We recently connected with Tanya Smith and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tanya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I started Phoenix Voices Enterprises which consists of six different businesses – Phoenix Voices Publishing, Phoenix Voices Anthologies, Phoenix Voices Bookstores, Phoenix Voices Ghostwriters, Spreading the Fire Publishing and Phoenix Voices Uplifting Entrepreneurs because I wanted to focus on voices of writers and authors that the big five traditional publishers wouldn’t publish.
Phoenix Voices Publishing traditionally publishes authors across multiple genres & Spreading the Fire Publishing traditionally publishes Christian Authors in eBook, paperback, hardback and audio all over the US and Internationally. We give higher than normal royalties.
Phoenix Voices Anthologies is geared for everyone wanting to write or an author looking to gain more readers. It consists of Anthologies and Shared Worlds with high royalties for both.
Phoenix Voices Bookstores is currently only an online site where any author looking to go wide can have their books uploaded and marketed by us with high royalties back to our authors.
Phoenix Voices Ghostwriters is for those individuals who want to write a book, but only have the idea and not the talent behind it. It geared towards fiction, but also a huge market for Entrepreneurs to get a book written about their business, their success or both. You have the idea, our staff writes it for you.
Phoenix Voices Uplifting Entrepreneurs is where we have courses, eBooks, webinars, seminars, web designers, editing, graphic design and more to help all entrepreneurs and authors.
Because we give high royalties and are geared to let everyone’s voice be heard, we are a very diverse company. From our staff to our authors, we have individuals from all different cultures, backgrounds and gender identities. It makes us the go to for anyone wanting to get into the business of publishing and becoming an author.
Tanya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I began writing my first book in 2007, but life got in the way and I didn’t finish it until 2019. I published my first book in 2020. From there I decided to make my dreams come true and continue to write across multiple genres as an indie author. But in 2021, the vision shifted. I started publishing under a house I created just for me and then to authors I was ghostwriting for. From there the vision grew into so much more. It grew into what it is today with me still writing across multiple genres when I have the time.
I am most proud of my staff. They work hard as we are growing and building each business. We have a huge vision with a bigger heart. I am grateful for the authors that are signing with us and letting us make their voices heard.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In the beginning when I was trying to figure out the best way to get the vision going, people didn’t understand what I was trying to do. I got a lot of nasty people who didn’t understand traditional publishing, that didn’t understand we were a very new publishing house and that as things were seen to be not working, we would make necessary changes. During that time, I almost gave up.But God wouldn’t let me let go of the vision. I lost staff and a few authors. It caused me to completely shutdown that house – rebrand into the six businesses under the umbrella that I have now. These six businesses have been thriving and I know will continue to grow and thrive.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Phoenix Voices is not my first business. I have been an entrepreneur my entire adult life. I did Avon, Mary Kay, Amway, N2K, and owned a travel agency and TNT Enterprises with my ex-husband. I loved the travel agency and got it in the divorce, but life got hard and I had to let it go. I never started it back, but instead never let go of my entrepreneur heart and started Phoenix Voices instead.
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