Why Did I Open My Own Publishing Company?

Today, I have Melissa Miller on my blog. Melissa is the dynamic woman behind Solstice Publishing. As many of you know, Solstice Publishing is one of the fastest growing publishers of today. I am happy and proud to be one of their authors. Melissa is here to share her reasons for opening her own publishing company, which I feel is the best decision she made for herself, her family and for all of us. 

Why I opened Solstice Publishing is a great question. I am married and the mother of two wonderful boys (11 and 7) that I chose to be a stay at home mother with. Both of my boys have severe asthma and I never quite felt comfortable leaving them with anyone. On top of that I knew it would be difficult to go to all of their doctor appointments and didn’t want to put any boss in the position of always working around my schedule. I loved the idea of staying home with them, so it was win win situation for me. It didn’t take too much arm twisting for me to come to that decision.

As the years went by and the boys got to that age—you know the one. J Where they sit and watch cartoons all day, and if Mom says anything, you get one of those glares that says you better be quiet and stop interrupting my show. J I was left wondering do I sit and watch cartoons all day, or find something to occupy my time with? You can only do so many dishes and laundry before you go crazy.

That’s when I decided to do something I had always dreamed about. I started writing my first book and little did I know it wasn’t as easy as you would think. I sat down and went to typing and my story filled the computer in no time. I was on cloud nine. Then I get up the nerve to send in the submission but soon received my rude awakening. J I didn’t have the first clue about writing a book. I told myself, “Wow there is more to this than I thought. Now what? Do I quit or do I take the editors suggestion?” Well, I took the suggestions and put some time in working on my book. I researched and learned  more about the craft of writing.  After completing my novel, I sent it in to a few places. Of course we all hate those rejection letters. I got my first contract with a somewhat bigger publisher, then I wrote a couple of short stories and contracted them with two smaller publishers.

When it was time for my boys to start school, I knew I had a decision to make. Am I happy with being an author which I love doing, or do I want to do more? That’s when I decided I wanted to do more where I can help other authors bring their dreams to life.

Not everyone can be an author, and the hardest part of my job is sending the rejection letters, but it’s something that needs to be done. At Solstice, we pride ourselves at putting out great quality books. Every submission is read with a fine tooth comb by our editor-in-chief, Nik Morton. He only accepts the best work possible.

At Solstice, we are like one big happy family. We all help promote one another other. Our authors do guest blogs on each other’s sites, and share about what they did over the weekend. When something exciting happens in their life, they can’t wait to post about it on our writer’s group. Being a Solstice author is something to be proud of. We are a big family, full of the most honest, caring, and helpful people you could ever ask for and I’m proud to be called their publisher.