous book writing experience before she became a successful author.

Also, she too wasn’t an instant success. With her first few novels only selling a few copies after a couple of months of no sales at all. Her career as an author is well recommended for studying as it doesn’t follow the usual route of many instantly successful celebrity authors ...

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