We recently connected with Stacy Hooker and have shared our conversation below.
Stacy, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
We actually do two unique things that would set us apart in the publishing world. First, we publish epic books with an optional literacy companion workbook for school-age parents to take advantage of, and second, we offer no-charge publishing advice to aspiring authors. I’ll discuss the second, beginning with a story. Recently, we attended an author’s conference and set up a booth to display books and publishing services. The event was wonderful, with many excellent speakers and accomplished authors who have found success in book publishing. There were classes about improving writing, learning how to market oneself, and even classes on how to incorporate proper fighting techniques in an epic fantasy novel. Attending new and published authors were in their element at the event, absorbing all they could about the writing and publishing processes. Many were eager to find a publishing deal, and others crammed information in order to publish their manuscripts independently.
As authors and publishers ourselves, we have learned that the industry is changing as a whole. Gone are the days of high-barrier traditional publishing houses that restrict most authors from ever publishing a book. In addition, the days of expensive publishing are slipping out of the window as well. Today, anyone can publish—and for less than one might think.
Publishing on your own isn’t easy, however. There are thousands of tiny details to consider, from cover design to ISBN registration. A wrong decision or a poor choice of editor or other publishing service provider can leave an author discouraged and broke as they chase their authoring dream.
At the conference, we watched as several aspiring authors circled the tables in zombie-like fashion, attempting to learn all they could before returning home to dive into the self-publishing world. As my wife and I have experienced publishing books with my (Troy) own titles and other authors, we have learned many hard lessons and discovered powerful resources along the way to bring us to where we are.
In that success, we have sought ways that we can give back to those walking in our shoes in the beginning phases of publishing. How could we help other authors navigate the myriad of self-publishing woes without breaking the bank? And in tandem with that question, how could we give back to the community, helping others to realize their dream of publishing?
We love to help authors self-publish by giving advice and encouragement. That means helping them wherever we can, providing insight, direction, and even creative advice. No gatekeeping. No charge. All they need to do is ask.
Why? Well, it turns out that giving back is not only a great thing to do, it’s good for business.
Do we offer publishing self-publishing services at a cost? Sure, but we do our best to keep that affordable for the author as well. We want to see fewer barriers to publishing, not more!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
(Stacy) We are Troy and Stacy Hooker and we make up almost the entirety of Descendant Publishing. We are both burned-out former teachers looking to bring clean, faith-based reading to middle-grade, young adult, and new adult readers. Troy was a high school History teacher and Stacy was a K 12 art teacher. Troy has been writing his entire life but decided to take things a little more seriously around 2016 and began to finish the work that he affectionately had started calling “The Key”. We started throwing around the idea of publishing, knowing nothing of the complexities that come with any of it. We can just send it off to a publisher and they can do it, right? Ha! Well after finally doing a little (keyword “little”) research we thought that the self-publishing route was the best for Troy. The adventure of self-publishing what became Troy’s first book The Watcher Key was an extremely bumpy one, full of switchbacks and sometimes just outright going in circles. Anyone who has self-published knows, especially back when self-publishing was just coming into its own. But we learned a lot, screwed up a lot, and found out that we worked together really well.
One of my (Stacy’s) most memorable “I think we can do this” moments was when there was a day when we were working through getting things ready and Troy was upset because he realized we were going to have to fork out a lot of money to pay someone to format the interior of the book. At the time, we just couldn’t afford it. We spent some time stressing over this and even contemplating if we should continue forward. When I asked “well, how do you format the interior anyways?” and Troy’s response was “you have to use some big, complicated program called InDesign”. My jaw nearly hit the floor, I jumped up grabbed my computer, gave it a few clickity-clacks, spun it around, with InDesign proudly displaying on the screen, and said “I can do that”.
After many months, a failed Kickstarter campaign, an Indiegogo campaign that made half the Kickstarter, a generous gift from Troy’s parents, and a poor decision to have 500 copies printed at once, The Watcher Key by Troy Hooker was officially in the world. A little over a year later we took everything we learned and did it again, minus some of the poor decisions, and The Watcher Tower was released. Another year or so, and the final book in the series, The Watcher Revealed, was born.
Things were starting to click, we were meeting more and more people like us who want to do these things but just don’t know where to start. That’s when we started toying with the idea of working with other authors and the real work began.
what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients, and/or what you think sets you apart from others.
Fast forward to today Descendant Publishing offers multiple publishing options including traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing. We can assist aspiring authors in their journey by providing services such as interior formatting, editing, and even some light design work. It’s a long process to get a book from start to finish and we are happy to help and work with authors at any point in that journey.
However, our curriculum might be our crowning jewel. One of our goals with Descendant Publishing is to create a curriculum for most books we publish. So educators, whether that be a teacher in a classroom or homeschooling parent, can provide engaging books that their student wants to read while also providing in-depth comprehension, character development, and vocabulary studies. These manuals are designed to function like notebooks and give educators flexibility in their lessons.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
(Troy) One of the greatest lessons we have had to unlearn was the false idea that we can accomplish all of our goals alone. Our plan (which now I realize was rather selfish and arrogant), was to best the competition by producing far superior books before they could realize what was happening. In essence, we would “sneak” up on others in the industry, set down our masterpieces in front of them, and watch them weep as we collect profits. Success isn’t inherently evil, just like money and fame are not. To want these things are not selfish, or arrogant unless it means stepping on the toes of others.
Our realization, however, came when we went to our first book conference. We had planned to make a stunning debut, drawing everyone’s attention while bolstering our own pride. When we showed up, however, we quickly became aware that we, though talented, were not the best of the best. We weren’t even mediocre in comparison to other talented authors, designers, and publishers. We were quickly reminded of our place, following that event.
As history has shown in the past, competition isn’t a bad thing. Having others who are better than you isn’t either. These things, in fact, can be essential in growing a business. What we learned at the event, as we observed what others had done, was that the community of authors, designers, and publishers didn’t work against each other, bumping chests and proving their worth, they actually worked together to achieve each other’s goals. They, unlike us, had realized that they were far better off collaborating, sharing resources, giving each other advice, and learning from each other. They needed each other!
Community is powerful in many circles, and that includes business!
Now, Stacy and I have shifted our perspective to become more involved in the lives of others. We desire to learn, collaborate, and give back to our community. It has helped so much in the growth of our business!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Our desire to engage in the industry community has been the greatest asset to the growth of our company. While we are still small-scale, the relationships we have made with authors, creatives, and other publishers have allowed others to see the talents Stacy and I can bring to the market. Giving of ourselves and our time to others has proved to be the biggest promoter of our reputation as a company. Instead of thinking about how to get others to choose us for products and services, we have reversed that role into a new motto: “How can we serve others?” We may not see immediate growth, but it will contribute to long-term success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.descendantpublishing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/descendantpublishing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/descendantpublishing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/descendant-publishing/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/descendantpub
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPH8PsWGAdbDLNF8KFvulw