by Sonya Bernard-Hollins, publisher
Season Press/Community Voices
Check out 10 Steps from other area self published authors here:
Mother Stella Davis was on her way from working out at the gym on cool fall morning. The 79-year-old great grandmother planned to head home and rest up for a few hours before running more errands. However, in route she received a call. It had been a call she was anticipating for months. “Your book is here,” I told her, holding in my own excitement.
“And it came before my birthday,” Davis said smiling beyond control just three days before her 80th birthday. “Now I can let the Rev. (Dr. J. Louis) Felton know I am ready to do that book signing he wants me to do at his church in Philadelphia. People have been waiting for me to write this book for years, and now, it’s done!” Order her book at: https://www.createspace.com/4490080
For more than three years, my husband, Sean of Fortitude Graphics, had helped more than a dozen authors realize their dream to become self-published authors. Each time we handed a book to the author it was like we had helped deliver their own precious child into the world. I know how they feel. It has been 10 years since I published my first book, Here I Stand: A Musical History of African Americans in Battle Creek, Michigan. I had been an editor with the Battle Creek Enquirer in Michigan when I too discovered a story that needed to be told. The story of the musicians who got their start at Battle Creek’s El Grotto Lounge with the help of club owners Helen and Snap Montgomery, changed lives. The artists they opportunities to on their modest stage produced those such as Jr. Walker and the All Stars and Al Green.
My passion for helping people share their stories has grown from me writing their stories in news articles, to helping them publish their stories for the world. As Season Press grows, we learn more about helping authors share their stories, get publicity, launch their books in digital formats, and coordinate book unveiling events.
“…When my book was unveiled, I, along with my audience, had not seen it. When it was presented to me, I became weaken at the knees and fainted,” said Christina McGrinson, author of the bilingual children’s book Forever Friends. The book helps children cope with the lost of another child. It is something McGrinson knew all too well as it is based on the death of her own son who was murdered. Order her book at: https://www.createspace.com/3740716
In our Spring/Summer 2013 Community Voices magazine we highlighted a few of the authors we have helped and their tips to future authors (see link above). In 2014 we had other authors waiting to get their dreams into print with the help of Season Press.
Davis, who came to Kalamazoo with her husband, the late Bishop Lafayette Davis, helped found the Church of God Pentocostal currently located on East Main Street in Kalamazoo. For years she has delivered a sermon based on the need to know when and how to speak to others as Christ did. Her sermons, known as “Shut Mouth Grace,” became the title of her recently released book which shares of how Biblical and modern-day characters could have benefited from having “Shut Mouth Grace.” Former pastor of Kalamazoo’s The Galilee Baptist Church wrote the forward to her book and will host a book signing for her soon at his Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia, Pa.
The authors who have come to Season Press get a personal touch that can’t be obtained from using online vanity presses. Our goal is not to push out books, but help authors receive a quality product that they, and we can be proud of. As we continue to grow to offer authors even more marketing services, we thank God we can help others “Get that book out” of them.
If you have a book you would like self published, call Sonya Bernard-Hollins at 269-342-2367 for a free one-hour consultation! Look for more information coming soon on Season Press Publishing on Facebook!
