A Look Back At Phase One of Hollis House…and a Sneak Peek at Phase Two
Since forming Hollis House, LLC May 2019, the vision I had for my business has constantly been evolving. What started off as a micro-publishing company to house all of my different pen names that I wanted to write under turned into a growing media company that not only produces books, but also films and podcasts. I am so grateful for the people and friends who have transformed Hollis House into what it is now.
Hollis House would not have existed had it not been for a period of rejection. I had written a young adult novel that I was really proud of, and I decided to query it to possibly obtain a literary agent. That didn’t happen, and I was prepared to shelve a manuscript I had worked very hard on for close to a decade. Then, after consulting with other writer-friends and finding out that some of the authors I loved were actually self-published, I decided to forgo the traditional route and, as corny as it sounds, take destiny into my own hands. My thinking process was: if I love this story, someone else will, too. And why should I put the value of my art into the hands of a gatekeeper?
Independent publishing is constantly evolving, and the idea of learning not only how to write and package a book, but also how to market it excited me (granted, also terrified me). I knew this was going to be a trial and error process, but I was in it for the long haul. One of the authors I admired had her own micro-publishing company, and so I decided to create one too. The process seemed simple enough, but the real challenge for me was figuring out what to name my company. I didn’t want my company to start and end with me. I want it to grow into something much, much bigger than my own name—so naming it with a variation of my own name was out of the question.
The naming process involved reflecting on my own journey with writing, and because I knew at the time that I was going to be moving out of my childhood home, I decided to pay homage to it. I remembered being a young girl writing stories on my PC, designing the covers and having my classmates read them. I remembered listening to my carefully curated playlist and dreaming of stories and scenes featuring my diverse array of characters. Having lived in Hollis, Queens my entire life, it was inevitable that this place shaped my identity. So Hollis House it was going to be.
Then, the pandemic hit.
I began hosting virtual watch parties with my friends, and one of them decided we should turn our long talks into a podcast. I had no idea how podcasts were made, or how they were distributed, but I loved researching and figuring things out, and on May 25, 2020, Kwento-Kwento Podcast was born.
Still, lockdown and quarantine allotted for a great amount of free time. As I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw that someone was making a film entirely on Zoom, and I thought it would be fun if my friends and I did the same. I reached out to my friend Cesar, and he agreed to help produce the film. I got to work and wrote Quarantine, Actually over the course of two weeks. Filming my first feature film with zero directing and filmmaking experience was definitely a challenge in and of itself—top it off with filming it in the middle of a pandemic. But all of our hard work paid off and we won Best First Feature at the Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival in 2022.
After producing Quarantine, Actually with my friend Marisa, we talked a lot about publishing a children’s book written in dedication to her grandfather. I didn’t plan on publishing other authors’ work at the time but I did want to make sure Marisa’s tribute came to fruition and in April 2021, Grandpa’s Our Hero, the first Hollis House illustrated picture book was published.
In the same month, Hollis House’s resident romance author Milena Sy published her debut novel Keep Me.
It’s no secret that I love books. I wanted to have an outlet to talk about everything books (and movies!). June 2022, the It’s Okay To Buy Another Book! podcast released its first episode.
Hollis House in Phase One
In all honesty, I have not been working on Hollis House duties to the extent that I wanted to due to working on my second masters degree. Now that I’m finished with all that, I finally have the leeway to go all out on Hollis House, and thus begin PHASE TWO.
To lead off Phase Two, my second film, Softly, With Feeling will be filmed and completed by the end of this year. I am so excited for this short thriller film to finally come to life, and am currently in pre-production with it. Kwento-Kwento Podcast will finally get its own website, as well as It’s Okay to Buy Another Book. My goal for these two podcasts is to make it to (at least) 100 episodes, to release episodes more regularly, and to build their community.
Since Hollis House was built on books, I want this next phase to be thriving with books. I am pleased to be publishing SONATA by Rishire Young and a short story collection from Sidorela Lleshi. SONATA will be published late summer 2024, and Sidorela’s short story collection will be coming out by the end of this year. Milena Sy will also be publishing regularly and we hope to build a core group of romance enthusiasts. I will also be publishing my second novel, with more news on that coming soon! After publishing my second novel, I will then publish Hollis House’s second children’s book, based on my cat!
And with that, I am super excited to be announcing our very first imprint: MAHALAGA Press. Our new imprint will focus on publishing non-fiction, memoir, and poetry. We will first begin with an editorial website with everything you need to live a precious life. That website will be launching Spring 2024. I have so many plans for Mahalaga that I will keep under wraps for now, but expect that news during our launch of Phase Three.
For my own personal interests and childhood dream of having my own radio station, I am also looking forward to the launch of Hollis House’s own radio station. For that, I will be acquiring additional podcasts (more on that soon).
And that pretty much sums up Phase Two of Hollis House! I am extremely grateful for your support over the years (and if you’re new here: welcome!). We all have to start somewhere, and I’m keeping positive that one day Hollis House will evolve into something beyond my wildest dreams. And it’s all due to your support!
