Meet Danielle LaVon of To Dee Moon Publishing
I was going through a time in my life where I needed direction. I had recently lost my daughter in a car accident, and I was trying to figure out how to navigate through life without her. I quit my job and started writing, and I was trying to get organized so I bought a planner to help me. I ended up buying three different planners that didn’t quite help me with what I needed. So I decided to create my own. The idea was initially just for me to design my own planner, but after a few friends saw mine, they encouraged me to publish it. I searched for help but eventually published it myself, thus establishing my own publishing company, To Dee Moon Publishing. People started coming to me for advice and help when they wanted to publish their own projects. I helped a few but never for profit. Then in 2018 two friends encouraged me to actually pursue this as a business. One of those friends, Deletria Battle, became my business partner and is a vital part of the company. Together we have been publishing since 2018. I have published over 10 books and four planners. This year I released my first novel, The DeeTales: Hindsight is 2020.
It has had its ups and downs. I have learned many lessons, not only about business but also about myself. I have always proclaimed to be a Wonder Woman, but starting this publishing company has taught me so much about myself. I have learned when to outsource and how to delegate tasks to others. I learned how to implement systems that prevent me from taking on too much at once. I have learned that it’s important to focus on particular genres, and in the process, I learned which ones I prefer to focus on.
I run a publishing company that helps independent authors navigate through the publishing process. I offer various services to accommodate the author’s needs, from simple editing to social media branding and marketing. My main goal is to focus on fiction novels.
I define success when I learn from the goals I set. This may not always be a lesson in which I met my goal, but sometimes I learn so much more about myself and business when my plans don’t go as planned. Sometimes the journey is much more rewarding than the actual destination. I always tell my authors we generally go into a project thinking about how much we are going to change the world. However, sometimes we end up changing ourselves. That is my definition of success.
