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Tiphani Montgomery

Author Tiphani Montgomery’s smile (and the fearlessly bold determination behind it) is quite possibly her best asset when it comes to self-publishing success. After all, she made her mark as a writer by marketing to the guys at the night club where she worked.

“They wanted to talk to me anyway,” Montgomery said. “They’re gonna buy (my book) just because they think I’m cute. And I sold 2,500 copies to all the drug dealers in town. It was great, so that’s how i got my start.”

Indeed, Montgomery’s beginnings were as humbling and as difficult as they sound. What kept her motivation and her beaming smile was her passion for the written word.

“I started writing recreationally every since I was a little girl,” she said. “I still have my diary from when I was nine. My daughter reads my diary like a book. I always had a knack for writing. It was very natural, and it was a way to escape from life.”

Growing up in Rochester, New York in a family of boys, Montgomery had relatives who were members of the Latin Kings gang. She hardened herself to life’s difficulties. When she got into fights, she always got the first and the last hit. She said writing was cathartic and lessened her intensity to fight.

“I spent so much time in in-school suspension, it became my school,” she said. Despite this, she became interested in music and cosmetology and had a reputation for being the lively girl. “I was always the most energetic person,” Montgomery said.

She was inspired to start writing regularly in part because of necessity and also because of a much needed push from a school principal, who forced her to take anger management classes.

“So he saw this gift for me,” Montgomery said. “You cannot walk the (graduation) stage unless I have done everything I can do to make sure you are productive in this world.” She squeaked by in high school with a 1.7 GPA, then found herself pregnant at 17.

“My life was pretty much ruined, so I moved to North Carolina,” she said. While in Raleigh, she studied the publishing industry and realized there weren’t many “angry black woman” poetry books. Publishing the book herself was her only option.

Her self-publishing success in the seedier community of drug pushers wasn’t miraculous. It was 100 percent determination.

“I’m an introvert who’s an extrovert,” Montgomery said. “I have the energy to promote and talk to people. I write every day.”

She said no matter what circumstances are going on in her life, she is writing. Whenever she has faced a personal struggle, such as dropping out of college after several failures and restarts her freshman year, she transforms the life experience into a positive writing experience.

She began focusing all of her efforts on writing full time and digging into the self-publishing industry. Montgomery understood first-time writers are considered a liability in traditional publishing. She also recognized there was more money to be made as a self-published author.

She churned out her first novel in a few months. Her intense energy and writing efforts eventually landed her on the Essence Magazine bestsellers list multiple times with her “Millionaire Mistress” trilogy.

Montgomery focuses on self-publishing and showing others in one-on-one strategy sessions how to be a success in this area with her “Best Sellers Project”.

One of her favorite independent authors is Miss K.P, author of “The Dirty Divorce,” who participated in Montgomery’s “Best Sellers Project.”

“It is a crazy phenomenal, just page-turning book. The reason why she’s one of my favorites is because it’s very hard to be that consistent.”

She loves traditional publishing and independent publishing equally and noted they also have an equal set of pros and cons.

“With self publishing, you are also doing all of the work. You are starting book tours. You are using your own money to print and to negotiate,” Montgomery said.

“There’s definitely not a stigma attached to (self-publishing),” she said. “These days you can design your book to where no one even knows it’s self-published.” She used E.L. James’ “50 Shades of Grey” series as an example of a self-publishing success that can turn wildly popular and parlay into a major publishing opportunity.

“I have found that people have to prove their platform,” she said. “These days you have the resources to make your book professionally done.”

Currently, Montgomery also does ghostwriting and is working on her first non-fiction book, which she hopes to be published by the end of the year.

Find more information on Montgomery here.

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Williesha Morris proudly wears two hats in her professional life. She is a freelance writer who loves writing features and blogs. She is also an administrative consultant who zeroes in on small businesses and entrepreneurs with admin projects. She spends her time tinkering with her website, musing on Twitter, or spending time with her husband gaming or criticizing television shows.

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