Though Rose Jackson-Beavers is now the publisher of St. Louis American Sports Editor Earl Austin Jr. and some 20 other authors, she started Priority Books Publications, LLC in 2004 for nobody but herself.
“I wanted to publish my own work, and I didn’t want people to reject me,” she said.
“I wanted to publish whenever and whatever I wanted. It was a selfish desire for me.”
Indeed, she has published her own work – Backroom Confessions, Sumthin’ T’ Say and A Hole in My Heart, which she co-authored with Edward Booker.
She was later introduced to Austin by the first two writers other than herself she published, Lydia Douglas and Carletta Washington.
“I met Earl at a book signing about a year ago and was introduced by other authors under our umbrella,” she said.
Austin was then signing copies of his book The PHL in the STL.
“I was giving him strategies for how to sell his book,” she said.
“I told him to do as much marketing as possible. Get it into book stores. Notify people. Tell relatives in other cities – don’t limit yourself to the St. Louis market. Try to get into book clubs.”
They began to work together officially after Austin discussed his new book with her, You Might Need a Jacket: Hilarious Stories of Wacky Sports Parents, based on his popular feature series in The American about adults who take the sporting events of youth a little too seriously.
“It was just exciting to sit in my office and hear these stories,” she said. “It cracked me up. A lot of it was familiar to me.”
The office in question is her home in Florissant. Though she said of her business, “We do well,” it remains something she does at home on evenings at weekends.
She continues to work full-time as Youth and Family director at Grace Hill’s Larry Parker Business Development Center. She also runs a non-profit, The Family Enhancement Center, which educates parents in how to partner with the school system to further their children’s education.
She grew up in East St. Louis and graduated from East St. Louis Senior High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from Illinois State University and a master’s degree in public administration from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. She also has worked as a newspaper columnist and still reviews books for the East St. Louis Monitor.
She continues to work outside of her publishing company, she said, because she didn’t want to go into debt to support Priority Books. However, she said, “We have made a nice profit and our authors do sell well and they do get royalty checks.”
She said her company’s best-selling books – in the 5-10,000 book range – are Ghetto Love by Mary L. Wilson, Finding Forever by Keisha Ervin, Stepping Stones to Success by Lydia Douglas and her own book, A Hole in My Heart.
Priority Books offers two kinds of contracts – one for self-published authors, where she serves mostly a marketing function, and a more traditional publishing contract where her company acquires rights to the title.
“It is amazing when you publish someone who thought they would never get published,” she said.
“As you put their book in their hand, you get a rush of emotion. And it’s the best feeling you can get.”
Her daughter Adeesha Beavers, who is now 20, has seen her mother’s power as a publisher at work.
“I used to tell my daughter when people meet their goals, it’s like a rush. People start screaming and get excited,” Jackson-Beavers said.
“She went with me so I can give this young man his book before it came out on Amazon. She saw the guy running down the street hollering and screaming. And my daughter started crying.”
Contact Priority Books Publications at 314-306-2972 or via www.prioritybooks.com.