Alex Pettyfer creates book publishing company

Actor Alex Pettyfer has launched an independent publishing company.

The Magic Mike star was inspired to create Upturn Publishing after he read Ashley Mansour's young-adult dystopian sci-fi manuscript titled Blood, Ink, and Fire. He explains he wants to give undiscovered writers a chance to get their work published.

"I've wanted to be in control," he tells RollingStone.com. "I think this may be a fault of mine. The opportunity to take something from nothing and see it through all the stages is exciting to me. Artists have been struggling for years because they are overshadowed. It's hard to get the product out there, but that is changing. That's what's interesting for me..."

Keen to give an unknown author his or her big break, Alex admits the literary venture is far more complicated than he thought it would be.

"I always like accepting a challenge," he adds, "but I didn't realize how big a challenge it would be, but it's been fantastic. There's been some great success and I think that's what drove me to do these other things and take on other opportunities."

One other opportunity he was excited to be a part of was the film Elvis & Nixon, in which plays Elvis Presley's best friend, Jerry Schilling. He explains he learned a lot from Jerry, who co-produced the movie, and viewed the experience as a tool to handle new challenges - like his publishing company.

"It's not like you can play the guy and then research him, and then he goes away," he says. "He was there every day, but he was very supportive.

"I actually preferred the fact that he was there. It's the unknown that's hard, where you don't know what you're going to do next and I think I am very blessed. Any new experience you learn from it and you can only better yourself through that experience and that's just life."