Several LDS celebrities are among the first contributors to a new faith-based publishing company: Dreamling Books.
“God is very much at the center of why we ever started this company,” shares Latter-day Saint Mitch Stevens, one of the co-founders of Dreamling Books. “The mission of Dreamling Books is to inspire people through story to be better and to follow their dreams.” They also hope to inspire a wider reading audience, “to become better people or to achieve something extraordinary.”
As part of that mission, the new company is working with a few Latter-day Saints you might know: Elaine Bradley of Neon Trees, YouTube star Devin Graham, world-renowned surfer and adventure photographer Chris Burkard, successful LDS blogger Al Fox Carraway, and recent Amazing Race winner Connor O’Leary. Each is a contributing author working on a story to be published by Dreamling Books.
“We are not in the business of celebrity books,” Stevens clarifies. “Our focus is on our web platform where anyone can submit an idea or a story. But the ‘celebrities books’ will hopefully demonstrate to everyone else that we all have a story to tell, even if you're not an author by trade. These people are generally known for they profession, which is not writing, or at least not writing inspiring children's books.”
Each author will come up with inspiration for their story from their life—but their stories won’t necessarily be about them. “In fact,” Stevens shares, “most of them don't want it to me a story about themselves. But through their experiences they've come across a principle that has profoundly changed the way they live life.” This principle, Stevens hopes, is an answer to the question: “If or when you have kids, what one lesson do you want to be sure they learn?”
One of these stories has already been published--Chris Burkard's The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $25,000 in the first 36 hours, the beautiful story, illustrated by Disney Interactive artist David McClellan, is about finding joy in the journey. Burkard hopes, "If we can find the enjoyment through all of life's up and downs, through everything that we see and everything that we do, we're ultimately going to be some of the happiest people around."
Certainly, the creators of Dreamling Books are finding joy in their journey. “The whole creation of Dreamling has been an inspiring process,” Stevens explains. “We feel blessed to have the opportunity to work with such amazing and creative people in what I can only describe as a dream job. And for that we are very grateful."
“We all have a story to tell,” Stevens continues. “Our goal is to help more and more people believe that, share those stories, and thus add truth and light to the world we live in.”
Learn more about Dreamling Books on their website, dreamlingbooks.com.
Copies of The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth are still available through Kickstarter.