Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Marietta. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Danielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, let’s jump into one of the most exciting parts of starting a new venture – how did you get your first client who was not a friend or family?
Don’t underestimate the power of social media. My first client to fully publish under my brand had been following me on Instagram and TikTok for months. She saw me start the business for myself, but then she watched as I slowly started adding different services. One day she reached out and asked if I was ready to publish someone else’s story. I was very hesitant. Initially I told her no, I wasn’t ready for that quiet yet. She asked that I let her know when I was ready. Over the following few months her words kept growing on me, but how would I do it, could I make money, is this truly feasible? Finally I called her. I told her I was ready to try and asked that she understood she was my first client. I told her to constantly give me constructive feedback when needed, and that she knew going in there might be hurdles that arise, but understand we can figure them out together. I asked for her trust and in return, I’d trust her. I drafted up a contract and sent it over. She signed and I sent her the invoice. She made the downpayment immediately. I’ve never felt so excited and scared at the same time.
Danielle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have always been passionate about writing and when I went to college, I knew I wanted to study journalism. There, I honed in on broadcast news. I was writing for the radio news station and I then started working at BET where I was in their news department as well. Right after graduating, I was doing whatever I could; waiting tables, working at department stores at the mall, and just winging it. It wasn’t until I became a mom that I started reading books to my baby and noticing a lack of diverse books. That’s what initially sparked my idea of switching from newswriting to creative writing. In 2019 I created a vision board and I put “write a book” on it. I didn’t really know what went into it so I spent most of that year figuring out the differences between traditional publishing, self publishing, and hybrid publishing. I shared my entire journey on social media and began to grow an account there. When my first children’s book was released people continued to reach out via social media and ask me for tips and advice. Ultimately, I started very slowly. I was providing one on ones with fellow writers. Then I moved into more of a mentorship program and ultimately a few months after that, I started publishing other authors.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to help adjust the publishing statistics. There are so many readers out there who are looking for their story and the traditional publishing market is predominately white, straight men and women. I created Books & Things Publishing as a platform to uplift the underrepresented writers. This is a platform for writers, who may not have an agent, publish their work.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Figuring out how to fund my business was not easy. I was starting with zero. That meant the first few services I needed to provide, needed to provide a high ROI. That’s where one on ones and editing came into play. I already had a computer and it wouldn’t cost me anything to provide those services. That is what built the business. Once I had a comfortable financial platform, I was able to start offering more publishing services.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://booksandthingspublishing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksandthingspub
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/books-things-publishing/
