In this segment of the Elder’s Ledger, I thought I’d speak a bit about the origins and grass roots of our publishing company, DeeClare Publishing, LLC. I am the Co-founder and my daughter, Deneen Matthews is the Editor-in-chief.
DeeClare began when I called my daughter and told her that I wanted to write a book. She indicated that if I wrote it, she would publish it. DeeClare, in itself is the manifestation of it’s priorities of God, family and community. Through prayer and diligence, DeeClare Publishing, LLC and it’s first published work, Jacob’s Rite of Passage was born.
Jacob’s Rite of Passage — initially intended to be a novel, then emerged into a three part series — a trilogy, with subtitles that labeled each: Young Jacob, Teen Jacob, The Man Jacob. Though the trilogy is the story of a male child, it is loaded with practical lessons that the entire family will enjoy. While we interviewed with Earl Morgan two weeks ago, questions continued to emerge about the plight of black males. This is a great book for black male children as well, as it is narrated from that point of view of the main character, Jacob.
The priorities of the village also became more evident as we began to market and share our vision. The mission statement of DeeClare ties in our commitment to God, Family, Community and bridges our desire to make an impact in our village.
Our Mission: To publish literary works that reinforce the foundation and priorities of God, family and community. Through all creative avenues of written expression, we aim to touch individual lives that shape families, reclaim our communities, and impact nations.
We restructured our publishing model, with the intention to provide cost-effective publishing options for up and coming writers, and encourage entrepreneurship through self-publishing. Our slogan is “ Publishing with the Success of the Writer in Mind.”
We have also plotted out a fundraising program with our children’s book to promote a “sharing the wealth concept, ” where we split the profits earned through hosting book sales, in order to create avenues of income to support the financial demands of inner-village programs and efforts. Sales from the books we publish internally, help us to substantiate our mission.
Although DeeClare is a business, our goal isn’t solely to make money, but to create a model that will help fuel the collective needs of our community. We not only blog about the ideals of reclaiming the village, but work to include them in our business practices.
Just like any other business, support is needed in order to see the vision come to pass. Collectively, we can do more than any of us alone. The published works in our bookstore are reasonably priced and of great value to those who read them. We hope you will visit the bookstore and purchase titles, tell others and invest in the mission, the vision…
Our bookstore is located at http://www.deeclarepublishing.com/publ/index.php/bookshop
If you are interested in our publishing services, please reach out to the editor: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
If you have a group or organization in need of fundraising, call or email us at 888 350 9721 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Til next week. Tune in again for more though provoking ideas.
Clarence V. Matthews
The Elder's Ledger
Reclaiming the Village, One Topic at a Time
DeeClare Publishing, LLC is one of the proud sponsors of The Earl Morgan Hour, aired by Go Pro Radio, a community-focused online radio show with thought provoking topics, and local guest interviews.
TUNE IN EVERY WEDNESDAY at 7:00pm at www.blogtalkradio.com/theearlmorganhour.
The blog post this week is directed toward the consumers, yes, the customers. We have a tendency to be very hard on the merchants in our community. We place more stringent rules and guidelines for patronage on our local merchants than on the larger stores and mall merchants we often frequent.
Keeping in step with the stated theme of "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child," and the appropriated action to "Reclaim the Village," I believe we must look at the inner workings of the village and take proper action, yes, the necessary steps to arrive at our desired outcome.