We recently connected with Jeanie Egolf and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeanie, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Yes, I think so. Perpetual Light Publishing is all about partnering with Catholic authors and illustrators who want to stay in control of their rights (and royalties!) throughout the publishing process. Just like traditional Catholic publishing houses, we want to get excellent, enjoyable family-friendly literature into the hands of readers, especially those who feel like it is sometimes a very daunting task to find books that truly reflect Catholic culture. Many of our authors (myself included!) have had books published via traditional publishing houses. While that is not a bad thing, there are situations where other options may be preferable and the rigors of self-publishing are “too much work” or just something you don’t want to have to worry about.

PLP offers an author something special: a menu of services and resources that allows him/her to self-direct (you’re the boss, I work for you!) throughout the creative AND the business processes, while I help guide and manage the less glamorous and more technical aspects of getting books designed, produced, and distributed. But the kicker is this: our authors retain all rights. We do contracts that allow a lot of flexibility, and nothing is ever taken away from the author/illustrator, the true owner of the created body of work. We split royalties 50/50–a far higher cut for an author than traditional publishers.

Take Leslea Wahl, for example: an award-winning and prolific writer of multiple novels and short stories for teens and young adults. She has published with several traditional publishing houses. Leslea decided to try her hand at a children’s picture book story. She partnered with her friend, (an equally prolific and award-winning) illustrator Amy Klein to create To Serve and Protect. These two ladies are incredibly talented: there was no way I was going to break apart this dynamic duo or do anything else to hamper their creativity. In their particular case, all they needed from me were some basic copyediting, typography, and design work. Neither had any interest in managing the publication or distribution side; they were more than happy to have someone else take care of all the technical aspects of navigating how to get their book printed and distributed. And I think knowing that they would not lose their rights to THEIR hard work, as well as a generous royalty agreement, was just icing on the cake for them.

Other authors may need more services, such as Janeen Zaio’s action/adventure The Treasure With a Face which included editing, interior layout of a novel with study guide and glossary, cover design, etc. Treasure went on to become a #1 best seller on Amazon in teen religious historic fiction.

And sometimes my job means taking an IDEA and transforming it into an actual story. God Made the Moonlight, for example, was a short poem by writer Erin Broestl. When she asked me to illustrate it and create a children’s picture book, I recall her saying “I’m imagining fantasy, castles . . .” After a few months of painting moonlit castle scenes and mulling over the simple, but beautiful words, I finally had the story that became God Made the Moonlight. I called Erin late one night in 2018 or so and got her permission to rearrange some of the wording and stanzas, just a little bit! Then I “wrote” (in illustrations) the 32-page picture story about a city-girl and her little brother spending a month-long visit at their grandparents in the country, all the while noting the phases of the moon and realizing they are seeing the same moon there, under the big sky, as they did from their big skyscraper in the city. It took a few years and rejection by 2-3 traditional Catholic publishers, (one gave the reason “our readers don’t live in cities so can’t empathize”), but God Made the Moonlight went on to achieve multiple awards and high praise on CatholicMom.com: “It’s better than Goodnight Moon.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Yeah, this is where it gets kinda crazy. I’m actually a retired Internal Medicine physician. My Jersy-boy husband and I met in residency in the Philadelphia area, then moved to Washington DC vicinity for the remainder of Jay’s ophthalmology training before finally settling down in Ohio, where I was born. Our second child was born early, with some special needs, and I made the difficult decision to sell my practice to be a full-time mom to care for my family. I’d always loved writing and especially, drawing and painting, having been in private lessons from age 8 throughout school. I began taking on some painting commissions, and eventually wrote a picture book, Molly McBride and the Purple Habit, based on my girls’ relationship with a local order of religious sisters. That book was picked up by a small publisher who then contacted with me to make Molly into a series. Those first 3 books were eventually bought out by OSV, but I had a 4th book in the series underway. Having taken on freelancing jobs for textbook and curriculum development, I had already become pretty adept at book design, so decided I would self-publish Molly McBride and Christmas Pageant.

About that time, a couple friends had some manuscripts that really spoke to me, and I began taking on more freelance design projects and helping other authors self-publish. After a few years I realized I’d acquired a valuable skill and the know-how to really reach out and help more creatives. I knew how to start up and run a business: I’d had plenty experience from running a medical practice. Forms were filed and more partnerships forged, and the business grew. I was providing a unique experience not only for Catholic families, but for Catholic authors and illustrators.

Partnering with Cathy Gilmore to help create her Virtue Heroes series, PLP really began to shape its mission. There is truly a need for more GOOD books for kids, and not only saint and bible stories, but real-life, relatable stories of every-day Catholic family culture. Perpetual Light Publishing is about shining a little light when the world seems to be growing darker.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Sure. I started with Facebook. I think the secret of building that big “audience” is to start with being/having a large network of friends on social media. If you already have a big network of like-minded friends or acquaintances, such as people from your kids’ schools, church groups, work groups, large family, etc., you’re probably already halfway there just by sending out invites from your personal account to “like” your business page.

Having an interesting and diverse background of jobs, schools, places lived, interests, and experiences certainly helps. To grow your personal connections, you have to go out and volunteer in your community (and that includes your cyber community). I think doing this will automatically translate to “having more friends on Facebook.” Physically attending conferences and joining groups related to your interests (e. g. in my case writers’ and artists’ groups, religious organizations and causes), talking with individuals and sharing ideas, listening and learning what people want and need more of in their lives: that’s how you form relationships. When you get home from those conferences and networking meetings, jump on your social media of choice and look up the people you met that day and send them a friend invitation. From there, you can invite them to your business page. A personal message helps.

Not only that, you’ve learned (from meeting all these people) where there is a need, what people want, how to grow your audience. You take into account what people have told you they want or need, counter-balance that with what skills and knowledge you have to offer, and you’ve just created a niche for yourself.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Absolutely. My pivot was pretty remarkable. As I mentioned, I’m not really a writer, or an illustrator, or a publisher by trade. I’m a doctor. That decision I made back in 2009, to give up that career and become a stay-at-home mom–it was one of the most difficult of my life. Being a doctor was my identity, it was all I knew, and it was the only “Jeanie” my husband had ever known. I was so scared. Who would I be? What would my colleagues say about me? Would my old med school classmates and fellow residents think I “couldn’t hack it” in medicine? Would I lose my husband’s respect and admiration for being this smart, hard-working career woman to now “just be a mom?” Looking back, it was pretty devastating, and I sometimes still can’t believe it really went through with it!

Becoming a mom–I don’t think I need to explain the obvious, how challenging and rewarding that career choice truly is. But more than that, I have grown in my trust in God’s plan and learned a lot about self-worth. He has shown me that we are more than what we accomplish. We don’t have to be number one in our class or earn a 6-digit salary to “count” in this world. We are all equally loved by Him, for who we ARE, not what we do. While I’m certainly no Mother Teresa, I am learning the true meaning of “Do small things with great love.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.perpetuallightpublishing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perpetual_light_publishing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerpetualLightPublishing/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-egolf-8501b827
• Twitter: https://x.com/jeanie_egolf