We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Effie Joe Stock a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Effie Joe, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Dragon Bone Publishing is the result of a lifelong dream that started years ago when I was a young reader. As the pre-teen child who would always pick up books from the adult section, hoping for something more substantial than YA but wishing the adult books had more of the magic, wonder, and beauty of middle grade fiction, I knew I wanted to cultivate a collection of books that had both depth, beauty along with fun escapism. I started chasing this dream by writing my own epic fantasy series and have only continued to grow it with the publication of the first two books in that series, the Aphotic Love Anthology, a children’s book coming soon, and a few other projects I’m hoping to reveal soon. Dragon Bone Publishing was built on the idea that books can change and shape the way we view the world for the better, and still be a place to escape to.
When I first started playing with the idea of having my own publishing label, I wasn’t even sure where to start. I had originally planned on being traditionally published, but after learning about how controlling traditional publishing houses could be and seeing how difficult it was to get published by them, I knew it wasn’t the right course for me.
I started doing extensive research on publication in my early teen years and found other options including self-publishing, vanity presses, hybrid, and indie publishing. The options were overwhelming and before I knew that such a large supportive writing community existed on social media, I was forced to look into these options on my own and weigh the pros and cons with little to know peer help. Once I discovered places like KDP, Bookbaby, and Ingramspark, I realized indie publishing was the route I needed to take.
After joining the overwhelming support of the writing and reading community on Instagram, I finally felt ready to publish my first book. It was a stressful, messy publication where I got more wrong than I did right, but it was everything I needed to learn how to publish a book.
Shortly after, I learned about the wonderful possibilities of anthologies and published my own, the Aphotic Love Anthology. This was when I decided I wanted to have my own publishing label, and finally settled on the name Dragon Bone Publishing. That’s when I decided to republish and revamp my debut novel under the label before publishing the second book in the series.
Like many writers, one of my dreams was to see my books in a physical bookstores, which is why we started Dragon Bone Distribution which helps indie books we love get into our area’s bookstores.
Because I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed with publishing options, not know where to start, unsure of how to find resources, and struggling to find places that could publish my short fictions, Dragon Bone Publishing is now working on the release of our first issue of the Dragon Bone Journal which is specifically designed to help writers and authors of all stages of their journeys find resources and provide a place for them to potential publish their poetry, articles, and short stories.
Overall, Dragon Bone Publishing is everything I wanted as a young, aspiring writer, and I hope writers and readers will now be able to benefit from all that this new indie publishing company has to offer.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Because we have authors’ best interests in mind, and the best interests of their books, we strive to be very personable in our dealings with authors, forming close relationships with them instead of acting as a faceless entity searching to take away authors’ rights. As an author who was once scared of traditional publishing companies, I personally am striving for Dragon Bone Publishing to change the way traditional publishing companies work, with more rights being retained by the authors and letting them have more say so in how they want their book to be published.
Dragon Bone Publishing also knows that publishing a book is an incredible accomplishment and experience which is why we make sure to create a book and release that the authors can be proud of. Our interiors are formatted and designed in a way that enhances the reading experience, our covers and beautifully designed to stand out and catch eyes, we love helping our authors design and create merch for promotion, and during the editing phase, we keep the author in close contact with every change that is made and are open to their feedback in all stages of the book’s publication. And of course, we understand the dream of having a book in a physical bookstore which is why we spend so much time curating our relationships with local indie bookstores.
Dragon Bone Publishing is more than just a publishing company, it’s truly a place for writers to find a writer family, and for their books to call home.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
As an author and as the head of Dragon Bone Publishing, I run several social media accounts both for myself and the company. This has been a huge help for growing our reach with finding readers and authors to publish. In fact, almost all of our journal and anthology submissions have been from online! Instagram is our main account, but we also have Facebook, and a newsletter. Our website is full of information on our books, anthology submissions, and more and we always find that having readily available information about us and our books helps us grow our reader and writer base. One thing we have learned in the last few years, however, is that while we make more sales online during release month, the majority of our sales and fan base actually comes from local bookstores.
We believe that when a reader purposefully walks into a bookstore, peruses the section of the genre they want to read, finds a book, is able to pick it up and look inside of it and touch the pages with their hands, they form a special connection with that book and an experience connected with it that is invaluable. While we have many readers who have purchased our books online, we find the most excited fans and readers come from those who picked up our books at a local, physical store.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I first started publishing books I was very excited about the process and very optimistic about how long it would take to publish a book. You just have to format, make the cover, upload the files, order the files, and get a proof copy! But little did I know just how many steps when into each of those tasks and how many things could go wrong! After learning about file processing periods, how long it can take to format a book and why having the right equipment for it is so necessary, that the size of a cover file can change drastically with just a few pages added or taken away, and even how long it can take for proof copies to print and ship, I knew my biggest obstacle in publishing was time.
The first two books I published, the first edition of Child of the Dragon Prophecy, and Aphotic Love were very rushed and therefore very stressful. I was impatient in wanting them published and in my hands and I ended up cutting corners and putting so much pressure on myself that I didn’t get to full enjoy their releases.
Now that I’ve published a few books and understand the process, I can publish a book much faster than I used to, but I don’t let myself! The biggest gift I can give myself during release is time. Time to think, fix problems, and enjoy the process.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dragonbonepublishing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dragon.bone.publishing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Dragon-Bone-Publishing/100086377084012/
Image Credits
Effie Joe Stock, Nathaniel Luscombe