Meet Brandon Flanery | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandon Flanery and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandon, how do you think about risk?
Getting my book published took a lot of research, time, rejection, and self improvement. I think we are scared of risk because we’re scared of failure. However, failure is the greatest teacher, and we’ll likely fail at most things at first. But failure is not the end; it’s an intricate part of the story.

We were taught in school to fear failure when in actuality, it’s our greatest teacher. Without it, we’re not growing or improving. None of us come out of the womb perfect. We learn to speak by saying stupid nonsense words; we learn to walk by falling. Through my publication journey, I learned a lot from risking and failing so that I could one day succeed. When we related to failure that way, what is even is risked? We win regardless.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always dreamed of being an author because I love writing. But being an author is like 20% writing, 50% marketing, 30% networking, and 15% frustrating my publisher. (I said I was a writer, I didn’t say I was good at math.)

In honesty, I’m very fortunate to be published. It takes a lot of work, lots of writing in letters to publishers who don’t care about your writing ability and instead, want to know how many TikTok followers you have or church members are in your pews or grannies subscribed to your monthly newsletter.

Publishing is an industry that isn’t set up to highlight the best writer, but the biggest platform. 🥲 #blessed

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This definitely depends on the human? Are they gay or straight? Family or friends? Young or old?

Because if they’re LGBTQ nature-loving, boot-stomping, unabashed singer (yes, those people exist), we’re hitting the Overlook Climbing Gym during one of their queer meetups followed up with line dancing at the Eagle or Heretic, then My Sister’s Room for karaoke.

My straight parents? The aquarium, World of Coke, and botanical garden, followed up by shopping and dinner at Ponce.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely want to give a shoutout to Lake Drive Books for taking me on as a writer, Jarrad Hogg for creating a gorgeous cover, Wade Shaw for producing a beautiful audiobook, UCCS for the support and space to refine my craft, all the authors that shaped my writing, especially my third grade teacher, a Scholastics publisher writer, who first believed in me.

Website: https://BrandonFlanery.com

Instagram: @Flanbran

Other: TikTok: @Flanbran