What you will find here

This is a place to examine plans filled with hope; plans which promise a refuge from chaos; plans which will shape our futures. Veterans with and without PTSD, Pentecostal Presbyterians, Adjudicated Youth, and Artists-Musicians-Writers: I write what I know. ~~~ Evelyn

Friday, July 8, 2016

Gone for a While, Back Now

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two years since I last posted on this blog.

But a lot happened in those two years.

Let's see -
May 2014 - I began Denouement Literary Agency, LLC

July 2014 - a very large lump between my scalp and my skull turned out to be cancerous and led to two surgeries.

Also July 2014 - Published The Island Remains through Whiskey Creek Press.

Fall of 2014 - I did not slow down. I went to conventions and conferences as a guest author and spoke at writers groups around the state at least once or twice a month.

Winter of 2014 - I crashed and burned. It caught up with me. So I regrouped and focused within. I relinquished command of Writers for All Seasons to the outstanding and ever-talented Dr. Tracy Zielinski.

Spring of 2015 - struggled to make a go of Denouement. I had about 30 authors interested in this new-style of agency. I was working day and night - editing novels and contacting publishers and helping set up marketing for already published authors. I found a publisher for an author and was so excited!!! Only - the author did not follow through on our contract, and 6 months of hard work didn't pay off.  I realized - probably during the dead of night - that I was basing my success - not on my own hard work, but on the ethics of others: no matter how hard I worked, I would not be successful unless other people did their jobs and/or followed through with their responsibilities.

Summer of 2015 - one year cancer free!

July 2015 - Edited and helped publish Stories for All Seasons - an anthology written by the group I'd facilitated for 10 years - Writers for All Seasons.

August 2015 - The idea of helping people become published authors still impassioned me - I just realized a literary agency was not the best way - for me - to accomplish that. So I began to think about starting my own publishing company.

So I did. I began with Portals Publishing as an imprint of Denouement Literary Agency, LLC and focused on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and History. I published Laughing Humans - mostly to walk my way through the process - as trade paperback and an e-book.
It was so much fun!! And the end result was beautiful!!  So I started promoting Portals Publishing.

But something was missing. I had already bought several domains for Building Life-long Inspirational & Successful Strategies - the workshops I was teaching at Women's Resource Centers around the state. So I started BLISS Books to focus on inspirational books.  I began marketing BLISS Books - seeking authors - through the Unity churches around the world.

Between the two houses, I've produced ten books so far - in trade paperback and Kindle, and am now producing Audible versions of each of them.

All of these books are available internationally through Amazon, Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble, and other on-line stores.

So many books are being sold per project that I'm re-thinking the standard "royalties every 6 month" thing and would like to send out royalty checks every month.

I have 65 projects (manuscripts) lined up and contracted. I've passed by a few proposals, but always tried to give detailed reasons (hopefully in a helpful manner) to those whose books I declined.

Spring 2016 - I began a new writing group at Unity in the Grove Chapel called Writers at Unity. Critique based, I teach a 30 minute lesson and then we share our writing. We meet twice a month and I have fallen in love with writing again.

May 2016 - several classes opened up at Gibbons Street Elementary - where I spent 12 years teaching before someone talked me into becoming a Teacher of Gifted. I prayed about this, applied for 2 of the jobs, interviewed, and was offered a position within 15 minutes of the interview.

Summer 2016 - I am following my BLISS.






3 comments:

  1. Glad to see you back in the blogging world. It's quieter and kinder than FB. Congratulations on all of your professional and creative accomplishments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wanna RITE Upstairs?
    Avec moi, aussi,
    s'il-vous plait?
    GBY

    ReplyDelete