Being a publisher is not an easy task, for so many reasons: choosing the right manuscript; hoping the right one didn’t get away, dealing with printers, author personalities, employee personalities, book publishing politics, etc., etc. So many people talk and write about publishing being a business and publishers being in it just to make a dollar and not for the love of books.
That may indeed be the case for many publishers, and maybe because I’m small, I’m nieve, but for me and my company, it is first the love, then the money. I have two Masters Degrees, I could be doing anything, but I choose to do this or maybe it choose me. Publishing books is stressful and definitely not easy to get rich with, and as far as I’m concerned, if you’re not doing it for the love first, you shouldn’t be doing it at all. I love books. I love where they take you. I love what they do for you and to you. Books saved me as a kid.
I grew up in foster care and to get away from the daily madness going on in my life, I read and I wrote. There are plenty of things I could be doing, but this is what I’m meant to do. Publishing for me is giving some child or some adult the opportunity to get away from it all, even for a few minutes. It’s for me, providing someone the ability to have a book teach you, take you away, make you feel special even when other people don’t believe it, and feel as if you are a part of the story you are reading. It allows me to publish a book that will save that one child, that one adult from their own fears and maybe, even their reality.
Being a publisher is a powerful thing, that one should never take lightly. The books one chooses has a profound effect on the individual/s that read the books, chosen by the publisher. Sadly, so many publishers have lost touch with this reality and are publishing for the sake of publishing, not thinking of the effect that the books they choose will have on the readers who buy these books.
If there is ever a day, a moment, a time, where I question if this is what I’m meant to do, I meet with clients like the one I had today. I’m working with a local school to publish a book written by the kids. The principal and the coordinator I’m working with, both said to me, “Lishone’ we believe in you. We believe in your company. We believe in what you can do.” I can’t speak for any other publisher, but for me, those words are powerful. I grew up in a foster care enviornment where I didn’t trust anyone, and they probably didn’t trust me. I often heard that I’d be nothing or I’d be a drug addict like my mother, an alcoholic like my father or a teenage mother stuck on welfare. Trust and belief are big deals for me and things I don’t take likely.
2010 is going to be the year of trust and belief, as all of my writers have books coming out in 2010. They trust me. They trust my company. I’m glad. I’m proud of that, because I believe they should. I love and believe in what I do everyday. I wouldn’t change it for anything, despite any of the stress. I believe in the power of a book, I believe in what books can do for each and every individual. I have a daughter who willl one day own this company and who loves to read like I do. I want every book chosen by me, to be something that she and others would love to read, not just today, but yesterday, and in the months and years ahead.
Publishing is not something I take lightly. I’m meant to do this and I’m glad. My authors trust me and I’m glad. My goal is to ensure that the readers trust me. Publishing has lost that somewhat. Readers are trusting publishers less. They are no longer trusting the quality that comes out of these companies. It is time for that to change. I am far from nieve: I don’t believe I can change an industry, but I do believe I can place a dent in it, even if it’s a small one. As the old proverb says, “little things have big impacts.” We believe in making impacts, because that’s what books do, that’s what we do.

Until the next time!
ZLS Publishing, LLC
CEO, Lishone’ Bowsky
www.zlspublishing.com
www.zlspublishing.com/shop