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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, the attorney has returned Charity Dean. Attorney, good morning. Good morning. What up though, Mason? How you
00:06been? I'm good. I'm happy to be back. Happy to be in the place. Good. Well, you brought us some
00:11more superstars. I did. So we're going to have Elijah today, but we stay in the family. We do. I'm
00:17so excited. The entrepreneur that we brought today is my mother. No kidding. Mom, welcome. And I'm going to be,
00:24I'm going to say this. She is a member of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, probably our first member.
00:30And has been a faithful member since then. So say hi. Well, legitimately, she is the first. Right. That's right.
00:38That's right. That's right. So I guess I can call her Crystal. Which is why we have it because of
00:44her. Yes. Same last name? Crystal Jones. Miss Jones. Yes. Miss Jones, welcome to the show. Thank you. So you
00:52do what? I do a lot of things, but mainly I'm here to talk about Destiny House Publishing Company.
01:00Where I help authors get their books published, make their dreams come true. Uh-oh. Yes. There are a lot
01:06of people out there who want to write a book. Yes. Well, everybody has a story. Everybody has a story
01:12to tell, a testimony, or some experience that they've lived that they need to share with the world.
01:18So how, obviously you've written as well. Yes. How many books for you? Maybe 25. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible.
01:29Yes.
01:29What do you like to write about? Marriage. We do a lot of books on marriage. My husband and I,
01:35we're getting ready to celebrate 45 years of marriage. And so we talk a lot about marriage.
01:39I do children's books. That's my new venture entered into the children's market. And so, um, a lot of things,
01:46my latest book is on prayer. So just a lot of different areas.
01:50Wow. That's, that's, that's, that's quite an array of subject matter to deal with. So you decided to do this
01:57business of helping others create and publish their own books. How long have you been doing that?
02:03Well, it's the, the dream for me started in 2009. Okay. And we were official in, in 2010. Oh, wow.
02:12And we've been going since then. Wow. I didn't realize that.
02:15In, in, in, um, in 20, 2009, what brought that thought on?
02:22Well, our very first book we published to another company. And so just trying to get a company that was
02:30affordable. And at that time it was Zulon, it's Libris. They were very expensive. It was hard to break into
02:38the publishing.
02:39If you didn't have thousands of dollars to pay. Really? It just was not, it wasn't a reality for you.
02:47So I just decided I want to start a publishing company. Didn't know the first thing about it.
02:52Right. You knew nothing about doing it. Nothing. But I'm going to find out how to do this. She's a
02:57hustler. She's a hustler. Yeah.
02:59Like you? Yeah. That's what I get it from. That's what I get it from. Get it from my mama.
03:04All day. There we go.
03:06I'll figure it out. You, you know nothing about it. Um, but you didn't, you didn't shelf it. The idea
03:13you stayed with it. Yes.
03:15What was the first thing you did?
03:17Found someone who could research the information for me. And then I brought her on as a partner. And eventually
03:25we parted ways. And I just, you know, it's just been doing it ever since.
03:29And always researching to do better and to expand and have more resources available.
03:35You mentioned how difficult it is and how expensive it could be done. Um, when you offer your service to
03:44people, what's the biggest thing you, you break down for them?
03:48Well, the, the one thing about these other publishing companies, they weren't offering a full package.
03:56We offer the full package, which includes editing, which is very expensive.
04:02Wow.
04:03And it includes the, the graphic design. You get custom graphic design. Um, and so we put everything together in
04:11one package and so that they don't have to do everything a la carte.
04:15You, you, you, um, run down all of the, the services you get.
04:21We will start you from, from start to finish. We help you once you've written it out.
04:25Yes. What happens next? You, so I write, I, and how do I bring it to you? Handwritten type?
04:31Oh no, no, no.
04:32Email?
04:33Now Mason, you gonna turn it up.
04:35It is 20, 20 seconds. We gonna ask you to email that to me.
04:39There we go. Because there are people out there, they don't know.
04:43They think if I wrote it out, cause they take notes and do it.
04:46But you know, now you can get it. If we will do that as an additional service.
04:51Really?
04:51Yes.
04:52I'm writing it out.
04:53I'm screaming. I'm screaming, Mason.
04:55There you go.
04:57Yes.
04:57Okay. So, so they email you and what do you ask in that email?
05:02So, basically go to our website and on our website, it tells, it's, we have to send us the, um,
05:10manuscript.
05:11Okay.
05:11You send us the manuscript.
05:12What's a manuscript for those who.
05:14It's, it's your writing, your story.
05:16Your story.
05:17Yes.
05:17So you've written out this story or typed out this story.
05:20Yeah.
05:20Uh, you want to turn it into the book. You, you got pages and that kind of stuff. Maybe
05:26it's not in order. Does it have to be in an order? Well.
05:30Yes.
05:31Yeah.
05:32So you know what.
05:32Especially if you're writing a story, it needs to kind of flow.
05:35It has to flow.
05:36We're gonna, we're gonna help you though. You know, if you're not really sure, we'll help
05:40you. We'll move things around during the editing process.
05:43Bingo. That was the question there.
05:45Yes, yes, yes.
05:45That was the question.
05:46But you've also done classes to help teach people how to.
05:49Yeah, we do coaching as well.
05:50Oh, you coach too?
05:51Yeah, absolutely.
05:52You, you, you can buy the coaching pass.
05:53Yes, yes.
05:54Oh yeah. Cause that's what people, see people got the story.
05:57Right.
05:57Yeah.
05:57They just don't know how to, what, what do I do next?
06:00Yes. And coaching is weekly.
06:02Yep.
06:03Yep. And so I make sure that, you know, I'm keeping you on target. Like we're going to get
06:07through this. We're going to get to our finish line. And so if, as long as you do what
06:11I tell you, we're going to get there.
06:14Well, you have the credentials.
06:15So it's easy to follow somebody who's done it and can get it, can get it done. When,
06:22when they send you the manuscript, which is your story, what happens next?
06:27So we send them a contract because we got to put the name and all of those things in
06:32the country and we need to see how many pages because it's one of the price will determine
06:36how many pages.
06:37And so then, you know, once they send a signed contract, we're off to the races. We can have
06:42that book done in 30 days.
06:45Whoa.
06:46We can have it done, but that's again, if the author cooperates. So a lot of times if we
06:51have done, we just finished one author and hers was done in 30 days.
06:55Now, just to give people some background on this, people do books, turn them over to a publishing
07:02company. I've heard people say it's about seven months. They'll get it back to me in about
07:07a year. It's just about right. That kind of thing. And you're talking 30 days, 30 days
07:13with editing and formatting and custom design. So yes, we're able to do that really quickly.
07:20And what we do is we're going to take you through the process. We're going to do the
07:23editing part of it. And then we send it to you to say, Hey, accept or reject these changes
07:29because we want to keep your voice. We're not going to try to take your voice. So sometimes
07:33we have authors who misspell words on purpose. This is part of their artistic design. So I'm
07:39not going to change it. If that's what you want, I'm going to leave it that way.
07:43You're preaching to the choir. When I do basketball, they took my script and tried to clean it up.
07:49I couldn't read it.
07:51Yeah.
07:52And I said, what did you do with the original copies? Because they typed it out, but they
07:57typed it out in correct form. Yeah. So I couldn't read it. Yeah. Yes.
08:02They changed your voice. Yes. Yes. Because when I do it, I make capital letters where capital
08:08letters don't go. Right. Can't spell. Yeah. Totally misspell words, but it's the feeling
08:13of the spelling that gives me the word. And probably how you're going to say it.
08:17Yes. Right. So that's what I mean. That's hilarious.
08:20So we're trying to keep your voice. So we ask you to approve or reject the changes we made.
08:25Sure. How long does that take when people do that? That's on them.
08:28It's supposed to take two weeks. Oh, wow. That's it.
08:32Two weeks, one week. Just look at all you have to do is accept, reject, accept, reject.
08:37That's all you got to do. Okay. So people want to know how to get to you.
08:41Yes. So www.destinyhousepublishing.com.
08:49Destinyhousepublishing.com. Yes. Woo. I know, right?
08:53That's fascinating. Yes. Now, I've got some parents out there who believe that their children
09:00already have a book. Yes. Because our youngest author published, his name was Jeremiah Jackson.
09:06And his book was It's Me, Jeremiah. And it's so cute. He was third grade. His sister did the
09:13illustrations. What? So cool. Yes. It's just, so you're never too young, too old. You know,
09:20I'm working with someone right now who's in her 80s. And so, you know, you always, you know,
09:25what you have a story, get it out of here, tell the story. That is beautiful. Yeah, that's
09:30right. So, so destinyhousepublishing.com. Yes. You go there, the website pops up and you
09:38can get all the information. Absolutely. The price range, the different packages. We have
09:44about four packages. And we add in some of the other things. We also do audio books. We,
09:50you know, all of the. You do audio books. Absolutely. I didn't know you did audio books.
09:53Yeah. Wow. Yes. I recommend that for, I recommend that for our leader, Attorney Dean.
10:00Yeah. Look, I'm writing a book right now. She's working on it. You should do audio because you
10:05have that different kind of voice. Oh yeah. That DJ Nene voice. It's DJ Nene on the ones and twos.
10:11So funny, Ms. Jones. I'm telling you. She get it from her dad. Yes. I now see that part.
10:19Were you ever a teacher in the school system? Yes, I was a teacher in the school system. Detroit
10:25public schools. We both were. My husband as well. Oh, no kidding. Yes. How many years?
10:3128. Really? Ms. Jones, you, you taught what grade? Yes. I taught when I, I said,
10:37entered teaching adult education. So I worked with adult ed. And then I went to, um, uh,
10:45YMCA service learning academy. Um, I taught there as a substitute teacher, but I taught at
10:51cornerstone schools. Yeah. I taught their middle school English. Yeah. That's amazing. The reason
10:57I bring it up. And she was a librarian. School librarian. Yes. I loved it. Yes. I love books.
11:04Bring back librarians. Right. Oh yeah. There've been movies about that. Yeah. Um, to teach you
11:10to be a nurse or a teacher or a doctor, you have to have, uh, the Bible patients because as
11:20you ran
11:21down your business, I could hear the patients and I just, but that's good. Um, Ms. Jones, thank you for
11:30coming in and sharing today. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun. Um, attorney closing thoughts.
11:35Um, look, black business Alliance. Follow us. We are www.blackbizalliance.com. We are at black
11:43biz Alliance on all social media platforms. And I'm just grateful to be serving black people. I
11:49mean, we were last night, we had a visit Detroit. They're getting people ready for the NCAA final four
11:54tonight. We'll be down at city hall advocating for black businesses for the Renaissance center
12:00development. So we're just busy serving, uh, black businesses every day. Uh, speaking of the final
12:06four coming in March, uh, you, you're already busy, um, getting vendors. Yeah. We're getting
12:13people ready. There is an RFP that is open right now, which means what a request for proposal for
12:19certain, um, companies to do business with the NCAA for during the final four. And so we have that
12:27information at the black biz Alliance. And what we've been doing is saying, we're not just going
12:31to send you the link. We're going to walk you through the process. How do you apply?
12:35Make sure you get it. Yes. Uh, you've done a fabulous job getting Detroiters part of the NFL draft.
12:45Yep. That's right. And Ford field. Yeah. We brought some of our concessionaires here. Yeah. They're in
12:51Ford field, but they're also in, uh, I was going to say Comerica Park, but they have a new name
12:56now,
12:56fifth, third perk. Yeah. But it is all about making sure that we use the space that we've
13:01been given to advocate and bring other folks with us. I really, uh, admire you for that.
13:08Thank you. That is excellent. Ms. Jones, before we go and again, give the website.
13:13It's destinyhousepublishing.com. And your closing thoughts. My closing thoughts. Um,
13:20everyone has a story. Let's get that story out. You don't know who you can help. Um,
13:25um, also connect with the MBBA. There's so many resources to help you get things done. You know,
13:31someone asked me, is there funding for publishing a book? Yes. Go through the MBBA.
13:37It's not, it's, it's general, but you could use it for, you know, that as well. So yes, there,
13:42there's funding available and just connect with MBBA. Yeah. There's money out, out there right now.
13:47Remember we had DeWine on for the 0% interest loan. The Black Leaders Detroit is open right now.
13:52Mm-hmm. Open right now. Whose video is still, I know, going crazy. Amazing. I know, right? He's,
13:59he's just dynamic. Amazing. Yeah. He was all quiet and he was acting like it wasn't nothing. Let me try
14:04to tell you something else. Like it ain't important, but you are. It was important. And that's the message
14:09that people got. Yeah. All right, attorney. Thank you again. It's been powerful again today.
14:14We'll see you next week. See you next week.