Herve Fanini Lemoine is an entrepreneur and the founder of Kiskeya Publishing, a company that publishes fiction and nonfiction books in French and English. Born in Haiti, Lemoine left for Canada in his late teens. After attending McGill University and Concordia University, in that country, Lemoine made the move to the United States in the early 1980s, and chose to settle in Florida.

After having worked as a realtor for most of his life, the entrepreneur decided to launch the Kiskeya Foundation, a learning center for Haitian culture and history. Fanini Lemoine says that he’s proud that the nonprofit has been a leader in challenging the status quo and enlightening new facets to Haitian cultural and historical approaches.

In the early 2010s, the Miami Dade College graduate founded Kiskeya Publishing Co. The company has thus far published nearly two dozen titles.

What pushed you to start Kiskeya Publishing Co?
As many have done it in music by creating an independent label, I believed opening my own publishing company could make me more productive since self-publishing doesn’t require too much. If you can navigate around a word processor, and you are familiar with Photoshop, or a software alike, you can easily make a presentable book. In addition, self-publishing does not require a large inventory; on demand-printing let you print the quantity you need. That’s a huge saving. If I could do it for me, I could help others attain their dreams. With that thought in mind, I opened up Kiskeya Publishing. And the rest is history.

To those who’d like to publish a book with Kiskeya Publishing Co—what are your submission guidelines?
I suggest that you prepare your manuscript without any formatting, since we will have to format or reformat the text. And that you send a great full-size picture for your front-cover, as well as your own photograph for the author’s bio in the back cover.

What are some of the challenges that you encounter in running the company?
The most apparent challenge so far is in text editing. When you tell a client you will have a finish proof copy in four months, and you don’t get it, that can create a problem. To prevent that from happening, I would tell the client to expect a proof within six months instead of four.

What’s next for Kiskeya Publishing Co?
For the past two years that we’ve been in the business of publishing, we have published more than 20 titles. We are looking forward to expanding our service to the English speaking audience.

Were you an avid reader growing up?
I love to read. I won’t pretend that I am an avid reader; however, when I need an information, I will read as many book necessary to have a balance.

Out of all the books that you’ve published, which one, or rather which ones have been the best received by the book-buying public?
Face à Face autour de l’Identité Haïtienne [A Look at Haitian Identity] has sold the most copies, followed by Marie-Alice’s Novel, Tolérence Zero [Zero Tolerance].

What advice do you have for those who are contemplating becoming entrepreneurs?
I will have to use that expression: “KISS”: Keep It Simply Stupid! An entrepreneur needs to have vision knowledge, and skills. He or she will have to identify a market where those goods or services will sell. And, more importantly, en entrepreneur must believe he or she can make it.

Visit the website of Kiskeya Publishing Co HERE.

Yanatha Desouvre arrived from Haiti to the United States at the age of three, knowing very little English, but now he is a prolific author of books written in English, in every genre from poetry, to fiction, to a children’s book that he co-authored with his nearly five-year old daughter.

Raised partly in Brooklyn, New York and partly in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, Desouvre is a one-man publishing phenomenon, taking advantage of the electronic publishing platform, in addition to the traditional print medium to publish his works that also include an unconventional self-help book series “Walk Through the Journey”, as well as audio books.

He didn’t start out studying publishing formally. He attended Drexel University for his undergraduate studies and earned a dual degree in Management Information Systems and Marketing. Desouvre has since earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Lynn University. He’s currently working towards a doctorate degree in Education, which more than makes sense, considering the educational, personal improvement and empowerment aspects of the book and audio products he’s produced.

The author-entrepreneur-IT expert’s knowledge of computer systems has helped him considerably in integrating technology and publishing. Apart from his publishing endeavors, Desouvre is also a motivational speaker on the roster of the Quest Talent Agency, and he frequently lectures on self-development and personal growth.

Q & A

“My Heart Aches and I’m Trembling (Ayiti Cheri)” is a poem that you wrote.
I wrote “My Heart Aches and I’m Trembling (Ayiti Cheri)” the day after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. What inspired it? When it comes to writing poetry, for me, everything can be inspirational from the good, the bad and the ugly. I physically could not stop shaking the only thing I can do is write, it’s part of Walk Through this Journey: Volume 2, The Next Forward (Special Edition) excessively available on Lulu.com along with other books I’ve been fortunate to self-publish. It’s also in the mobile apps Proud Haitian/Proud to Be Haitian I created almost a year later for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPads and Android Devices. The apps were created for two reasons: one out of sense of defiance because I was passed up for a promotion and also for my beautiful children.

You have an MBA from Lynn University. Has that come in handy in the field of publishing?
The MBA from Lynn University helped me hone on my marketing and communication tactics to build on my digital footprint as an author.

Walk Through This Journey: Volume 2, The Next Step Forward is your latest book.
Walk Through This Journey: Volume 2 The Next Step Forward is the second part of the Journey Trilogy. The final Journey book will be titled Walk Through this Journey: Volume 3: Rising Above it All ; it will be a book that consists of essays and poems on how to turn tragedy into triumph. Having loved and lost and identifying ways to rise above it all as we all go through this journey called life. My most recent book was A Family Affair: Inspirational Short Stories and Poetry about Family and Faith now available on Lulu.com, amazon.com and Apple’s iTunes store. I plan to also have an audiobook for all the books as well. Currently Volume 1 has a audiobook on iTunes.

Do you remember the first book you read that made an impression on you?
S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders. It reminded of the trouble we all can get into with our friends and that real friends stick with you through the end. The Purpose Driven Life book is a book I highly recommend everyone to read.

What’s next for you in terms of books?
I am working on my first non-creative book Life is About Purpose (Not Position) A Guide to Actionable and Effective Leadership —Fall 2013. Then my first kids book titled Big Sister, Little Sister mostly written by my four and a half-year-old daughter. I figured if she could write it, she can read it and hopefully other kids her age can do the same. Half of the profits from the book will go to a literacy program. In the process of looking for one now.

What advice do you have for those who want to get into publishing?
The self-publishing route, which Apple recently featured on their iTunes store, is the best way to go, because the companies are out there like Lulu, Authorhouse, Createspace—a division of Amazon.com—and much more. Subscribe to a magazine like Poets and Writers for amazing resources. Do not chase agents they will come to you. E-books are outselling printed books, so do not let get left behind. Definitely copyright your work as manuscript through copyright.gov. Make sure you have an editor and be ready to several calls to your local libraries, bookstores to doing readings from your book however get ready to be rejected. See the challenge of rejections as an opportunity for growth and inspiration.

Your undergraduate degree is in technology. Did you initially want to be a writer?
I wanted to be lawyer—thanks to Kenneth Murphy—who gave me my first job at 16 years old at a law firm he worked in. I also wanted to compose music for films when I was younger, however my technology hobby became more than a hobby. For sixteen years now I’ve worked as an IT professional, currently creating mobile apps and much more. I have a passion to empower others. It just happens I am fortunate enough to do this through the IT work I do and hopefully my writings. When it came to writing a book, I did not want to do it because my older brother, Steiman Desouvre, was the first to publish a book called Sole Songs also available on Amazon. I did not want to follow my brothers’ footsteps. The entrepreneur in me wanted to create my own path. It was Jason Fleurant, a phenomenal artist, whom I first befriended on MySpace around 2006. I posted several blogs of my poetry [on that social network] and was humbled by all the subscribers and feedback I received from all [over] the world from China to Costa Rica, [and Fleurant asked] when is the book coming out. Thanks to Jason asking that question and the demand was there for my very personal poems that have universal themes of friends, love, lost, family and faith, as the female emcee Rapsody says the “rest is the future.”

You can visit Yanatha Desouvre’s web page here .

Visit the author’s Facebook page here.