Flower Publishing will get your name in print
Almost all members of the Kardashian-Jenner household have one. Snookie’s got four. Lauren Conrad, inexplicably, has eight of them. A counterintuitive trend is clear: celebrity begets book deals.
If you’ve ever had hopes of publishing a book, you must have heard that you should make yourself at least somewhat famous. Start a blog and gather a following, pull a public stunt, or just do something newsworthy. First create your celebrity, and publications — with guaranteed sales from your fan-base — will follow.
This makes sense to publishers; not all publishers are created equal, however. Flower Publishing Press operates with a refreshing, almost idealistic, philosophy.
“It’s not about how much you will be paid, it’s about people reading your art,” explained Maryann Hayatian. A Concordia creative writing graduate, Hayatian grew frustrated with publishing houses and the typical wave of rejections that first-time authors usually ride.
“I’m a Montrealer; imagine being rejected from the place you were born and raised in. I [even] wanted to work at a publishing company. They didn’t hire me, even [though] I have the education and experience. So I told myself ‘who needs people that are like this. I will open my own publishing company.’”
Hayatian did just that. In 2011 she started Flower Publishing, and started printing. “[The] first book I published … I stayed up late at nights … It was a children’s Christmas book and ready for Christmas. It was successful. The authors [Pierre Fiset and Damiano Ferraro] were on CTV with Mitsumi Takahashi. They were at Chapters, at school readings … Everyone wanted to know who Flower Publishing was.”
This publishing house doesn’t concern itself with who the writer is, nor what language they write in, just as long as they believe in their art. Additionally, Hayatian’s arms are open to any writer that wants to hone their craft.
“[As a] writer myself, I understand what we go through to publish our writing … I opened my publishing company because I want to help writers out there get their writings published. I want to mentor them.”
Hayatian has taken it upon herself to do her utmost to see things through from beginning to end. She reiterates, impassioned with conviction: “I want to mentor my writers … They need support … [I want] to show them the right way to [evolve] from a writer to an author.”
Flower Publishing doesn’t turn first-time, inexperienced authors away, for Hayatian does not believe that any writer’s voice should be quelled. Instead, she fosters their talents. “When I see a … manuscript [with] so much potential but still needs more work to publish, I don’t reject them. I tell them what … to correct,” said Hayatian. “I make sure they learn … and when their manuscript is ready, I publish. I don’t reject … I know how it feels.”
To know more about Flower Publishing, visit flowerpublishing.ca or facebook.com/flowerpublisher.
