When they think about the publishing industry, many readers can immediately call to mind the big outfits: HarperCollins, Random House, and MacMillan. But there are many small publishing companies scattered all across the country, and even locally.

Our guest today, Julia Royston, is a former school librarian who began her first publishing company as a way to publish her own books in the exact way she wanted them. She jokes that she has “control issues”. But those issues led her to become an entrepreneur who now owns and operates two publishing companies that have been around for over 12 years, in an age when most businesses are lucky to make it past the 3-5 year mark. BK Royston Publishing and Royal Media and Publishing, located in Southern Indiana, are her two full service imprints that primarily publish black authors; one focusing on children’s, inspirational, and religious books and the other publishing more mainstream fiction such as mysteries, urban fiction, and romance.

In this week’s episode, she talks to us about why it’s so important to have more diverse books in libraries and schools, what the biggest challenge was to starting her publishing company, and how she looks for creative ways such as virtual book fairs to try to promote her authors in the COVID era.

Books and Links Discussed in this episode:

1- Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Julia Royston's podcast on BuzzSprout:

YouTube Channel: