November 30, 2023 • 44 mins
Jaret and Rocky, owners of Blue Shades Publishing
A Black owned publishing company, that tears the fabric of what the world believes the publishing process is. Blue Shades gives the freedom back to writers with the backing needed to succeed as an author. A family-oriented environment that’s goal is to make your book dreams come true as you see fit. “Blue shades publishing sees the world through our lenses. “
@blueshadesnc
Blue shades podcast
@pariah.magazine
Listen 🎧📻💻 iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcast!
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This is Award Winning Author, Podcast Host, Business Consultant & President/CEO of the Women's Small Business Initiative, LLC, Kimberly McLemore.
WSBI Your Resource For Success - Let your voice be heard!
Follow me on my YouTube Channel
Subscribe, Watch, like & Share - https://youtube.com/@wsbillc
www.wsbillc.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/your-resource-for-success-podcast--2094412/support.
A Black owned publishing company, that tears the fabric of what the world believes the publishing process is. Blue Shades gives the freedom back to writers with the backing needed to succeed as an author. A family-oriented environment that’s goal is to make your book dreams come true as you see fit. “Blue shades publishing sees the world through our lenses. “
@blueshadesnc
Blue shades podcast
@pariah.magazine
Listen 🎧📻💻 iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcast!
“Subscribe Now" its FREE and leave a review.
Monetary Donations accepted 💰 support the podcast 👉cash app $kmclemore, paypal.me/wsbillc or GoodPods "Tip Jar."
This is Award Winning Author, Podcast Host, Business Consultant & President/CEO of the Women's Small Business Initiative, LLC, Kimberly McLemore.
WSBI Your Resource For Success - Let your voice be heard!
Follow me on my YouTube Channel
Subscribe, Watch, like & Share - https://youtube.com/@wsbillc
www.wsbillc.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/your-resource-for-success-podcast--2094412/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Good evening, Welcome to WSBI,your Resource for Success podcast program where you
get to meet inspiring women owned businessesfrom across the country. And now for
your host, Kimberly mcklemore. Allright, good evening and welcome to WSBI,
(00:41):
your Resource for Success podcast program whereyou get to meet inspiring entrepreneurs and
women owned businesses from across the country. I am your host, Kimberly McLamore,
CEO and founder of the Women's SmallBusiness Initiative LLC and award winning author.
Welcome to an on nail sharing withus. We have special guests and
Rocky, owners of Blue Shades Publishing, a black owned publishing company that tears
(01:04):
the fabric of what the world believesthe publishing process is. Blue Shades gives
the freedom back to writers with thebacking needed to succeed as an author.
A family oriented environment that goals that'sgoal is to make your book dreams come
true as you see fit. BlueShades Publishing sees the world through our lens.
So without further ado, please helpme. Welcome to my platform.
(01:26):
Jared and Rocky, how you guysdoing this evening, gentlemen, I'm doing
fine, okay, So I gotboth of you guys, so we're gonna
have to try to work this out. I know it's easy for both of
you to talk at the same timebecause you guys are very close, and
I want to make sure that weboth get you know, here, both
(01:47):
of you guys, and so youknow, I might say, hey,
one could go one or you guyscan decide who wants to go first through
this process out did Okay, Soanyway, I'm excited to have you on
the show. I'm loving this conversationwe're going to have because I really want
(02:08):
to dive into how you guys doyour publishing, and then we're going to
talk a little about the differences betweendoing the self publishing, doing the hybrid
publishing, or just having a publisherdo everything. So I also want to
get into that. But before wedive into any of this conversation, why
don't you guys tell me a littlebit more about who you are and tell
(02:30):
us a little bit more about whatyou're doing. So we'll start with Jared
first. Okay, Well, I'mtwenty four going on twenty five. In
about a month, we actually startedthe publishing company because my cousin, who
(02:53):
is the co owner with us wason today, and my little sister are
big writers. They've always been intowriting. They've always been interested in uh,
you know, fantasy or fiction andthings like that. So live in
writing for years now, and Iwanted to do my part. Being that
(03:15):
I already started with a company beforehand, I have a closing brand called Sanguine,
I wanted to with that background ofnetworking and business, I wanted to
do what I could do to helpthem in their around, you know,
being that I wasn't such a bigyou know reader and everything, so I
want to do something that we alldo together. So I went ahead and
(03:40):
started thinking about, you know,ways I could help, so looking into
publishing so that they could control thenarrative of how their books and things would
come out. That's really how theposition well, we started talking about publishing
and then doing my research and lookingat into how you know, upcoming authors
(04:02):
are being treated or the pros andcons of using a publisher or self publishing,
especially nowadays with social media and youknow, everybody doing the doing it
for themselves now. Self posishing wastaken off for like a good minute there,
and they've been getting away from theregular publishers and I always wondered why
(04:25):
that was. So doing my research, you know, I started to find
ways to make it more affordable aswell as like, like I said,
we like to get back the narrativeback to the authors so that they can
control how their book is seen,how their book is talked about, where
it's seen at things like that.That's what really matters, because the author
(04:50):
wants the story to be shown ina certain way so that you understand it
in a certain way. So that'sthat's really what made us start. For
the most part, Well that's howI got involved. I have to say,
okay, and all right, soyeah, that's okay, yeah,
and yeah, I hold your thoughtbecause I know there's some more stuff we're
(05:12):
going to talk about. But Irocket united. We talked. We talked
for a little bit before Jared cameon, and so I can talk a
little bit more about what pushes youinto writing and how you got started.
So I've always been a writer,if you ask my cousin, I've been
(05:34):
writing all my life. Like that'sjust always like it's always hoping. I've
been good at I was always goodat cared writing in school English and stuff
like that was always it just withsomething that just kind of came to me.
So I started writing a book.And I remember we went and I
(05:54):
think it was twenty eighteen that wewent to go see Part of the Caribbean
five that mental hotel, and soI happened to be sitting next to my
younger cousin, Jared's sister, andthroughout the entire movie, she's very critical
of like you know, like likecreative works, writing and stuff and all
(06:16):
that, how like it's executed,like she will dissect it in a second.
So we're sitting there talking about it, you know, like kind of
like between each other, like watchingthe movie, and we didn't really like
it all that, but and Iwas like, all right, I bet
I could write a better story.She was like, I mean, can
you write a better story? AndI'm the type of person was like,
(06:36):
you tell me I can't do something, now I have to do. So
I was like, yes I can, And I went and I started writing
like basically just like a like astory, just like a short story,
just like playing around with the ideaspirates or everything like that. So I
showed it to her, I showedit to my cousin. I showed to
Jared's her, and Jared thought itwas really good, you know what,
(07:00):
you should keep up with it,you know, keep on kind of expanding.
And I was like, you knowwhat, You're right, all right.
But so this was like September,I want to say this summer or
September of twenty eighteen. I kindof sat on it until I want to
go live my family in New Jerseyin winter of twenty eighteen, like December
area, and so like I wasbored, you know, like at home
(07:21):
my family and everything, and soI was like, all right, Ben,
I'm gonna like continue like what Isaid I was gonna do with the
story and everyone. So I startedwriting more and more and more until I
came back in twenty nineteen early twentynineteen, talked to my cousin about it,
you know, like I had likea full fledged story, you know,
like that was like in the processof like it at the beginning,
(07:44):
you know, I was like morestill towards the middle of the story.
So then we went and then didan interview with a family friend of ours
because she's really in her filmography andeverything, and she ended up like I
was wearing like these blue shades duringthe interview. I remember because he was
on the way to the interview.My cousin's in there cracking jokes on me
(08:05):
about him because he was like like, like all the things you could have
worked because it didn't work on myouse. If we didn't work with my
thank you, I had like ared plane along and like you know,
like I can't even remember the pantsall the way. It just didn't work
with the out anyway. So weshow up, we do the interview,
as we're editing the video what solike bars and over something like that after
(08:28):
the fact, and we were likecoming out because we were still trying to
figure out because we knew we wantedto be a publishing company, we just
didn't know the name for it yet. And so he was like what about
blue shades because like he was likecracking jokes on the shade and we was
like looking through the frames the shadesand everything like that. I was like,
actually, that's a really good idea. And we was like we could
(08:48):
wear blue shads do events and stufflike that. You know, it kind
of was us a bit different,you know, like feel and gives us
a bit of an identity. Sothat was kind of like how we started
the whole process. For me,A big part of it was always,
like my cousin said, I wantedthe freedom to control my work, right,
(09:09):
So, like I don't want to. I don't understand why a publisher
should be able to get half ofwhat a writer made. The publisher wouldn't
even have a book to publish ifthe writer didn't make the book, you
know. So for me, itjust didn't make any sense. You know,
these publishers, they want all thismoney upfront from you just for a
(09:33):
name. You know. I talkedto a family friend of mine and he
was talking about like his process ofpublishing. Traditionally he paid like four or
five thousand dollars and they don't evenpay him regularly. They paid him quarterly.
There was barely any marketing. Itwas on Amazon, and like he
didn't like, like I asked,you know, like what are they doing
as far as the marketing everything likethat? You know, what are they
(09:54):
doing with your book? They didn'teven talk to him about his own work,
right, They don't brief them aboutit. It gets paid quarterly.
They send them a checking the mailevery now and then after they've been taken
out their money and all that ofcourse they take like sixty of the money
and unders it, right, Solet's let's let's break this a little bit
(10:18):
more, right. So you're soyou're essentially talking about the process of publishing,
and we all know that publishing isa game. Rights it's about them
having connections at the end of theday, and with those connections is where
people feel that they need when theycome out as an author. That's that's
totally unknown, not realizing that it'sit's they're not going to really get known
(10:41):
because their whole focus is really notabout them, it's about the money.
So you guys, do you mentionupfront Jared, the fact that it's about
controlling the narrative. But there's morethan just controlling the narrative. You guys
talk about the process that you guyshave built and provided to people that and
the reason why you're wanting them tocome to you versus possibly self publishing themselves
(11:03):
or going to the traditional publishing typecompanies. Talk about your differences in what
you provide and how you do trulystand out definitely, like like he was
alluding to, like how Rocket wasending, how he was alluding to,
we're more affordable. So for example, like he said his family friend,
(11:24):
the cut is usually was like sixtypercent, seventy percent. It's always more
favorite to the publisher. With BlueShakes Publishing, we don't have a cut
that's over fifty percent, and that'sonly based upon how much you can afford
when it comes to printing. Sowow, for a sake of conversation,
forst safe conversation, I always liketo put it like, if printing your
(11:46):
book is three hundred dollars, sayconversation, and you decide to do the
fifty to fifty split on the printing, we would only make about thirty we'd
make thirty percent on the book.So we're actually our company is basically betting
on you. We believe on webelieve in your work. The author always
(12:09):
makes more than us. Of course, the printing price and the feed only
only are based upon what the authorcan do. So for example, there's
different ways to get around spending alot of money, like I said,
with the printing. So or let'slet's say they don't have the three hundred
(12:30):
dollars, they might be able toonly pay one hundred or fifty, so
that we would pay more of theprinting fee. But we just have a
little bit more of a percentage,but we wouldn't have anything over fifty percent
on the on the sales. Thatis. We also have points in the
contract where we have graphic designers thatdo your cover art. If you have
(12:52):
a graphic designer or you have youalready have the cover art, you wouldn't
have to pay that fee. Youwouldn't need to pay that seed, so
that that takes out another fee.If you have an editor that you would
like to use other than what wehave, that's perfectly fine. You can
use them. Now there is afear if we have to fix it,
(13:13):
but if we don't have to fixanything and they do what they're supposed to,
you miss out on another field.Right. So our contract is based
off of a lot of if youhave what you need and you can and
it's more affordable for you to doit that way, we want you to
do it that way because the goalfor us not necessarily just to make money,
(13:35):
but to actually help you put outthe book, because that's what you're
dreaming, right, right, butthen put out the book and right,
but at the same token, youyou know it's also repetitive. You would
like to have that repetitive customer comeback because you're showing them that it's not
about, like you said, justthe money. Obviously, you still need
to make money in order to keepthe business going, definitely, but having
(13:56):
that repetitive customer, that repeat customercome back to you over and over another
book because they have that trust nowthat you've built a report with them,
right, because you're giving them thefreedoms that they have didn't hear from somebody
else or didn't understand exactly. Sowhat does it look like though? Now
I'm just about to allude to that. Okay, I'm just about allude to
(14:18):
that perfect segue and that that's whereI was going to go into, like
the family oriented part. For allour authors, we're one phone call away,
one text message way, one emailaway. We're constantly in contact if
you ever need something, any questions, whether that's promotion, you're a promotion
(14:41):
idea because everyone has a different marketingstrategy for how they would like to because
we come up with one for yourbook specifically, so however you would like
to do that. Any questions onyou know, vendor events or how if
you have any questions about how topromote or what to do here and there,
my phone is always open. We'rein constant contact from start to finish,
(15:05):
and then from finish we're still incontact because we were trying to find
ways to sell the book, youknow what I'm saying. So we have
a great rapport with all of ourauthors. So far we have eight now
we only even business about. We'repushing in three years now, I believe
just a little over a little overthree great raport with all of our authors.
(15:30):
Anytime they need anything, our phonesare always open and we do our
best to make sure that they feelaccommodated. Right, So, so what
does it look like for the clientwho comes in and says, look,
I have this book, I justwant to write, I don't want to
do anything else. How does thatworld look for them when you guys are
being their actual full publisher ad y'alleither step on up. So basically from
(16:06):
that point forward, like assuming likewe signed and everything, our goal is,
like I always tell people, becausewe have people signed where like they're
just in the writing process right Sofor me, I always say, take
your time to write out your storybecause like once it's out there, out
there, if that's the thing likeyou're most focused on right now, focus
(16:30):
on that. We ain't gonna giveyou a deadline for your work, for
your vision, and when you're ready, we can take it. From there,
we go through and then we editit like like my cousin said,
you know, if you want usthat they will edit it. I'll go
through line by line with the authorbreaking down you know, like this is
how this is gonna sit, basedupon the size that we're looking for for
(16:51):
the that you're going for for thebook, based upon you know, like
everything. This is how it's gonnalook. Is that we want to sit
you want to change anything. Wego from there and and from there.
The first thing we do once everythingis pregned stuff like that, is we're
trying to get you to showcase,you know, like we will help you
(17:11):
set up events and stuff like thatto get you to show face. The
first thing I do is like askyou, like you got any family members
that you like, like like youhave family that they have their own business,
or like a store that you alwayswanted to have your work in,
or like to do an event,a gathering space and stuff like that.
(17:32):
We go there, we speak tothe owners or the event planners, set
up an event, and then weset like we have that all set up.
We coordinate with the author, likelook, this is like this is
what the event is, you know, like how do you want to set
it up? We'll make sure theyget set up this way, and then
we take it from there. Ialways say we are the crew of the
(17:53):
ship. You were the captain.To go back to my metaphor earlier about
when you're the one who's making thebook as the ship with a crew,
Well, it's our job to helpyou get to the next level, to
get wherever you're trying to go.Now, everybody has their own visions for
where they're going to go or likewhat they want to accomplish with their book,
(18:14):
right because not everybody is trying tobe a best selling Some people just
really wanted to get this work outhere and they want to show to their
family and friends and loved ones andstuff like that what they've got. Other
people they want to go bigger,So you've got to approach that differently.
But ultimately that's how we do it, you know, like where we want
(18:36):
you to focus on the things thatare most passionate for you. And if
you come to us and you wantto hear you know, like our process
and everything like that, and youjust want to you just want to sign
right now so that you can useour services later. Or I'm talking to
a dude this week. You've gotpoetry. He wanted me to read through
(18:56):
his poetry and kind of give himmy take on his poetry, not as
it is publisher or anything like that, but just as you know, like
a reliable source you feel mean.So we, like my cousin said,
like, we're family orients. Sofor me, it's always about you know,
make sure your work is ready firstand that you're happy with what you
got. That means we got towait six more months because you got to
(19:21):
make sure your book is right.Then it ain't my job to sit here
and tell you like, look,we need a book out yesterday. You
know, it's not about that.So I don't know if that is your
question, but that's kind of howwe Yeah, it does, it does.
Yeah, I just you know,like I said, there's so many
different processes and more and more peopleare in more companies I can I can
(19:41):
honestly say, are coming out withthe hybrid approach, you know, where
like you said, more people aremore involved in what they're doing and versus
just sitting on the sideline and lettingthat when the publisher take that full control,
and that's essentially you know what youguys are prosiding, but you you've
added some of the extra steps andperks that comes with that because you're giving
(20:03):
them a strategy that usually the publishingcompany just runs with it. You know,
like you said, the gentlemen wewere talking about earlier, he took
control and you know, he getshis little paycheck and he doesn't even know
what's going on. So yeah,there's definitely we still have that big process
that's out there. And normally,when you know, I hear or see
about people who are going through theprocess of a large publishing company is because
(20:25):
they're already well known. They alreadyknow their names out there. You know,
we know who you are, andbasically they're using their name as a
part of that process and they knowthey're going to make the money they want
to make off of them, andthey know they're in the background doing nothing.
So you know, those are someof the things that people who are
new at this they really can't affordthat process and they really don't understand that
(20:45):
process. So in the process,when you guys are working with your clientele
that come to you, and somepeople you know are much more interested in
learning what that process is and understandingthat step by step to know how does
this really work? You know,how how can I make it to the
next level? What advice do youguys give them when they're at that point
(21:06):
where they may be using the lizingit as a point for their business so
that they can stand out more,or it may be because it's something else
they want to do and this iswhat they may want to do for the
rest of their lives as as apart of their living. What steps are
you providing and saying to them,Hey, this is how we can get
you to that next level. Howdo you guys rethink that? Right?
(21:30):
I guess I think I like toUsually, like we set up a consultation,
usually a consultation. There's no like, you don't have to sign with
us from the job or anything likethat. It's just strictly so you can
get information if that's what you're that'swhat you're yearning for, right, So
(21:52):
in with that right, so withthat information you get to ask those type
of questions where you know, what'swhat's the formulas for us? What should
I be looking for, you knowwhat, what can I do to feel
more comfortable with this because a lotof times, a lot of the authors
(22:14):
that we've come across, they're honestlyscared, right because you know, this
is something that's really near and dearto their heart and haven't haven't really shared
with the world yet. So gettingit to a big publisher sometimes it's scary.
Sometimes getting into a smaller publisher iseven scary because a lot of the
smaller publishers, you know, haven'tbeen as round as hasn't been around as
(22:37):
exactly everyone else has, you knowwhat I'm saying. So in that consultation,
I try to give people comfort andknowing that they're, like I said,
in full control and they have allthe creative direction. Like like Rockie
said, I love going back tois the where the crew of the ship
(22:57):
we get. We give you theanswers you're looking for, and we're okay
if the go at the end ofthe day is for you to put out
the book. We love for youto publish with us, but the goal
for the day is for you toput out the book. So whether that's
from what kind of cover art doI need, editing, what does that
(23:18):
look like, what size works?How do I market to our audience?
Things like that, The whole gambitwe're open to answering, depending on of
course, each book is different,so you have to handle it differently,
but constantly providing that get taking theweight off of, you know, the
(23:40):
fear of dealing with publishers and things. We kind of give almost a little
crash course on how to what tolook for, what you're gonna need like
an I, S B in abar code, you know, you know,
essential things to having a book,you know what I'm saying. And
then also still being able to putyour own little spin on it, because
(24:02):
you know, some people have parametersthat you have to meet and things like
that. So just giving a rundownon that and then from there, you
know, seeing where they're at,helping them get to the next level.
All right, okay, so let'sdive into the magazine. Talk about you
(24:22):
do magazine. I'm excited to hearmore about it. So tell us all
about your magazine. Definitely, allright, well start right here. I'm
not sure I'll start an I won'tsay everything is tom I'll actually let you
all right, So, because Ihave to do this a lot when we
(24:45):
be talking, I'll be talking tointerviewing people for the magazine and everything.
So basically, first off, thename of the magazine Pariah. The reason
why we went with the name Pariahis because of the fact it encapsulates our
experience. We're going into business,right a prize an outsider, outcast,
(25:10):
outlier, you know, a personwho is apart from the group, apart
from the past. And what wefound was that people will show a lot
of support for you. At first. They'll show like tons of it,
you know, like they'll be excitedthat you go into business, to support
you and all of that for thefirst couple of months, and then it
(25:33):
slows up. They're not reposting anyof the stuff you're posting, they're not
telling people about your services, they'retrying to use your services. You know,
they kind of just forget about you. It makes you feel like an
outsider, like a pariah. Andso that was why we came up with
the name Pariah Magatine. Our goalis ultimately to kind of be like that
(25:56):
little boost, that little help forpeople, because like tons of people got
skilled, they got services, theygot ability, and they're good with them.
It's just that we live in adigital age. We live in the
age of social media, and noteverybody has the time, or the energy
or the no album to grow onsocial media, you know, and we
(26:17):
will kind of like skim over peoplewho could be just as qualified or just
as good at something as somebody elsebased off the number of followers they have.
Our goal is to kind of builda community so that we can help
each other. Because if I'm inthe magazine and you're in the magazine,
and this person's in the magazine,we all want our people to see us
in the magazine. And inadvertently,when I go to show people my magazine,
(26:41):
or I get somebody to buy themagazine because I'm in the magazine,
I'm also putting you on. Theyput through the magazine, they go to
your page. You do art,you do you know, you have a
book that you're putting out because it'snot just you know, our authors and
stuff like that that are in themagazine. You know, you can use
it. You do all these things, and it's an opportunity for you to
get put on. Our goal is, ultimately we're trying to reach a point
(27:04):
where our name, the name Pariah, is anonymously like Ebony Magazine, but
it's not necessarily for the people thatyou will see under the magazine. You
know, most of the people thatare in Emity Magazine, they're just there.
They already got a name big enough. The Ebity magazine is looking for
that, right, you know,Ebity Magazine is not looking for the common
man. They are not interviewing somebodythat is just starting up and has no
(27:27):
name like that. They're looking forpeople that are already well as you know.
We're trying to help people get tothat point. Right. And is
this magazine digital as well as hardcopy? Right now, it's just a
copy of hard copy okay, okay? And the next yeah, the next,
(27:48):
which which we love because you know, holding holding the book in your
hand different. Yes, same,wanted to have that same feel with the
magazine. But we will be doinga digital copy in the your future,
more than likely for the years out, just so we can have both.
But to piggyback off of what Rockywas saying, we want to build the
(28:11):
thing that I struggled with the moststarting business was looking for a community of
people to support me. A lotof the a lot of entrepreneurship has lonely
moments that nobody really talks about.All right, you know there's a lot
of nights, you know, you'reby yourself. You don't got really much
(28:33):
to lean on because you know alot of us come from circles or backgrounds
where that's not that's not normal,you know what I'm saying, going to
the entrepreneur route, you know.So it's hard when you're following something you're
so passionate about and and you're notgetting the support you feel. I love
(28:56):
about what you guys have done.You literally have jumped in it with all
four I mean, you know,and that's brave. It takes a lot
to say, you know what,like you just said, this is my
passion, this is what I wantto do. And when people don't understand
the one thing I've learned about beingin business, when they don't understand,
it's not meant for them to understand, and it's okay, exactly. And
(29:17):
so you have to connect yourself withthose people who are in business, even
if it's not the same, butunderstanding that process of what it means to
be a businessman or a businesswoman orwhatever the case may be. And you
guys are a partnership which even iseven more pressure to some degree because you
both have to be able to sink, and you guys do that well,
(29:38):
but you're also still learning the process. And you know, one has strength,
that's all business because you've done businessbefore. The other one has strength,
it's all majority of writing. Soto be able to collaborate them together
is one that right there is thefeet of its own. So then when
you're pushing into these other levels ofbeing in business, you're right many lonely
(29:59):
nights, and then as you getfurther to the top, it's going to
be even lonelier. I fully understand, you know, because not everybody understands.
Yeah, so go ahead, mhm. And I was just gonna
I was just gonna say, that'swhy we want that's why the magazine was
so important, because we know there'sthat there's that void. So we wanted
(30:22):
to create a community centered around thismagazine to push that, to push to
push people that you know, bemore supportive of one another for what they
have going on from all walks oflife. Just like you said, they
might not have the same business asyou, but y'all have the same type
of struggle, if that makes sense. You know what I'm saying, right,
(30:45):
So the musicians of the world thatare coming that are newcomers, are
trying to get the name out there, the artists of the world that are
trying to get their name out there. The other small business owners I don't
like saying small business, but businessowners. You know, they're all working
to do the same thing. Weget much farther together than divided. So
(31:07):
why not why not have a communitywhere, you know, the people that
come to the magazine get to talkabout what they have going on, and
they're in an area in the magazinewhere there's other businesses that get to talk
about what they're going on and talkabout their backgrounds and how to connect with
people. We also are adding implementingthings into the magazine where use QR codes
(31:32):
and to get to what they havegoing on. So because a lot of
people are digital now, we willhave a digital magazine soon. But the
QR codes takes you straight to theirwebsite and all their content and things like
that. So we're finding new waysto make the magazine more interactive because you
know, magazines are for some peopleoutdated. You know, you're right,
(31:56):
right, but they're definitely making acomeback, you know, because like said,
yeah, their hands. Yeah,it's a lot different. Digital is
great, But the one thing Idon't like about digital is because you know,
once you kind of lose it andyou don't want to go back and
try to find it again. Andwhen you have that magazine in your hand
is like that book in your hand. It just makes a hell of reference
(32:17):
in my opinions. Oh yes,I'm old school, so oh yeah,
I prefer that. Yeah, absolutely, Oh yes, and that and that's
what we want, right, Wewant to be able to meet both both
age groups, you know what I'msaying, those who enjoy holding it physically,
those who enjoy not so much holdingit physically, and just you know,
(32:38):
swiping through so that now you cango through our magazine and next thing
you know, you are on yourphone researching whoever's person page you're on and
their business and what they have goingon and things like that. But we're
just we're taking magazines to a differentlevel when it comes to things like that,
to make it more interactive and moreenjoyable for the reader as well as,
(33:02):
like I said, getting getting ourpeople out there that we've met along
the way and continue to meet throughthe Parde magazine. We're planning to do
events and all types of stuff downthe line. So yeah, all right,
So tell me about the podcast BlueShades Publishing podcastings that we got to
(33:23):
talk about the podcast definitely, definitely, I guess probably started last one.
So so with the with the podcast, you know, everything we try to
make everything kind of intermingle. Sowith the Blue Shades UH Publishing, if
(33:45):
you are one of our authors,you get a free episode on our podcast,
you get a free spot on themagazine, you know, just to
intermingle everything. But to answer yourquestion back to the podcast, the podcast
is really more so about you know, our daily daily struggles that don't get
talked about. So as an entrepreneurfor the most part, So we have
(34:08):
a lot of different entrepreneurs that comeon to you know, talk about things,
a lot of them being because ofour audience is so young or most
of our audiences young. Majority ofthem are you know, in their twenties
or early thirties, even even fromteenagers you know that are working to test
(34:28):
the waters of going after their passionsand things like that. We also discuss
the difference in how social media hastaken over or how much we obsess over
youth or you know how fear fallsinto stops us from doing certain things.
You know a lot of the dailythings that we get to, what we
(34:52):
look over or ignore to get throughthe day, or things that we try
to we always try to give somebodysomething to encourage them and to motivate them
to keep pushing. And I feellike that was the thing that was the
thing that I was liking was inthis whole entrepreneurship journey, was somebody either
(35:15):
constantly was in your corner like,all right, it's tough day to day,
but you got this next day isgonna be better. Changing the mindset
that was That's the main thing,is changing the mindset. If we're going
in with an optimistic mindset and withthe right mindset, we're gonna have better
results. That's really what the whatthe podcast is pushing for the most part,
(35:36):
you know, standing over different topicsand things, but the main thing
is always making sure our mindset isin the right place so that we can
progress. Right. But I lovethat you guys are sharing. You know,
you're willing to share the good,the bad, and the ugly,
And that's the thing that I alwayslike to face, even with them having
these conversations because being an entrepreneur isnot always easy. There's many days I
(35:58):
wake up and you know what,why am I doing this us today?
You know, you go through thatprocess. You wouldn't be human if you
didn't, because not every day isgoing to be a good day. But
having these types of conversations are veryimportant because a lot of times when people
see us as entrepreneurs, they onlysee the good part, so they think,
oh, you know, nything's goinggreat right right, and and they
(36:20):
don't understand what you had to gothrough just to get to that great moment,
so to speak, you know,And that's that's the beauty about having
the opportunity to sit down and talkto my entrepreneurs and let them tell their
stories because they just need to beheard. And you know, I just
think a lot of times people justbelieve that being their own bosses the greatest
things, you know, since slicepie, which is fine, but it
(36:44):
does come with a lot of opportunities, a lot of yes, exactly,
all sacrifices the whole thing of beingin business, right, so you know
you're losing out on some things,you're gaining the others, you know,
and when you know when you seeother people so called living their life,
(37:04):
you sometimes feel like, oh,they're having the best life. Not realize
that. Yeah, that you thinkwe're missing out, But we may not
be so much missing out. It'sjust like you said, it's about living
and truly enjoying the opportunity of yourfruits of your labor, as well as
as helping others, you know,fulfill their dreams and their passions because that's
what we do, you know,when you're an entrepreneur, because because we
(37:25):
can't, we can't be in businesswithout them, so you know, but
of course we always Yeah, butof course we always have those that you
know, you'd be like, youknow, going going back to your corner.
We want to deal with you today. Yeah you know, Oh boy,
got a litany, got a longlist of those exactly. Yeah.
We could write a book about thaton its zone. So we'll have we'll
(37:45):
have to have that conversation some otherday. Yeah, I am all for
that one, because absolutely. Butthat's why we have to have the proper
mindset, because we have to turnthat into we either have to ignore it
or turning to fuel to do betterand better ourselves. Like I said,
like one of my favorite sayings iseat the meat and leave the bones.
(38:08):
You lived by us. You know, Yeah, I'm okay with the constructive
criticism, but the delivery can alwaysit doesn't always have to be as as
it is, you know what I'msaying, So, but you always can
learn something from it. So butyeah, I definitely could write a book
about that. But yeah, uhhuh. All right, gentlemen, we're
(38:30):
getting close to the end of theshow, but before we end, please
share any of any of the newitems you want to talk about this evening,
or if you have any upcoming events, and of course let us know
how we can reach out to you. Right well, you can always get
hold of us at blue Shirts Publishingat gmail dot com or on Instagram.
(38:54):
Now we are I think we're atblue Shirts and See now Roger yep,
yep, yeah podcast. I meanI was getting to tell Okay, do
you think my bad? My bad? See he already already stuck it on
me, all right. Publishing atgmail dot com, contact on Instagram,
(39:17):
apt blue Shapes and See. Thoseare like the first main live ways to
get ahold of us. Obviously,check out the podcast Blue Shades podcast.
Check out the magazine for magazine,especially like if you're a small business creator
anything like that with the service orability to trying to push for the people.
We always want more people to befeatured in Prior magazine, you know,
(39:39):
like publishing inqueries and everything that kindof gets covered by the Instagram and
buy our email. But uh yeah, Jared, I know you've got small
things I probably missed, so yougo off. Of course, of course
Prior Magazine issue too is going tobe dropping in April from y'all stay tuned
(40:00):
for that. We do have openingsfor business inquiries when it comes to publishing,
even if you want to set upconsultations just to ask questions and you
want to learn more about the publishingworld. Always free to set up consultations
through one either the Gmail on ourwebsite at blue dot com or our instagram
(40:24):
Blue Shades Publishing, n C.And yes, that is all, and
of course tune into Go Ahead thepodcast. Go ahead, going to ask
is the podcast on all platforms oris there on specific platforms? Yes,
ma'am, all right, yes,any platform that podcast at this point make
(40:50):
short name you name it. Wefound a way to get on excellent radio,
Spotify, Apple, Google, ITune, in radio. You name
it, so you can find it. You can find all this podcast,
all right. Well, that's that'sdefinitely what I wanted to know. So
I will definitely have this information inthe show notes so that everybody can find
(41:13):
you. For those who don't knowwho you all are, and so we
don't have to worry about not findingyou, we will make sure we know
who you are. And then ofcourse I also have to do is look
for the blue shades, right forsure. Always that's the thing. So
everywhere anywhere you see is blue shades. You're right, all right, Jentlemenhall,
It has been a pleasure having youboth on the show tonight, and
(41:36):
thank you for sharing all your information. And Alex, I love the family
oriented environment that you guys have putthis business into. I think that is
very important. And uh, youknow, I'm looking forward to seeing more
and learning more from you all,and I hope to talk to you again
soon in the near future, becauseI definitely want to, you know,
(41:57):
learn more about all the other thingsyou're going to be have coming out the
later on, because you're going tocontinue to grow and you know, keep
doing what you're doing. It's youguys are a blessing and you definitely need
to be around. I love Ilove your spirit. I love what you
guys are showing these young people thatthey need to understand about being in business.
That's important so they have somebody thatthey can connect to. So all
(42:22):
right, so again like to thankyou for coming on this show tonight,
and you're welcome. You're very,very welcome, and so for everyone else,
I hope that you enjoy this portionof tonight's show in that understanding the
world of publishing doesn't have to beabout just one thing, and these two
yentlemen are definitely showing you that there'sanother part of publishing that is very different
(42:45):
and unique and it's unique for you. So if you're prepared and you're ready
for your future and you want tohave a conversation, you can reach out
to me at Kimberly at wsbioc atgmail dot com and let's chat about how
to take you to those next stepsso you can turn those dreams to goals.
And if you just want to talkto me about getting connected to Jared
(43:06):
and Rocky, I can get youthere. I promise you. I know
these guys pretty well, so Ican definitely get you who you need to
get to without a doubt. Butof course, if you want more of
your resource for success, monitored donationsto support the podcast are now accepted on
cash App, PayPal, good Pods, Tipjar, or you can go directly
to the website at WWWWSBI LC dotcom. But again, we would like
(43:29):
to thank you all for listening tous tonight. We will be back next
week with more amazing guests, andbe sure to follow us on iHeartRadio or
wherever you listen to your podcasts.Until then, enjoy the rest of your
evening and good night, good nighteveryone. We will be back next Thursday
evening at seven pm. Follow uson spreaker www dot spreaker dot com,
(43:51):
slash user slash WSBI if you arenew WSBI website anytime at www dot w
s B I l l C dotcom, and on Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram
Good evening, Welcome to WSBI,your Resource for Success podcast program where you
get to meet inspiring women owned businessesfrom across the country. And now for
your host, Kimberly mcklemore. Allright, good evening and welcome to WSBI,
(00:41):
your Resource for Success podcast program whereyou get to meet inspiring entrepreneurs and
women owned businesses from across the country. I am your host, Kimberly McLamore,
CEO and founder of the Women's SmallBusiness Initiative LLC and award winning author.
Welcome to an on nail sharing withus. We have special guests and
Rocky, owners of Blue Shades Publishing, a black owned publishing company that tears
(01:04):
the fabric of what the world believesthe publishing process is. Blue Shades gives
the freedom back to writers with thebacking needed to succeed as an author.
A family oriented environment that goals that'sgoal is to make your book dreams come
true as you see fit. BlueShades Publishing sees the world through our lens.
So without further ado, please helpme. Welcome to my platform.
(01:26):
Jared and Rocky, how you guysdoing this evening, gentlemen, I'm doing
fine, okay, So I gotboth of you guys, so we're gonna
have to try to work this out. I know it's easy for both of
you to talk at the same timebecause you guys are very close, and
I want to make sure that weboth get you know, here, both
(01:47):
of you guys, and so youknow, I might say, hey,
one could go one or you guyscan decide who wants to go first through
this process out did Okay, Soanyway, I'm excited to have you on
the show. I'm loving this conversationwe're going to have because I really want
(02:08):
to dive into how you guys doyour publishing, and then we're going to
talk a little about the differences betweendoing the self publishing, doing the hybrid
publishing, or just having a publisherdo everything. So I also want to
get into that. But before wedive into any of this conversation, why
don't you guys tell me a littlebit more about who you are and tell
(02:30):
us a little bit more about whatyou're doing. So we'll start with Jared
first. Okay, Well, I'mtwenty four going on twenty five. In
about a month, we actually startedthe publishing company because my cousin, who
(02:53):
is the co owner with us wason today, and my little sister are
big writers. They've always been intowriting. They've always been interested in uh,
you know, fantasy or fiction andthings like that. So live in
writing for years now, and Iwanted to do my part. Being that
(03:15):
I already started with a company beforehand, I have a closing brand called Sanguine,
I wanted to with that background ofnetworking and business, I wanted to
do what I could do to helpthem in their around, you know,
being that I wasn't such a bigyou know reader and everything, so I
want to do something that we alldo together. So I went ahead and
(03:40):
started thinking about, you know,ways I could help, so looking into
publishing so that they could control thenarrative of how their books and things would
come out. That's really how theposition well, we started talking about publishing
and then doing my research and lookingat into how you know, upcoming authors
(04:02):
are being treated or the pros andcons of using a publisher or self publishing,
especially nowadays with social media and youknow, everybody doing the doing it
for themselves now. Self posishing wastaken off for like a good minute there,
and they've been getting away from theregular publishers and I always wondered why
(04:25):
that was. So doing my research, you know, I started to find
ways to make it more affordable aswell as like, like I said,
we like to get back the narrativeback to the authors so that they can
control how their book is seen,how their book is talked about, where
it's seen at things like that.That's what really matters, because the author
(04:50):
wants the story to be shown ina certain way so that you understand it
in a certain way. So that'sthat's really what made us start. For
the most part, Well that's howI got involved. I have to say,
okay, and all right, soyeah, that's okay, yeah,
and yeah, I hold your thoughtbecause I know there's some more stuff we're
(05:12):
going to talk about. But Irocket united. We talked. We talked
for a little bit before Jared cameon, and so I can talk a
little bit more about what pushes youinto writing and how you got started.
So I've always been a writer,if you ask my cousin, I've been
(05:34):
writing all my life. Like that'sjust always like it's always hoping. I've
been good at I was always goodat cared writing in school English and stuff
like that was always it just withsomething that just kind of came to me.
So I started writing a book.And I remember we went and I
(05:54):
think it was twenty eighteen that wewent to go see Part of the Caribbean
five that mental hotel, and soI happened to be sitting next to my
younger cousin, Jared's sister, andthroughout the entire movie, she's very critical
of like you know, like likecreative works, writing and stuff and all
(06:16):
that, how like it's executed,like she will dissect it in a second.
So we're sitting there talking about it, you know, like kind of
like between each other, like watchingthe movie, and we didn't really like
it all that, but and Iwas like, all right, I bet
I could write a better story.She was like, I mean, can
you write a better story? AndI'm the type of person was like,
(06:36):
you tell me I can't do something, now I have to do. So
I was like, yes I can, And I went and I started writing
like basically just like a like astory, just like a short story,
just like playing around with the ideaspirates or everything like that. So I
showed it to her, I showedit to my cousin. I showed to
Jared's her, and Jared thought itwas really good, you know what,
(07:00):
you should keep up with it,you know, keep on kind of expanding.
And I was like, you knowwhat, You're right, all right.
But so this was like September,I want to say this summer or
September of twenty eighteen. I kindof sat on it until I want to
go live my family in New Jerseyin winter of twenty eighteen, like December
area, and so like I wasbored, you know, like at home
(07:21):
my family and everything, and soI was like, all right, Ben,
I'm gonna like continue like what Isaid I was gonna do with the
story and everyone. So I startedwriting more and more and more until I
came back in twenty nineteen early twentynineteen, talked to my cousin about it,
you know, like I had likea full fledged story, you know,
like that was like in the processof like it at the beginning,
(07:44):
you know, I was like morestill towards the middle of the story.
So then we went and then didan interview with a family friend of ours
because she's really in her filmography andeverything, and she ended up like I
was wearing like these blue shades duringthe interview. I remember because he was
on the way to the interview.My cousin's in there cracking jokes on me
(08:05):
about him because he was like like, like all the things you could have
worked because it didn't work on myouse. If we didn't work with my
thank you, I had like ared plane along and like you know,
like I can't even remember the pantsall the way. It just didn't work
with the out anyway. So weshow up, we do the interview,
as we're editing the video what solike bars and over something like that after
(08:28):
the fact, and we were likecoming out because we were still trying to
figure out because we knew we wantedto be a publishing company, we just
didn't know the name for it yet. And so he was like what about
blue shades because like he was likecracking jokes on the shade and we was
like looking through the frames the shadesand everything like that. I was like,
actually, that's a really good idea. And we was like we could
(08:48):
wear blue shads do events and stufflike that. You know, it kind
of was us a bit different,you know, like feel and gives us
a bit of an identity. Sothat was kind of like how we started
the whole process. For me,A big part of it was always,
like my cousin said, I wantedthe freedom to control my work, right,
(09:09):
So, like I don't want to. I don't understand why a publisher
should be able to get half ofwhat a writer made. The publisher wouldn't
even have a book to publish ifthe writer didn't make the book, you
know. So for me, itjust didn't make any sense. You know,
these publishers, they want all thismoney upfront from you just for a
(09:33):
name. You know. I talkedto a family friend of mine and he
was talking about like his process ofpublishing. Traditionally he paid like four or
five thousand dollars and they don't evenpay him regularly. They paid him quarterly.
There was barely any marketing. Itwas on Amazon, and like he
didn't like, like I asked,you know, like what are they doing
as far as the marketing everything likethat? You know, what are they
(09:54):
doing with your book? They didn'teven talk to him about his own work,
right, They don't brief them aboutit. It gets paid quarterly.
They send them a checking the mailevery now and then after they've been taken
out their money and all that ofcourse they take like sixty of the money
and unders it, right, Solet's let's let's break this a little bit
(10:18):
more, right. So you're soyou're essentially talking about the process of publishing,
and we all know that publishing isa game. Rights it's about them
having connections at the end of theday, and with those connections is where
people feel that they need when theycome out as an author. That's that's
totally unknown, not realizing that it'sit's they're not going to really get known
(10:41):
because their whole focus is really notabout them, it's about the money.
So you guys, do you mentionupfront Jared, the fact that it's about
controlling the narrative. But there's morethan just controlling the narrative. You guys
talk about the process that you guyshave built and provided to people that and
the reason why you're wanting them tocome to you versus possibly self publishing themselves
(11:03):
or going to the traditional publishing typecompanies. Talk about your differences in what
you provide and how you do trulystand out definitely, like like he was
alluding to, like how Rocket wasending, how he was alluding to,
we're more affordable. So for example, like he said his family friend,
(11:24):
the cut is usually was like sixtypercent, seventy percent. It's always more
favorite to the publisher. With BlueShakes Publishing, we don't have a cut
that's over fifty percent, and that'sonly based upon how much you can afford
when it comes to printing. Sowow, for a sake of conversation,
forst safe conversation, I always liketo put it like, if printing your
(11:46):
book is three hundred dollars, sayconversation, and you decide to do the
fifty to fifty split on the printing, we would only make about thirty we'd
make thirty percent on the book.So we're actually our company is basically betting
on you. We believe on webelieve in your work. The author always
(12:09):
makes more than us. Of course, the printing price and the feed only
only are based upon what the authorcan do. So for example, there's
different ways to get around spending alot of money, like I said,
with the printing. So or let'slet's say they don't have the three hundred
(12:30):
dollars, they might be able toonly pay one hundred or fifty, so
that we would pay more of theprinting fee. But we just have a
little bit more of a percentage,but we wouldn't have anything over fifty percent
on the on the sales. Thatis. We also have points in the
contract where we have graphic designers thatdo your cover art. If you have
(12:52):
a graphic designer or you have youalready have the cover art, you wouldn't
have to pay that fee. Youwouldn't need to pay that seed, so
that that takes out another fee.If you have an editor that you would
like to use other than what wehave, that's perfectly fine. You can
use them. Now there is afear if we have to fix it,
(13:13):
but if we don't have to fixanything and they do what they're supposed to,
you miss out on another field.Right. So our contract is based
off of a lot of if youhave what you need and you can and
it's more affordable for you to doit that way, we want you to
do it that way because the goalfor us not necessarily just to make money,
(13:35):
but to actually help you put outthe book, because that's what you're
dreaming, right, right, butthen put out the book and right,
but at the same token, youyou know it's also repetitive. You would
like to have that repetitive customer comeback because you're showing them that it's not
about, like you said, justthe money. Obviously, you still need
to make money in order to keepthe business going, definitely, but having
(13:56):
that repetitive customer, that repeat customercome back to you over and over another
book because they have that trust nowthat you've built a report with them,
right, because you're giving them thefreedoms that they have didn't hear from somebody
else or didn't understand exactly. Sowhat does it look like though? Now
I'm just about to allude to that. Okay, I'm just about allude to
(14:18):
that perfect segue and that that's whereI was going to go into, like
the family oriented part. For allour authors, we're one phone call away,
one text message way, one emailaway. We're constantly in contact if
you ever need something, any questions, whether that's promotion, you're a promotion
(14:41):
idea because everyone has a different marketingstrategy for how they would like to because
we come up with one for yourbook specifically, so however you would like
to do that. Any questions onyou know, vendor events or how if
you have any questions about how topromote or what to do here and there,
my phone is always open. We'rein constant contact from start to finish,
(15:05):
and then from finish we're still incontact because we were trying to find
ways to sell the book, youknow what I'm saying. So we have
a great rapport with all of ourauthors. So far we have eight now
we only even business about. We'repushing in three years now, I believe
just a little over a little overthree great raport with all of our authors.
(15:30):
Anytime they need anything, our phonesare always open and we do our
best to make sure that they feelaccommodated. Right, So, so what
does it look like for the clientwho comes in and says, look,
I have this book, I justwant to write, I don't want to
do anything else. How does thatworld look for them when you guys are
being their actual full publisher ad y'alleither step on up. So basically from
(16:06):
that point forward, like assuming likewe signed and everything, our goal is,
like I always tell people, becausewe have people signed where like they're
just in the writing process right Sofor me, I always say, take
your time to write out your storybecause like once it's out there, out
there, if that's the thing likeyou're most focused on right now, focus
(16:30):
on that. We ain't gonna giveyou a deadline for your work, for
your vision, and when you're ready, we can take it. From there,
we go through and then we editit like like my cousin said,
you know, if you want usthat they will edit it. I'll go
through line by line with the authorbreaking down you know, like this is
how this is gonna sit, basedupon the size that we're looking for for
(16:51):
the that you're going for for thebook, based upon you know, like
everything. This is how it's gonnalook. Is that we want to sit
you want to change anything. Wego from there and and from there.
The first thing we do once everythingis pregned stuff like that, is we're
trying to get you to showcase,you know, like we will help you
(17:11):
set up events and stuff like thatto get you to show face. The
first thing I do is like askyou, like you got any family members
that you like, like like youhave family that they have their own business,
or like a store that you alwayswanted to have your work in,
or like to do an event,a gathering space and stuff like that.
(17:32):
We go there, we speak tothe owners or the event planners, set
up an event, and then weset like we have that all set up.
We coordinate with the author, likelook, this is like this is
what the event is, you know, like how do you want to set
it up? We'll make sure theyget set up this way, and then
we take it from there. Ialways say we are the crew of the
(17:53):
ship. You were the captain.To go back to my metaphor earlier about
when you're the one who's making thebook as the ship with a crew,
Well, it's our job to helpyou get to the next level, to
get wherever you're trying to go.Now, everybody has their own visions for
where they're going to go or likewhat they want to accomplish with their book,
(18:14):
right because not everybody is trying tobe a best selling Some people just
really wanted to get this work outhere and they want to show to their
family and friends and loved ones andstuff like that what they've got. Other
people they want to go bigger,So you've got to approach that differently.
But ultimately that's how we do it, you know, like where we want
(18:36):
you to focus on the things thatare most passionate for you. And if
you come to us and you wantto hear you know, like our process
and everything like that, and youjust want to you just want to sign
right now so that you can useour services later. Or I'm talking to
a dude this week. You've gotpoetry. He wanted me to read through
(18:56):
his poetry and kind of give himmy take on his poetry, not as
it is publisher or anything like that, but just as you know, like
a reliable source you feel mean.So we, like my cousin said,
like, we're family orients. Sofor me, it's always about you know,
make sure your work is ready firstand that you're happy with what you
got. That means we got towait six more months because you got to
(19:21):
make sure your book is right.Then it ain't my job to sit here
and tell you like, look,we need a book out yesterday. You
know, it's not about that.So I don't know if that is your
question, but that's kind of howwe Yeah, it does, it does.
Yeah, I just you know,like I said, there's so many
different processes and more and more peopleare in more companies I can I can
(19:41):
honestly say, are coming out withthe hybrid approach, you know, where
like you said, more people aremore involved in what they're doing and versus
just sitting on the sideline and lettingthat when the publisher take that full control,
and that's essentially you know what youguys are prosiding, but you you've
added some of the extra steps andperks that comes with that because you're giving
(20:03):
them a strategy that usually the publishingcompany just runs with it. You know,
like you said, the gentlemen wewere talking about earlier, he took
control and you know, he getshis little paycheck and he doesn't even know
what's going on. So yeah,there's definitely we still have that big process
that's out there. And normally,when you know, I hear or see
about people who are going through theprocess of a large publishing company is because
(20:25):
they're already well known. They alreadyknow their names out there. You know,
we know who you are, andbasically they're using their name as a
part of that process and they knowthey're going to make the money they want
to make off of them, andthey know they're in the background doing nothing.
So you know, those are someof the things that people who are
new at this they really can't affordthat process and they really don't understand that
(20:45):
process. So in the process,when you guys are working with your clientele
that come to you, and somepeople you know are much more interested in
learning what that process is and understandingthat step by step to know how does
this really work? You know,how how can I make it to the
next level? What advice do youguys give them when they're at that point
(21:06):
where they may be using the lizingit as a point for their business so
that they can stand out more,or it may be because it's something else
they want to do and this iswhat they may want to do for the
rest of their lives as as apart of their living. What steps are
you providing and saying to them,Hey, this is how we can get
you to that next level. Howdo you guys rethink that? Right?
(21:30):
I guess I think I like toUsually, like we set up a consultation,
usually a consultation. There's no like, you don't have to sign with
us from the job or anything likethat. It's just strictly so you can
get information if that's what you're that'swhat you're yearning for, right, So
(21:52):
in with that right, so withthat information you get to ask those type
of questions where you know, what'swhat's the formulas for us? What should
I be looking for, you knowwhat, what can I do to feel
more comfortable with this because a lotof times, a lot of the authors
(22:14):
that we've come across, they're honestlyscared, right because you know, this
is something that's really near and dearto their heart and haven't haven't really shared
with the world yet. So gettingit to a big publisher sometimes it's scary.
Sometimes getting into a smaller publisher iseven scary because a lot of the
smaller publishers, you know, haven'tbeen as round as hasn't been around as
(22:37):
exactly everyone else has, you knowwhat I'm saying. So in that consultation,
I try to give people comfort andknowing that they're, like I said,
in full control and they have allthe creative direction. Like like Rockie
said, I love going back tois the where the crew of the ship
(22:57):
we get. We give you theanswers you're looking for, and we're okay
if the go at the end ofthe day is for you to put out
the book. We love for youto publish with us, but the goal
for the day is for you toput out the book. So whether that's
from what kind of cover art doI need, editing, what does that
(23:18):
look like, what size works?How do I market to our audience?
Things like that, The whole gambitwe're open to answering, depending on of
course, each book is different,so you have to handle it differently,
but constantly providing that get taking theweight off of, you know, the
(23:40):
fear of dealing with publishers and things. We kind of give almost a little
crash course on how to what tolook for, what you're gonna need like
an I, S B in abar code, you know, you know,
essential things to having a book,you know what I'm saying. And
then also still being able to putyour own little spin on it, because
(24:02):
you know, some people have parametersthat you have to meet and things like
that. So just giving a rundownon that and then from there, you
know, seeing where they're at,helping them get to the next level.
All right, okay, so let'sdive into the magazine. Talk about you
(24:22):
do magazine. I'm excited to hearmore about it. So tell us all
about your magazine. Definitely, allright, well start right here. I'm
not sure I'll start an I won'tsay everything is tom I'll actually let you
all right, So, because Ihave to do this a lot when we
(24:45):
be talking, I'll be talking tointerviewing people for the magazine and everything.
So basically, first off, thename of the magazine Pariah. The reason
why we went with the name Pariahis because of the fact it encapsulates our
experience. We're going into business,right a prize an outsider, outcast,
(25:10):
outlier, you know, a personwho is apart from the group, apart
from the past. And what wefound was that people will show a lot
of support for you. At first. They'll show like tons of it,
you know, like they'll be excitedthat you go into business, to support
you and all of that for thefirst couple of months, and then it
(25:33):
slows up. They're not reposting anyof the stuff you're posting, they're not
telling people about your services, they'retrying to use your services. You know,
they kind of just forget about you. It makes you feel like an
outsider, like a pariah. Andso that was why we came up with
the name Pariah Magatine. Our goalis ultimately to kind of be like that
(25:56):
little boost, that little help forpeople, because like tons of people got
skilled, they got services, theygot ability, and they're good with them.
It's just that we live in adigital age. We live in the
age of social media, and noteverybody has the time, or the energy
or the no album to grow onsocial media, you know, and we
(26:17):
will kind of like skim over peoplewho could be just as qualified or just
as good at something as somebody elsebased off the number of followers they have.
Our goal is to kind of builda community so that we can help
each other. Because if I'm inthe magazine and you're in the magazine,
and this person's in the magazine,we all want our people to see us
in the magazine. And inadvertently,when I go to show people my magazine,
(26:41):
or I get somebody to buy themagazine because I'm in the magazine,
I'm also putting you on. Theyput through the magazine, they go to
your page. You do art,you do you know, you have a
book that you're putting out because it'snot just you know, our authors and
stuff like that that are in themagazine. You know, you can use
it. You do all these things, and it's an opportunity for you to
get put on. Our goal is, ultimately we're trying to reach a point
(27:04):
where our name, the name Pariah, is anonymously like Ebony Magazine, but
it's not necessarily for the people thatyou will see under the magazine. You
know, most of the people thatare in Emity Magazine, they're just there.
They already got a name big enough. The Ebity magazine is looking for
that, right, you know,Ebity Magazine is not looking for the common
man. They are not interviewing somebodythat is just starting up and has no
(27:27):
name like that. They're looking forpeople that are already well as you know.
We're trying to help people get tothat point. Right. And is
this magazine digital as well as hardcopy? Right now, it's just a
copy of hard copy okay, okay? And the next yeah, the next,
(27:48):
which which we love because you know, holding holding the book in your
hand different. Yes, same,wanted to have that same feel with the
magazine. But we will be doinga digital copy in the your future,
more than likely for the years out, just so we can have both.
But to piggyback off of what Rockywas saying, we want to build the
(28:11):
thing that I struggled with the moststarting business was looking for a community of
people to support me. A lotof the a lot of entrepreneurship has lonely
moments that nobody really talks about.All right, you know there's a lot
of nights, you know, you'reby yourself. You don't got really much
(28:33):
to lean on because you know alot of us come from circles or backgrounds
where that's not that's not normal,you know what I'm saying, going to
the entrepreneur route, you know.So it's hard when you're following something you're
so passionate about and and you're notgetting the support you feel. I love
(28:56):
about what you guys have done.You literally have jumped in it with all
four I mean, you know,and that's brave. It takes a lot
to say, you know what,like you just said, this is my
passion, this is what I wantto do. And when people don't understand
the one thing I've learned about beingin business, when they don't understand,
it's not meant for them to understand, and it's okay, exactly. And
(29:17):
so you have to connect yourself withthose people who are in business, even
if it's not the same, butunderstanding that process of what it means to
be a businessman or a businesswoman orwhatever the case may be. And you
guys are a partnership which even iseven more pressure to some degree because you
both have to be able to sink, and you guys do that well,
(29:38):
but you're also still learning the process. And you know, one has strength,
that's all business because you've done businessbefore. The other one has strength,
it's all majority of writing. Soto be able to collaborate them together
is one that right there is thefeet of its own. So then when
you're pushing into these other levels ofbeing in business, you're right many lonely
(29:59):
nights, and then as you getfurther to the top, it's going to
be even lonelier. I fully understand, you know, because not everybody understands.
Yeah, so go ahead, mhm. And I was just gonna
I was just gonna say, that'swhy we want that's why the magazine was
so important, because we know there'sthat there's that void. So we wanted
(30:22):
to create a community centered around thismagazine to push that, to push to
push people that you know, bemore supportive of one another for what they
have going on from all walks oflife. Just like you said, they
might not have the same business asyou, but y'all have the same type
of struggle, if that makes sense. You know what I'm saying, right,
(30:45):
So the musicians of the world thatare coming that are newcomers, are
trying to get the name out there, the artists of the world that are
trying to get their name out there. The other small business owners I don't
like saying small business, but businessowners. You know, they're all working
to do the same thing. Weget much farther together than divided. So
(31:07):
why not why not have a communitywhere, you know, the people that
come to the magazine get to talkabout what they have going on, and
they're in an area in the magazinewhere there's other businesses that get to talk
about what they're going on and talkabout their backgrounds and how to connect with
people. We also are adding implementingthings into the magazine where use QR codes
(31:32):
and to get to what they havegoing on. So because a lot of
people are digital now, we willhave a digital magazine soon. But the
QR codes takes you straight to theirwebsite and all their content and things like
that. So we're finding new waysto make the magazine more interactive because you
know, magazines are for some peopleoutdated. You know, you're right,
(31:56):
right, but they're definitely making acomeback, you know, because like said,
yeah, their hands. Yeah,it's a lot different. Digital is
great, But the one thing Idon't like about digital is because you know,
once you kind of lose it andyou don't want to go back and
try to find it again. Andwhen you have that magazine in your hand
is like that book in your hand. It just makes a hell of reference
(32:17):
in my opinions. Oh yes,I'm old school, so oh yeah,
I prefer that. Yeah, absolutely, Oh yes, and that and that's
what we want, right, Wewant to be able to meet both both
age groups, you know what I'msaying, those who enjoy holding it physically,
those who enjoy not so much holdingit physically, and just you know,
(32:38):
swiping through so that now you cango through our magazine and next thing
you know, you are on yourphone researching whoever's person page you're on and
their business and what they have goingon and things like that. But we're
just we're taking magazines to a differentlevel when it comes to things like that,
to make it more interactive and moreenjoyable for the reader as well as,
(33:02):
like I said, getting getting ourpeople out there that we've met along
the way and continue to meet throughthe Parde magazine. We're planning to do
events and all types of stuff downthe line. So yeah, all right,
So tell me about the podcast BlueShades Publishing podcastings that we got to
(33:23):
talk about the podcast definitely, definitely, I guess probably started last one.
So so with the with the podcast, you know, everything we try to
make everything kind of intermingle. Sowith the Blue Shades UH Publishing, if
(33:45):
you are one of our authors,you get a free episode on our podcast,
you get a free spot on themagazine, you know, just to
intermingle everything. But to answer yourquestion back to the podcast, the podcast
is really more so about you know, our daily daily struggles that don't get
talked about. So as an entrepreneurfor the most part, So we have
(34:08):
a lot of different entrepreneurs that comeon to you know, talk about things,
a lot of them being because ofour audience is so young or most
of our audiences young. Majority ofthem are you know, in their twenties
or early thirties, even even fromteenagers you know that are working to test
(34:28):
the waters of going after their passionsand things like that. We also discuss
the difference in how social media hastaken over or how much we obsess over
youth or you know how fear fallsinto stops us from doing certain things.
You know a lot of the dailythings that we get to, what we
(34:52):
look over or ignore to get throughthe day, or things that we try
to we always try to give somebodysomething to encourage them and to motivate them
to keep pushing. And I feellike that was the thing that was the
thing that I was liking was inthis whole entrepreneurship journey, was somebody either
(35:15):
constantly was in your corner like,all right, it's tough day to day,
but you got this next day isgonna be better. Changing the mindset
that was That's the main thing,is changing the mindset. If we're going
in with an optimistic mindset and withthe right mindset, we're gonna have better
results. That's really what the whatthe podcast is pushing for the most part,
(35:36):
you know, standing over different topicsand things, but the main thing
is always making sure our mindset isin the right place so that we can
progress. Right. But I lovethat you guys are sharing. You know,
you're willing to share the good,the bad, and the ugly,
And that's the thing that I alwayslike to face, even with them having
these conversations because being an entrepreneur isnot always easy. There's many days I
(35:58):
wake up and you know what,why am I doing this us today?
You know, you go through thatprocess. You wouldn't be human if you
didn't, because not every day isgoing to be a good day. But
having these types of conversations are veryimportant because a lot of times when people
see us as entrepreneurs, they onlysee the good part, so they think,
oh, you know, nything's goinggreat right right, and and they
(36:20):
don't understand what you had to gothrough just to get to that great moment,
so to speak, you know,And that's that's the beauty about having
the opportunity to sit down and talkto my entrepreneurs and let them tell their
stories because they just need to beheard. And you know, I just
think a lot of times people justbelieve that being their own bosses the greatest
things, you know, since slicepie, which is fine, but it
(36:44):
does come with a lot of opportunities, a lot of yes, exactly,
all sacrifices the whole thing of beingin business, right, so you know
you're losing out on some things,you're gaining the others, you know,
and when you know when you seeother people so called living their life,
(37:04):
you sometimes feel like, oh,they're having the best life. Not realize
that. Yeah, that you thinkwe're missing out, But we may not
be so much missing out. It'sjust like you said, it's about living
and truly enjoying the opportunity of yourfruits of your labor, as well as
as helping others, you know,fulfill their dreams and their passions because that's
what we do, you know,when you're an entrepreneur, because because we
(37:25):
can't, we can't be in businesswithout them, so you know, but
of course we always Yeah, butof course we always have those that you
know, you'd be like, youknow, going going back to your corner.
We want to deal with you today. Yeah you know, Oh boy,
got a litany, got a longlist of those exactly. Yeah.
We could write a book about thaton its zone. So we'll have we'll
(37:45):
have to have that conversation some otherday. Yeah, I am all for
that one, because absolutely. Butthat's why we have to have the proper
mindset, because we have to turnthat into we either have to ignore it
or turning to fuel to do betterand better ourselves. Like I said,
like one of my favorite sayings iseat the meat and leave the bones.
(38:08):
You lived by us. You know, Yeah, I'm okay with the constructive
criticism, but the delivery can alwaysit doesn't always have to be as as
it is, you know what I'msaying, So, but you always can
learn something from it. So butyeah, I definitely could write a book
about that. But yeah, uhhuh. All right, gentlemen, we're
(38:30):
getting close to the end of theshow, but before we end, please
share any of any of the newitems you want to talk about this evening,
or if you have any upcoming events, and of course let us know
how we can reach out to you. Right well, you can always get
hold of us at blue Shirts Publishingat gmail dot com or on Instagram.
(38:54):
Now we are I think we're atblue Shirts and See now Roger yep,
yep, yeah podcast. I meanI was getting to tell Okay, do
you think my bad? My bad? See he already already stuck it on
me, all right. Publishing atgmail dot com, contact on Instagram,
(39:17):
apt blue Shapes and See. Thoseare like the first main live ways to
get ahold of us. Obviously,check out the podcast Blue Shades podcast.
Check out the magazine for magazine,especially like if you're a small business creator
anything like that with the service orability to trying to push for the people.
We always want more people to befeatured in Prior magazine, you know,
(39:39):
like publishing inqueries and everything that kindof gets covered by the Instagram and
buy our email. But uh yeah, Jared, I know you've got small
things I probably missed, so yougo off. Of course, of course
Prior Magazine issue too is going tobe dropping in April from y'all stay tuned
(40:00):
for that. We do have openingsfor business inquiries when it comes to publishing,
even if you want to set upconsultations just to ask questions and you
want to learn more about the publishingworld. Always free to set up consultations
through one either the Gmail on ourwebsite at blue dot com or our instagram
(40:24):
Blue Shades Publishing, n C.And yes, that is all, and
of course tune into Go Ahead thepodcast. Go ahead, going to ask
is the podcast on all platforms oris there on specific platforms? Yes,
ma'am, all right, yes,any platform that podcast at this point make
(40:50):
short name you name it. Wefound a way to get on excellent radio,
Spotify, Apple, Google, ITune, in radio. You name
it, so you can find it. You can find all this podcast,
all right. Well, that's that'sdefinitely what I wanted to know. So
I will definitely have this information inthe show notes so that everybody can find
(41:13):
you. For those who don't knowwho you all are, and so we
don't have to worry about not findingyou, we will make sure we know
who you are. And then ofcourse I also have to do is look
for the blue shades, right forsure. Always that's the thing. So
everywhere anywhere you see is blue shades. You're right, all right, Jentlemenhall,
It has been a pleasure having youboth on the show tonight, and
(41:36):
thank you for sharing all your information. And Alex, I love the family
oriented environment that you guys have putthis business into. I think that is
very important. And uh, youknow, I'm looking forward to seeing more
and learning more from you all,and I hope to talk to you again
soon in the near future, becauseI definitely want to, you know,
(41:57):
learn more about all the other thingsyou're going to be have coming out the
later on, because you're going tocontinue to grow and you know, keep
doing what you're doing. It's youguys are a blessing and you definitely need
to be around. I love Ilove your spirit. I love what you
guys are showing these young people thatthey need to understand about being in business.
That's important so they have somebody thatthey can connect to. So all
(42:22):
right, so again like to thankyou for coming on this show tonight,
and you're welcome. You're very,very welcome, and so for everyone else,
I hope that you enjoy this portionof tonight's show in that understanding the
world of publishing doesn't have to beabout just one thing, and these two
yentlemen are definitely showing you that there'sanother part of publishing that is very different
(42:45):
and unique and it's unique for you. So if you're prepared and you're ready
for your future and you want tohave a conversation, you can reach out
to me at Kimberly at wsbioc atgmail dot com and let's chat about how
to take you to those next stepsso you can turn those dreams to goals.
And if you just want to talkto me about getting connected to Jared
(43:06):
and Rocky, I can get youthere. I promise you. I know
these guys pretty well, so Ican definitely get you who you need to
get to without a doubt. Butof course, if you want more of
your resource for success, monitored donationsto support the podcast are now accepted on
cash App, PayPal, good Pods, Tipjar, or you can go directly
to the website at WWWWSBI LC dotcom. But again, we would like
(43:29):
to thank you all for listening tous tonight. We will be back next
week with more amazing guests, andbe sure to follow us on iHeartRadio or
wherever you listen to your podcasts.Until then, enjoy the rest of your
evening and good night, good nighteveryone. We will be back next Thursday
evening at seven pm. Follow uson spreaker www dot spreaker dot com,
(43:51):
slash user slash WSBI if you arenew WSBI website anytime at www dot w
s B I l l C dotcom, and on Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram
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