Today we’d like to introduce you to Avery Washington.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was an only child born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana in a single-parent home with my mother Diana Washington. She would always have books of poetry lying around the house along with many other great reads. As an only child, I found reading very comforting and would read for hours. After graduating from high school, I moved to Houston, TX to attend Texas Southern University with a major in the administration of justice. God had a different plan for me, and I realized that one Sunday sitting in church. The church pastor spoke about innate gifts that we are all blessed with to be used as blessings for others. He began to say, “When we get student loans from the government, if we don’t pay it back the government takes it back so maybe God needs to take back the innate gifts from those of us who are not using these gifts to bless others with.” At that moment, I felt he was speaking directly to me. I heard two voices in my head while I was sitting in church. One voice told me, “Avery, you need to go to the Shadow Bar Poetry Lounge hosted by Se7en The Poet in downtown Houston, TX, and share your gift of writing poetry with the people.” The other voice said to me, “Avery, you know the football playoffs are on today. Maybe you need to just go home, relax, and watch football.” Even though I was an introvert and was not used to public speaking, I listened to the first voice that told me to go out and share my poetry. I have always had a passion and love for family, so the majority of my writing was based on family advocacy. After sharing my poetry on stage in front of a large crowd many people began to applaud and encourage me to continue speaking my truth. They shared that their hearts were touched positively, and they looked forward to hearing more of my poetry.
I started thinking more about my legacy and wanted to leave my work in print for my family, so I began to research book publishing. During my research, I found that many authors were being taken advantage of by so-called self-publishing companies and were not making any money at all from their efforts in writing. Some of them were even paying publishing companies to publish their writings and still ended up not making a profit. This didn’t make sense to me. I could not understand why would someone create work, pay someone else to publish it and then allow the publisher to own the rights to the work that they have created. It made more sense to me to start my own publishing company, and that’s what I did. I founded Happie Publishing in 2009 and began publishing and owning all the rights to my work. Owning the rights to your work also gives you complete control to do whatever you want whenever you want with your work.
‘Just Speaking My Mind: Spoken Word Poetry Vol.1’ was the first book I published under my company Happie Publishing. This book is a powerful collection of heartfelt and thought-provoking poems. As my family grew larger, I began to focus on writing more inspirational writings to help build self-love, self-confidence, and self-knowledge for my three daughters. ‘Letters to My Daughters: Poetic Affirmations of Love from A Father’ was my second book, and I wrote this book to teach my daughters to embrace the love of God and self so that they would never in life desperately seek love from a man or anyone else. This book is filled with love affirmations that many of daughters need and deserve to hear daily. ‘Letters to My Daughters’ also was the book that catapulted me to receive national exposure. When writing this book, I was focusing directly on the love I have for my daughters, but God showed me again that the blessing of my writing would reach far beyond the hearts of my daughters. At book signing events and radio interviews, some adult women would shed tears and express to me that they wish they had a father in their lives to give them the love affirmations that I was sharing with my daughters in the book. They would go on to express that maybe they wouldn’t have experienced a lot of heartache and pain from relationships if a father was there to give them those love affirmations daily. Writing ‘Letters to My Daughters’ allowed me to speak at the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP National Convention in 2018.
‘Mother: A Heartfelt Poetic Tribute Celebrating Single Mothers’ is the third book I published to pay homage to my mother and all single mothers who made great sacrifices to care for and provide for their children. I wanted to make sure that I showed love and appreciation to my mother for all that she has done for me and also encourage those who sometimes don’t feel the appreciation and love that they are deserving of. ‘Legacy’ is the fourth book I published. This book is the second edition of ‘Letters to My Daughters.’ The reason why I wrote a second edition was due to the information shared by so many adult women on their experiences of receiving or not receiving love affirmations from a father. ‘A Love Letter to Our Beautiful Black Women’ is the fifth book I published. This book is dedicated to my wife to express my undying love for her and also written to reassure black women that the love, respect, and desire black men have for black women is still alive today. ‘Break Through: Featuring Avery Washington’ is my sixth book and the first and only book that I have co-authored thus far. I had the honor of co-authoring this book with the legendary motivational speaker Les Brown and others. I gained a lot of motivation from the speeches of Les Brown as a youth and writing a book with him was an amazing experience. My chapter in ‘Break Through’ is Connecting With Your Soul. I explain that once we connect with the desires of our soul we truly connect with our passion and purpose in life, thus bringing us to our breakthrough.
‘Over-Sexualization of Black Women in America’ is my seventh book to date. Black women have been dehumanized through sexual objectification in the United States of America for hundreds of years and are still being degraded to this very day. The history behind this needs to be shared with the world so that the negative untruths about the black woman can be dispelled and our young women will understand the media, news, music, and television are tools used to take away her intelligence, respect, strength, beauty, and self-pride in which she innately owns.
I’m blessed to say that all of my books have reached the bestsellers list and continue to touch lives. I also consult other aspiring authors on how to start their publishing companies and become bestselling authors.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. I believe my road to becoming a successful publisher and author was already paved by God. I just had to be obedient to his steps and follow. I’m not chasing fame or fortune with my gift of writing. I’m truly living in my passion and purpose by using the innate gift God has blessed me with to be a blessing to others. My joy comes from knowing without a doubt that I was placed here on earth to do exactly what I’m doing. I will continue to follow God’s path and enjoy the journey.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Happie Publishing?
Happie Publishing was founded in 2009 by Avery Washington
I specialize in consulting aspiring authors to start their own publishing companies and become bestselling authors.
Happie Publishing is known for publishing books that inspire, empower, educate, and spread love throughout our communities.
My proud moments are speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP National Convention and publishing books that positively impact the people in our communities.
I want readers to know that Happie Publishing is here to consult aspiring authors to help their publishing dreams become a reality.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Whenever we involve ourselves in a profession, skill, or craft it is very important to learn as much as possible about it. Research and gaining extensive knowledge were key to me starting my publishing company, publishing quality books, and becoming a bestselling author. I also had a mentor in the publishing industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://averywashington.com
- Instagram: @authoraverywashington
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/averywashington
- Twitter: @AuthorAveryWash
