Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dawn Dagger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dawn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

The craziest thing that has happened to me when it comes to my business is the founding of it! I have dreamed of owning my own publishing company since I was a little girl. I toyed with the idea again as I started the Adult Writing Group at the Massillon Public Library. One of our members told me I could be the leader of a publishing company. When the group decided they wanted to publish a poetry anthology, I realized someone would have to do the taxes and set everything up, and I had the free reign to do that. The easiest way was to set up my own business. In a whirlwind of excitement and good fortune, I got a college refund for the exact amount I needed to turn in all of the paperwork. And within two weeks of the initial idea: viola. Queen Anne’s Lace existed, and I was technically a CEO in my 20’s.

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?

My name is Dawn E. Dagger. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I especially started writing seriously in middle school. I self-published my first novel in high school and have been learning and teaching others since. I work as a Marketing Specialist for my “real job”, and on the author side also do book formatting, cover design, and editing.
Queen Anne’s Lace Publishing is a culmination of my knowledge and work experience, coupled with my passion for writing and love of good stories. We offer editing services, simple book cover services, and, of course, publishing. Our book cover services are designed to create affordable, beautiful covers. We offer flat covers for $30, and they work great for first novels, anthologies, and poetry books.
At Queen Anne’s Lace, our motto is “rooted in dreams, growing in grace.” We want to make other talented authors’ dreams come true through affordable services. We want to help indie authors get out there on their own and we want to help publish talented authors.
Although we aren’t currently accepting manuscripts, we are hoping to open short story contests in the future. We don’t want to accept manuscripts until we can pay for them in advance: to show our authors we truly believe in them and their story.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner is Daleen Cowgar, who is also our head editor. Daleen is not only a talented writer and editor with a degree from Malone University, but she is my best friend. We met when we were both about 10 in a girls’ group. We were both staring at a huge painting, and we asked one another if we thought it would lead to somewhere wonderful like “Narnia.” A perfect way to meet your head editor for your business, in my opinion.
Daleen is a great editor, and she is truly honest with me on every project: she is gentle but firm, and none of my stories would have ever come so far without her.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

My examples aren’t exactly the traditional resources. Instead, I’ve learned so much from seeing other businesses. When I was younger my parents started running a small cleaning business, so I learned about hard work and taxes, and I helped them with advertising. Experience is truly the best teacher, but seeing others and their experiences is not second-best by any means.
I’ve been following “Monster Ivy Publishing” for several years, and their growth and practices have deeply inspired my business model (they pay in advance for manuscripts). Kellyn Roth, an author I have followed since the beginning of my publishing journey, runs “Wild Blue Wonder Press,” and her blog posts and social media musings are invaluable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://queenanneslacepubl.wixsite.com/home
• Instagram: @queenanneslacepublishingllc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551168481331&sk=about_contact_and_basic_info
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/97406653/admin/feed/posts/

Image Credits
Image Credit Dawn E. Dagger