We recently had the chance to connect with Mary Jo Smith-Obolensky and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mary Jo, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I have a small publishing company (Smith-Obolensky Media) as a DBA of my corporate translations company, which focuses on the fiction and nonfiction writings of Ivan Obolensky. It started when we couldn’t find a traditional publisher to accept his debut novel, Eye of the Moon. I felt strongly that it couldn’t remain in a drive—it was meant to be shared. I had been running my company for 22 years and applied a similar business model to this new endeavor.
The publishing industry has gone through many changes, some of them very fundamental- for example, being a “published author” originally meant that you were quite successful. You had been selected by one of the “big 5” publishing houses, had turned over the rights to your work, been given an advance on future sales, and had a contract for more books. The publisher also provided marketing and publicity support.
Nowadays, anyone can write a “book”, without care to craft or polish, and upload it to Amazon, where they will have zero support. The support industry that has grown to fill that need can be a money pit, and it is riddled with false promises and fake premises. Many schemes offer an author instant success and visibility, and many small “publishing houses” charge a small fortune to print your book. They acquire the ISBN in the process, which means the copyrights are turned over to them. In today’s publishing world, marketing, sales, publicity, and promotion are left to the author, who is not educated enough in the area and can subsequently fall prey to the many programs that only promise success by investing in training they offer. It is a treacherous time for authors who want to independently publish. The biggest misunderstanding is thinking that if you are published, you are successful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Becoming a successful writer is so much more than that. It requires personal investment on many levels, and a terrific commitment. Real success starts with having a unique talent that has been honed into a craft. Then you need a team, even if small, to support the publishing of the work and then the follow-through to make it known and successful.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We have a small (3 person) family business. Each of us has learned to create, make progress within the framework of our lives in the ways we want to experience it, while we work on our mission. We are big advocates of literature and literacy as each of the team members were outliers who found their initial tribe through the world of books.
Illiteracy is a passionate subject to me – when I was very young, I became aware of the violence of illiteracy when I discovered that our housekeeper had paid for medicine that was a “sample, and not for sale” using her weekly earnings. My mother severely reprimanded her. The housekeeper confessed that she could not read or write. She didn’t understand what the label said. I realized then that I, too, could not read or write. So, when I was 4 and started first grade, every day, after school, the housekeeper and I would sit at the small table in her room, and I would teach her what I had learned at school. Very quickly we both learned the basics of how to read and write. What a joy that was! Both of us understood more and felt less lost.
A lot of people think literacy means simply knowing how to read and write. It is more than that. Literacy is greatly influenced by the volume of reading and studying one has done, as well as through connecting various subjects to form a deep personal understanding. My business promotes reading at all levels, and a future goal is to create educational books and videos based on the many themes that Ivan writes about.
Ivan’s novels were also translated into Latin-American Spanish, increasing our reach into that huge market of people, who are known to read a high volume of books. That has also shown us that his messages are universal and can connect with many cultures.
We are working on two nonfiction books by Ivan while he also writes the fourth book in the Eye of the Moon series. We also work on social media to signal that we are here. For that, we create positive messages to share knowledge from many people and cultures. We create our own business, live our lives and care for our relationships. An important outreach we did last year was to participate in local fairs and markets. There, we had a chance to meet and engage with many readers. It was thrilling. These are the folks we work hard for; this is the tribe to which we contribute. It was a vital step in reconnecting with our mission in real time.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
My emphasis on quality control and discipline came from my mother, a single mom herself. I grew up watching her teaching, translating, and interpreting at an international level. She was also a writer, a poet, a potter—extremely creative. I grew up with dictionaries and lived an environment of literature, both in English and Spanish. My mother had a vast and fascinating library at home, which I avidly read in my youth. She had tremendous discipline, resilience and belief in herself, which shaped my own work ethic.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Everyone is different and unique, but many are not yet paying attention to what you are observing and feeling. Your awareness and sensitivity are excellent assets that you will manage and embrace. You will eventually feel comfortable among other people and contribute to humanity in your own way.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
The cultural value I protect is in being able to think for oneself, to think critically, and to humbly keep learning while passing on what you know.
Reading promotes and develops the use of our imagination. When all our inflow is strictly in audiovisual form, like movies and TV series, one’s imagination and creativity are kidnapped. Reading is vital on so many levels, in both fiction and nonfiction. Offering support and opportunities to learn are what we put out to the world.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Allowing illiteracy to exist is the biggest error committed by our species. Of course, you can’t study if you are hungry or malnourished, but after that, it is patently wrong to allow anyone to live in the darkness and violence of illiteracy. In addition, many who have benefited from a good, basic education do not appreciate or take advantage of it. They remain illiterate on some level. It is frustrating and sad to witness. Also, having the privilege of knowing something significant and having an education makes everyone a potential teacher. Such gifts need to be shared with others. How one lives also sets an example and indirectly teaches. Our choices are important in the overall scheme. Everything we do counts. It all matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://smithobolenskymedia.com/
- Instagram: @smithobolenskymedia
- Linkedin: @mjddi
- Facebook: @smithobolenskymedia
- Youtube: @smithobolenskymedia9015
- Other: Visit our author’s social media on Facebook and Instagram under @ivanobolenskyofficial and Facebook’s “Eye of the Moon” series page @ivanoauthor
Image Credits
[This is only for the professional headshot where Mary Jo is wearing a black shirt] Kiko Studios
