We recently connected with Danielle Marietta and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

In the bookish world it seems as though the big publishing houses have underestimated the size and buying power on niche audiences. Where they chase mass market best sellers, they miss opportunities and the cultural hunger for representation. Not only that, but they move at a much slower pace than that of the indie publishing market. Where a book from a trad publisher can take 18-24 months until it officially releases, the indie space can address a “need” or tap into a specific niche market in half the time.

Corporate America still tries to put a negative spin on self publishing and small, independent publishers, but with the boom in Bookstagram and BookTok, this is our time to shine! Marketing isn’t what it used to be and that is where we step in front and center!

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.

I started out with a broadcast news background. In fact, that was my major at Howard University in Washington DC. But when I became a mom, writing news didn’t bring me the joy it had before. I slowly began to tap into my creative writing and more specifically children’s adventure stories. Prior to publishing my first book, I weighed the options of self publishing vs traditional publishing. Somehow I ended up in the middle and decided to create my own publishing platform. As time went on I noticed a desire for other Black authors to be represented in the publishing world as more than just self published authors. That’s when I opened my platform to other writers.
Now, 4 years later, we have over 20 authors who have published with us! We also offer editing services and coaching sessions for others who would prefer to fully self publish.
I’m proud to have grown a business that is known as the Black publishing company for unrepresented writers! We look forward to continued growth in the coming years.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Picking a tighter niche and staying consistent. For example, when I first started Books & Things Publishing I used wording like “diverse voices” and “representing the underrepresented.” While that was true, I found that it wasn’t connecting with people like I had hoped. Then I realized I needed to just say what and who we are to make it clearer.
When I started saying that we are a publisher for Black writers and updated the verbiage on our website to state we support Black publishing power, everything clicked. More people found our website. More people started submitting their manuscripts. The interest from our target audience grew.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

This business started 100% from the ground up and we quickly learned that we needed to offer more things to help the income continue. We were already publishing books, but we quickly added in more marketing options. We have “Add-ons” that our authors can purchase to help them through the launch process and to help them market throughout the year. If we only relied on the funds collected for publishing, we would not be able to stay afloat. Or we’d need to hike up our prices and we didn’t want to do that. Now we offer multiple marketing packages for our authors and even coaching sessions for authors who have self published.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://booksandthingspublishing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksandthingspub/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/books-things-publishing