We were lucky to catch up with Athena Dean Holtz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Athena Dean thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
Over 30 years in book publishing I have personally learned the most in the crucible of unexpected problems and issues. Since I launched my second publishing company a decade ago, there have been many areas of the business that needed refining, reimagining, and yes, even reforming. Because I’d pioneered the independent publishing movement in the Christian publishing market in the early 90s, I have seen up close and personal so many industry changes and economic challenges unique to our industry as well as overwhelming opportunities to pivot. One that came up as a result of the pandemic was multiple printing price increases in a short span of time. The result was that hundreds of our authors were now in the red because their retail price did not keep up with the growing cost to print. This required a significant amount of hours dedicated for an extended period of time reaching out to authors and working through the decisions they would need to make for new pricing. These hours spent were non income generating and definitely stirred up some fear in my heart over how we would survive, but we did and I learned a lot. The entire process of addressing the problem opened my eyes to other areas where we were losing money or inefficient. Being a Christ follower, I am always asking what lesson I’m to learn through every difficulty that comes my way, which has set the tone for lots of growth in a calling that I’m honored to execute and model maturity, integrity and excellence within.
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.
In 1986 my veteran then-husband and I were launching a non-profit for Vietnam vets and their families named “Point Man Ministries.” Back before PTSD was a “thing” we were setting up small groups in churches across the country for these vets and their wives to come together. The men who returned from war were not the same as those who left for SE Asia and there was a huge need to learn more about the symptoms of PTSD that were destroying their relationships.
The Executive Director wrote a manuscript, as a Vietnam veteran and a layman, on PTSD. He wasn’t a psychiatrist or other medical professional, who typically would prescribe VA medications and ways to cope. Rather he shared his faith experience and how it helped him with his own PTSD.
We tried for many months to find a publisher. Back in the 80’s there was no internet, so the entire printed manuscript was sent via the USPS to New York publishers, with no takers. Unbeknownst to us, the manuscript wasn’t ready to present to publishers, so no wonder we were getting rejection after rejection!
We finally met a man who worked for another non-profit in their publications division. He offered to rewrite (yep, it needed a complete overhaul to compete in the marketplace!) hire a cover designer, text layout vendor, and printer and provide 10,000 books for $1 each. That sounded like an answer to prayer for us! We had no idea where that money would come from, but we were confident that this was our solution.
Within a week, a Korean veteran we’d never met before showed up on our office doorstep with a check in hand. He knew of our ministry and heard about our need. “I believe in what you are doing and want to meet the need you have.” With that, the entire bill was paid in full for that first 10,000 books! In less than two years we were down to one case left, and were in the green room before being interviewed on the Christian Broadcast Network by Sheila Walsh. We were speaking at a big veterans’ conference they were putting on and the interview was to promote the event. The manager for a music group performing on the program that day listened to our story and said, “Hey, you’ve gone through 10,000 copies in 2 years? I can get you a contract with a well-known Christian publisher!” (Good thing, since we’d lived on the revenues from the book sales over those 2 years and didn’t have money to print another 10,000)!
He went on to pitch the book, Nam Vet: Making Peace with Your Past, to Multnomah Press. The deal was sealed, and they went on to sell 40,000 copies over the next 8 years. Since that time over 250,000 have sold with a million in print with veteran organizations given the option to print and give away to their members.
So, this self-publishing success is what led me into the publishing business! I had all sorts of people approaching me, “Athena, can you help me with my book?” Thus began our first publishing company co-founded in 1991, WinePress Publishing. We were the first custom publisher in the faith- based space, so looking back on it, I was pioneering the indie-publishing movement without even realizing it!
We were well-respected by industry professionals and a trend setter. We continued to be a publishing company of excellence until I naively allowed the wrong people to take over the management of the company in 2005, leading to my forced departure in 2011 and its demise in 2014.
But God.
My former landlord who also happened to be the City Attorney in Enumclaw, WA (suburb of Seattle) asked me to return to my former office complex and begin again to help the authors who had lost their publisher and needed access to their files and solutions to get them back into distribution.
Redemption Press was born out of the great need of authors who’d lost their publisher, and it was an opportunity for me to make up in some way for my poor decision in trusting those who did not deserve my endorsement.
Over the last decade, Redemption Press has grown to be the best choice for traditional publisher quality work combined with indie publishing benefits. Our books win awards, our team and culture here at Redemption Press has earned 3 years in a row, “Best Christian Workplace.” Our authors are like family and our values are built on integrity, excellence, and faith.
As an author myself, many of our services have been developed by my own experiences in writing, being coached, rewriting, and delegating projects to those who can do what I cannot. We offer everything from brainstorming and coaching through the writing process, to ghostwriting, to developmental edit and more. Our designers, both cover and text, produce books that look and read like the big 5 published them. My motto for 30+ years has been, “If you’re going to self-publish, the last thing you want to do is to look self-published!” Our collaborative custom publishing model was created to provide tailor-made services based on your need as an author, from writing the manuscript to distribution and marketing, and everything in between.
What sets us apart is our commitment to excellence and our stellar reputation. We don’t publish everyone, only those we feel align with our values. Messages we can truly get behind and promote. We base our proposals on what the work needs in editing and polish, so no two projects are alike. Everything is custom with line items of each service needed. We under promise and over deliver and provide a white glove service that we’ve been told by those who have published with others, is second to none. The important items of you as the author owning all the rights (from print, to eBook, to audiobook, to foreign rights as well as screen rights) is a huge value combined with the team of professionals who go over and above to serve our authors well.
We’d love to hear about your manuscript or book idea and see how we might partner together. At Redemption Press, your message is our mission!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One of my biggest leadership challenges has been avoiding hard conversations with employees who are underperforming or demonstrating toxic behavior. It’s very uncomfortable to approach immature behavior that affects the team, but I learned the hard way that I must do the right thing, even when it hurts.
3 years ago, I had an employee who grew jealous of others on our all-female team. Her anger spewed out, “Why wasn’t I chosen to keynote at the event?” I thought back to her behavior leading up to this statement. She attended team meetings on Zoom with her camera turned off, with an excuse that she’s having some family disruptions. Then the red flags began to show up and I just wanted to think it would all be OK as it seemed so out of character for this person!
I finally realized I could not avoid the hard conversation, but before I could have it, she put in her notice. I sighed with relief, but was convicted that there was so much I could have done to address the situation in a compassionate way that would build up the team instead of allowing it to be torn down.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I had multiple Writer’s Conference dates on the calendar where I would teach and meet with potential authors. As you can guess, March of 2020 brough one cancellation after another. The world was shutting down and no one knew how long it would last. A thought popped into my head. “Wait, I’ve been doing this for 30 years, I know editors, agents, best selling authors – we should just put on our own conference online!”
Thus began the first virtual Christian writers conference named after our newly launched compilation, “She Writes for Him.” This anthology of 5 well known authors and 25 new authors together in a beautiful full color hard cover coffee table book was gaining momentum right when the world shut down, so the She Writes for Him branding encompassing the virtual stage we created was huge.
We kept the price low – $37 for 3 days of well known speakers in the author/speaker/publishing world and ended up with 37 speakers and 3 power packed days. We were told multiple times by different attendees that it was like a cross between a women’s retreat and a writer’s conference without the intimidation of meeting one on one in person with agents and editors. It was an absolutel hit and became a staple for us to find new authors. It grew into 5 day and 3 day challenges on all sorts of different topics. And even when the world opened back up, we continued to present world class virtual events to train those who have been called to communicate Truth through the written word.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redemption-press.com
- Instagram: @redemptionpress
- Facebook: @RedemptionPress
- Linkedin: @AthenaDeanHoltz
- Other: https://www.athenadeanholtz.com
Image Credits
Christina Custodio