PETER CHRISTOPHER
Reea Rodney is not content with resting on her success.
She overcame being diagnosed with fibromyalgia– a condition that causes pain all over the body to establish herself as on Amazon.com’s best-list in 2021 for her children’s book series Juniper and Rose.
A year on, the 42-year-old Trinidadian author, publisher, and motivational speaker in the United States has found success through her published work once again as her anthology The Secret Prayer of a Righteous Black Woman: The Power of a Mother’s Prayer once again made Amazon’s best-seller list.
The book featured testimonies from Rodney, along with 11 other Black moms, geared towards teaching women how to identify and eliminate fear through faith.
The book made it to #1 on Amazon’s best-seller list in nine categories including Women’s Personal Spiritual Growth, Motivational Growth and Spirituality, Inspirational Personal Testimonies, Social Issues and Christianity and Prayer.
However, Rodney’s personal success was bolstered by the fact that she allowed other up-and-coming writers to become successful under her Dara Publishing imprint, not just in the United States but in European Markets and even in India.
“That particular anthology, that was dear to my heart, because my first time doing this anthology programme, I mean, it is a business so I make money by doing it but what happened in this programme is that everybody who embark on this journey, they all become authors, they all have the opportunity to sell the book on their platform to retain 100 per cent of their earnings. And I created a programme in a way to establish entrepreneurs. So it’s not just they write a book,” she told Guardian Media.
She added: “So they all went on with the ability to launch four different businesses off of that book, first the book sales, just selling the book as an author. And also they learn how to monetize and leverage the book as a speaker. They also learn how to monetize and leverage the book by creating a programme or a digital product.”
The book’s success in those foreign markets was also based on Rodney’s savvy in terms of networking. In a bid to manage costs at her publishing company, she looked outside of the United States.
“Once I decided that I wanted to open up my company to work with people I knew that I wanted to have affordable prices as it relates to the illustrations and the formatting of my book and I wanted to build a relationship with someone so that I can have them as my go-to. So you know, in doing this, this job this field is good to outsource. If I were to hire someone in the US, it will be very expensive. But when you hire someone internationally, US money holds a lot of weight,” she said.
“I just met the people and I happen to met this wonderful husband and wife, the wife Illustrator has been typesetting so we’ve been working together as a team, every clan I get a children book goes to them. Every client I get who has to format the book goes to them, and in return, you know if by chance they would have a client that came directly to them and that person is having an issue with making the book he will refer them to me. So it’s just a matter of me, letting them know, Hey, I’m going to be doing the best selling campaign on this day,” she said.
Rodney’s approach to new clients is also international, as her colleagues also refer potential authors to her. Through the use on modern technology, she is able to connect and advise these authors on their work all the way through publication to promotion.
“I will initiate and we start another discovery session. That is usually done through Zoom. So it allows me to service people anywhere in the world once they can afford it. And we set up that that first consultative free then I’ll hear about the book, and then I’ll talk to them. I’ll give them insight. I’m very passionate about what I do in this space. And I’m not just someone who’s gonna take anybody book that they say that they wrote and publish it,’ she said, explaining that tips and suggestions to rework books are often shared between her and her clients before the decision to publish is made, said Rodney.
As of January, she had successfully published 30 clients, of which, Rodney said, 24 became listed on the top 100 on Amazon.
