Hallmark Diversity

It is probably a fairly safe venture to state that when it comes to the Hallmark Network and Company, I tend to wholeheartedly support and promote practically everything associated with Hallmark. When it was announced this past summer that Hallmark was going to begin publishing books, I thought that was a fantastic idea, and I knew I wanted to do all I could to assist them in this new endeavor. Since Stacey Donovan is the director of Hallmark Publishing, I was honored to be able to speak with her earlier this year. She was kind enough to detail many elements regarding this new facet of Hallmark, and I am quite pleased to finally be able to share this chat with all of my readers.

RH: Stacey, it 's so nice to connect with you.

SD: Ruth, it

That was really important to me. I had conversations with people about it before we started because I wanted to make sure that before we started, diversity was part of it. So we 're definitely open to diversity. And it seems like everybody else at the network wants diversity too. I 'm so glad that we all seem to want to move in that direction.

I have begun to see that across the board with Hallmark. I think some people want the move to happen faster, but I 'm glad to see it moving that direction. I like how Hallmark is doing it. Other networks are making a big deal about diversity and pushing it, but Hallmark has this slow, steady way of doing it without sacrificing the storyline. They bring it about in a much more natural way.

I think that is true. And I definitely want diverse stories, and that balances perfectly with the kinds of stories we bring. You know, alongside the feel-good stories, it just seems natural to include variety.

I know people are very happy that these Hallmark books are available now not only in e-book form, but in print form as

I know some think Hallmark movies are cheesy, but there 's a pretty distinct formula.

Yes, I like to say we have a strong house style.

I 'm looking forward to when you guys start publishing mysteries. My mom and I love the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel!

Me too. And we are still looking for the right mysteries for Hallmark Publishing. And we do want to do series.

One more thing for authors who are submitting...something that people have misunderstood. Some people think that if Hallmark publishes their book, they 're going to grab the movie rights. And that 's not how it works. If the book is made into a movie, it 's a very nice extra payday for the author. It 's hard to hit just the right story, but it 's possible to go from being an unpublished author to an author with a Hallmark movie. That was never possible before. I think that 's a pretty exciting opportunity.

This has probably been taking over your life for a good year or so.

Yes, it is definitely all-consuming.

Do you have to balance family with all of