We recently connected with Rolanda Pyle and have shared our conversation below.

Rolanda, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

I think as a self published author the biggest challenge is marketing. I had no idea where to start and how to get the word out about my books as they were published. Most big companies only want to publish celebrities books as they know they will be popular, have a large following and yield a large profit.

It was difficult to set up everything for sales and then to get the word out about the books. One of the things that helped was connecting with and learning from others who had gone through the same thing or were in the same situations.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

ROLANDA T. PYLE is a licensed social worker, LMSW and author.
Her career has taken her through many paths, including working with grandparents who are raising their grandchildren on the local, city and national level, working with caregivers and working with the elderly, aging older adults. She was featured on various radio and television programs. Her numerous awards for her work with grandparent caregivers, include the distinguished 2004 Sloan Public Service Award and HBO’s 2004 Beah Richards Spirit Award. In April 2004, New York’s Daily News named her one of the “100 Women Who Shape Our City.”

In addition to her social work and her writing, Rolanda volunteers with the NYC Meals on Wheels Senior Chat program through which she provides companionship through weekly phone conversations with isolated seniors and is a reviewer for the intergenerational journal, Grandfamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice, and Policy. She is also a Social Work student advisor and has worked with senior ministries in churches.

Rolanda is the author of the books Grandma’s Hands – a children’s story book, Finally – a collection of inspirational poems; and the compiler of and contributor to Beneath His Everlasting Wings, a collection of devotionals. She is the winner of the 2023 Poetry is Life poetry contest award and her Poetry book, “All Things” was published. She has also contributed articles to numerous journals, anthologies, magazines, religious and community newspapers and other publications.

Rolanda’s creative writing has won poetry and short story writing awards, and was featured in the 50in50 writing contests with the Billie Holiday Theater and in the Red Penguin Book Collection, among others.
In addition to writing, she loves God, family, friends, reading, all kinds of music, traveling, Broadway plays ,and her favorite NY teams – NY METS, NY Liberty and NY Knicks.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had know more about the writing journey, especially about publishing. My journey was rough at first, trying to self publish. Then I hired someone to assist in the process. He was a business owner and would promote his services as helping to publish. Unfortunately it didn’t work and I had to take him to court to get my money back.

I wasn’t resourceful and didn’t know back then, that there are many avenues to explore as there are now.

Now, I’m a part of writers and authors group and learn or hear about a lot resources, that I wish I knew about earlier.

My advice to anyone going on this journey is to make sure they look into resources and connect with others who have already gone down this path.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I think there are two things that have driven my creative journey. The first one is when I was in junior high school, my English teacher told me that I have a “creative writing ability” and those words stuck with me. I was shy, and inhibited as a child but loved writing and expressed myself better through writing than verbally. I started writing poetry as a teenager and that continued as one of my missions.
There were things in my childhood that affected me that I was not happy about. One of the required readings in school, was Maya Angelou’s book, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” , and that book really helped me. It was after reading her book, I realized that I was not alone in my situation and I wanted to do the same thing for other children. I read her book in junior high school and I wanted to write a book for children who are younger. so that they can no that they are not alone and I did. My first children’s book, “Grandma’s Hands” was published a few years go.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.roroscommunications.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roroscommunications/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rorosrainbow
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rolanda-pyle-b91ba314