Flanagan enjoys romance book cover modeling

PHIL CAMPBELL — What started as a few comedy videos on TikTok has grown into a career that has taken Andrew Flanagan from a welding job to romance novel covers and traveling across the country to meet readers.

Flanagan is from Phil Campbell and graduated from Belgreen. He began learning welding while a student at the Franklin County Career Technical Center next to Belgreen High School. He also studied welding at Northwest Shoals Community College.

His work as a welder began to shift in late 2019 when he started posting videos on TikTok after friends encouraged him to share his personality online.

“I call myself ‘a walking meme,’” he said of his early content.

Flanagan began posting short comedic and daily life videos. As his following grew, he received a message from someone asking about whether he would like to model for a romance novel cover. Thinking it was likely a scam, he did not respond.

More authors reached out with similar requests and connected him with a photographer in Athens. After confirming the opportunity was legitimate, Flanagan agreed to his first photo shoot.

“I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I’d never imagined myself doing anything like this.”

Once the initial session got underway, the uncertainty eased. “I just went with the flow,” he said.

Interest from authors grew quickly. Multiple images from that first session sold within days with about 10 photos purchased in the first week.

“It kind of just blew up from there,” Flanagan said.

He continued working as a welder while building his online presence, posting content during breaks and outside of work. As demand grew, he began to see the work as a possible long-term career.

“After I left welding and started putting more work into social media, that’s when I started thinking there might be more to this,” he said.

During the transition, Flanagan said he struggled with alcohol as he adjusted to changes in his life and the pressure that came with rapid growth.

“I got to the point I didn’t even recognize myself,” he said.

Flanagan said he is now four years sober. Flanagan said working out has helped him manage stress and stay focused.

“Even though it hasn’t been easy, it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made,” he said. “God and prayers have been a huge factor in my sobriety.”

He said his combined audience across platforms is about 3 million followers, including about 1.7 million on TikTok and more than 450,000 on Instagram. He has appeared on 27 published book covers with nearly 100 photos sold in total.

Additional book covers are still to be released. Among those are books in B.R. Curry’s “House of Kane” series.

Authors typically select images through photographers, and Flanagan works directly with them without an agent.

His work has also led to travel opportunities, including photo shoots and events in states such as Washington, Oregon and Colorado, as well as appearances at book signings across the country.

“If it wasn’t for this, there’s a lot of places I probably would have never had the chance to see,” he said.

Flanagan said he has been approached by readers in stores and at events, sometimes alongside his son.

“He’s the highlight of my life,” Flanagan said of his son, adding the career change has allowed him to spend more time with family.

Flanagan’s mother, Audrey Marsh, shared her enthusiasm for his success.

“I’m very proud of him,” Marsh said. “I’m amazed at the doors that have opened up to him.”

Flanagan said he tries to stay grounded despite the attention and uses his platform in part to promote the authors he works with.

“I’m just the face of the cover,” he said. “The creative person is the author.”

He said one of the most meaningful parts of the experience has been hearing from people who say his content has helped them.

“When you have people messaging you saying something you did saved their life, it lets me know I’m doing something right,” he said.

Looking ahead, Flanagan said he plans to continue taking opportunities as they come.

“There’s good and bad days like there is with anything,” he said. “I’m just enjoying it all while I can.”