ElevatedWaves Publishing Turns 4 Today!

Four years ago today, ElevatedWaves Publishing Corporation was established only to produce the written publications of my work. My second book “Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself” became the first official book published under ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp. This is how I coined my Instagram brand name @CultivatingMinds_. I had decided to establish my own publishing house because I grew tired of being cheated out of my royalties and rights with my first title, “How Success Became My Focus” which was under contract with a New York City Publisher at the time, who did nothing to assist me with getting my book out there. I had no creative control or say so about the book. They literally just took my money, threw my written words on a few pages, slapped my cover on it and sent me on my way with their publishing stamp on the back of my book cover.

Whenever I needed copies of my How Success Became My Focus for author events, I had to contact the publisher in order to do so and when I did, they charged me ridiculous print prices which prevented me from making a profit off my work at my events. I often made the money back I spent on ordering print copies of my work. In terms of royalty payments, I recall receiving a dollar back per book sold from the company and they wouldn’t release royalty checks unless I grossed over $100 in sales. Which meant for every $100 I made, the company made at least $1000. I was getting robbed badly and I wanted out.

I knew in my heart I had dreams of writing more books and knew that I wanted to have full creative control of my work and receive all of the royalties owed to me. So I got to work, learning the self-publishing industry the best I could and applying the knowledge obtained to establish ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp. While writing Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself, I was working to establish ElevatedWaves Publishing as it’s official publishing house.

In 2017, I released the first edition of Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself to major book retailers. After a successful book launch event, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the first edition as I pretty much was rushing to meet the book launch deadline, overlooking the important details of producing a successful book. Being new to the industry of book publishing in terms of cover appearance, editing, page design, marketing and so much more, I didn’t know what it took to produce a great quality book for my readers’ market. I was just excited to get it out. I learned quickly what I needed to do in order to produce a quality book with a quality cover after being shoved out of the doors of schools, bookstores and libraries when I made proposals. So I took action. I pulled Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself from the market, got the cover and interior pages re-designed and published it as a second edition. With the new cover design and the new knowledge I had acquired about successfully marketing my book to schools, bookstores and libraries, it was only a matter of time before I was booked for author appearances and for my book sales to skyrocket.

The second edition of Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself, along with myself, gained local, regional, national and international attention in 2018 all with the work of establishing ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp., as my own independent publishing house. Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself and I were featured at several book retailers such as Barnes & Noble, high schools, middle schools, universities, community organizations, local, regional, national and international book expositions, community events, radio shows and much more. The recognition and achievements I received with the 2nd edition of Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself was what I was looking to receive with my New York City publisher but they just wanted my money and nothing more.

Applying my publishing knowledge and marketing skills from Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself, I began working on my third book titled, “In Between These Sheets.” In Between These Sheets was a hit out of the gate with the highly creative advertising and marketing campaigns I used to attract its target audiences, along with the sold out 2019 Pajama Jam and book unveil I hosted for its launch here in Cleveland, Ohio After the successful launch of In Between These Sheets, I contacted my New York City publisher and terminated my contract. I requested all of my files and for them to remove How Success Became My Focus from the market. Upon completion of the termination agreement contract, I made some minor changes to How Success Became My Focus, added my new ElevatedWaves Publishing stamp on the back cover and published it as a second edition under ElevatedWaves Publishing.

The success of Cultivating Minds To Own Thyself, In Between These Sheets How Success Became My Focus, and the growth of ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp., had gained the attention of new writers who were interested in working with me to produce work of their own. As I mentioned earlier, ElevatedWaves Publishing was only established to produce my own work, so at this time, I had no idea what it took to publish other writers, nor did I have the means or resources. So I took action.

I went to the drawing board and reflected on my experiences as a new author under the direction of a company who didn’t give me the results that I wanted. I reflected on what I liked and didn’t like about my publishing experience, what worked and didn’t work and what I learned about the publishing industry. Shortly thereafter, I created a self-publishing masterclass and publishing services based on my experiences for new and seasoned writers. I then generated publishing assistance contracts for new writers to publish under their own brand such as I have done with my own work. My masterclasses and author seminars have featured writers from all over the world.

Today, ElevatedWaves Publishing is a privately owned, non-traditional publishing house, that produces publications designed to add value to, and to empower the minds of others. ElevatedWaves Publishing plays several roles in bringing new writers print and electronic media publications to market, participating in areas such as manuscript acquisition, editorial development, book production and marketing. ElevatedWaves Publishing enjoys assisting new and seasoned authors with turning their completed manuscripts into published books, maintaining 100% ownership of their work, publishing rights and receiving 100% of their author royalties. ElevatedWaves Publishing also provides professional business communication services, photography, videography, graphic design and much more.

ElevatedWaves Publishing is Where Creativity and Positivity Breathes.

I am proud to announce that ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp., has a new author, Nee Nee Marie who published her new novel, “Tears of A Hummingbird” under our brand. Tears of A Hummingbird was launched on June 25, 2021 along with my fourth book, “Completely Naked.” Together we brought out over a 100 guests for an evening Celebration of Black Excellence in honor of our published work, professional and personal accomplishments. It was an extravagant celebration event. One we, as well as our guests will remember for a lifetime.

ElevatedWaves Publishing is in partnership with Kya Publishing Canada and the Toronto Urban Book Expo. I currently sit as a board member for their board of directors. ElevatedWaves Publishing has sold hundreds and hundreds of our own books in just a short period of time and have assisted nearly ten authors with publishing their book under their own company. Two of them includes; Michael Blair – “Where My Falcons At?” and Chanitta Westbrooks – “Monte Takes The Lead.”

Happy 4 Year Anniversary to ElevatedWaves Publishing Corporation.

This 4th year anniversary year of ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp., we are set to publish:

Lewis Burt’s, I Still Can’t Breathe 400 Years Later along with his book Save The Black Man

J’ior Princeton’s – “Fight My Journey”

Kertisha Brabson’s – “In A Blurr”

And hopefully several others.

We are also set to prepare my fifth book, “Sex-Esteem” for publication in February 2023.

Thank you to all of my family, friends, readers, fans, and supporters for investing your time, energy, and money into the success of ElevatedWaves Publishing Corp., our books, events, and our writers. We wouldn’t be here without you all. Please support our work and the work of those who we had the pleasure of working with in honor of our 4th birthday.