Success Story Vickie Stringer has both the street cred--she named her publishing house after her former drug crew--and the suburban home.
A selection of Triple Crown books. At the bottom is the CEO's first nonfiction work.
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How I Did It: Vickie Stringer, CEO Triple Crown Publications
Published May 2006
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BUY A REPRINTManuscripts started coming in from all over, so I began signing up writers and publishing their books. I trust my instincts and look at each book as an investment. Even as we grow, I still give nearly all manuscripts the 50-page test, which tells me if I care about the characters and if they're true to the streets. I don't care where they come from or in what form, be it handwritten, riddled with typos and misspellings, or banged out on a rickety-rackety old typewriter. I love getting submissions from prison because they're based on nothing but hope.
I'm committed to our model of signing unknown writers at a lower fee and then helping them move on to bigger publishing houses. My advances range from $5,000 to $25,000 and the authors get a 10 percent royalty rate, which is about $1.50 per book. It's easier to work with writers when they're excited and don't have the ego.
One of my authors, T.N. Baker, asked me to handle her jump to one of the big publishing houses. I figured I had read enough contracts, so I did it. I have now represented nine writers with contracts valued at over a million dollars.
Triple Crown is like Motown, when they were hot back in the day; the name guarantees it will be a bestseller. I presell 10,000 copies of every book before galleys are even printed. I've been offered imprints by big publishing houses and $3 million to sell the company outright. I could never sell Triple Crown. If it crashes, I want to be on the plane.
"I do not glamorize crime. I lost everything, and I want single moms to realize they don't have to get caught up in the drug game."
Yes, all Triple Crown books have some combination of sex, drugs, money, and murder, and we have a lot of teenage readers, but I don't worry about the subjects in the books. It's not like a rap video, which makes an impression because it's visual and only two minutes long. Our books have depth and background, and it takes time to get through 80,000 words and think about what you're reading. Redemption is a big theme of our books, and these are cautionary tales. I do not glamorize a life of crime. I lost everything, and I want single moms out there to realize they don't have to get caught up in the drug game. At Triple Crown, characters that don't change end up dead or in jail.
I became an international businesswoman last year. A Japanese publisher flew me over to sign a deal for the distribution of 10 Triple Crown titles. Hip-hop is universal. I think all those kids over there want to be black. It's the same with the privileged kids at Valen's private school wearing hip-hop gear. But don't worry, you don't have to go to the 'hood; we'll bring the 'hood to you.
In the streets, my crew was the Triple Crown posse and we used to take trips to the Kentucky Derby. Now the name Triple Crown is amazing to me because it means that I beat the odds. If you are walking right, God is a restorer. I'm just thankful He gave me the chance to change my legacy.
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