About
Amazing Dreams Publishing
and what we do to support our community:
WHO
STARTED AMAZING DREAMS PUBLISHING
Amazing Dreams Publishing is
the creation of Tracey Stevens with help from her partner Cathy Wonder. The following
was written by Tracey about why the company was started, how it is evolving, and
the hopes and dreams she and Kathy have for the future:
Many
people have asked me why I began writing and eventually opened Amazing Dreams
Publishing. My answer usually starts out with the fact that I had studied art
and writing my whole life, but everyone kept telling me that I would never make
any money at these occupations; so I settled for a degree in Mechanical Engineering/Technical
Illustration. The technical illustration training took care of my need to create
art and write instructional manuals, but I found so much prejudice from men in
the engineering field that I became a graphic/website designer instead. I've always
written stories and created artwork since I was a little kid. I won several awards
for writing in school and I showed artwork
in shows throughout Florida, so writing and art are the things I love
the most--that and working with animals, especially horses.
I started writing novels in the early 1990s, and I found that a lot of
my books centered around the hard issues that most other writers won't touch,
like women becoming successful after experiencing devastating circumstances such
as child abuse. Being lesbian from an early age and growing up in an abusive household,
I had a lot of experience with coming out as a teenager and child abuse, so I
wrote about what I knew; but at the time these kinds of stories were not acceptable
by mainstream NYC publishers, and my manuscripts were rejected over and over again.
I began searching for lesbian
publishers and came upon Wildcat Press. It turned out that Patricia Nell Warren
owned Wildcat Press, and Patricia's novel "The Beauty Queen" was the
first gay-themed book I'd ever read when I was 15 years old. I contacted Patricia
about reviewing one of my novels, but she was not accepting outside manuscripts
at that time. She did read some of my work, and she suggested I also write some
nonfiction books to get my point concerning how you can be a success even though
you may have gone through hard times in your past. This is why the book "How
To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide" was written. Patricia
also encouraged me to take back the control of my work and open my own company,
and on October 15, 2001 Amazing Dreams Publishing was born.
A couple of years after we started Amazing Dreams Publishing, our company took
off in an unexpected way when a woman emailed me about our book: "How To
Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide." She said she was married and coming
out in a small town in the Midwest, and even though she loved the Coming Out Guide,
she wanted to know more about how she could come out of her marriage.
Kathy
and I didn’t have a chapter specifically for married lesbians in our first
book, so when this woman emailed me, we decided to open an online support group
for all women who are coming to terms with their sexuality--whether they are lesbian,
bisexual or questioning. On November 5, 2003, the Support For Lesbians Coming
Out (SFLCO) was born.
Since that time, the SFLCO group has helped over 5,000 women with their coming
out process. We now have over 1,000 members from all over the world, including
countries where being a lesbian can get you 10 years in prison or even executed!
We have had many women email us that our group has actually saved their lives.
I never thought the company would evolve in this way, but I do believe that this
support group is one of the most important things I have done in my life to date.
Kathy and I have also written,
illustrated and published 5 books: “How
To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide,” “Lesbian
Sex Tips: A Guide for Anyone Who Wants To Bring Pleasure to the Woman She (Or
He) Loves,” “The
Lesbian Big O: Over 100 Sensual Illustrations," “Coming
Out Advice for Lesbian and Bisexual Women" and “Relationship
Advice for Lesbian and Bisexual Women." Our Lesbian Sex Tips Guide
was picked up by Selector in Mexico and translated into "Sex
Tips Para Lesbianas," which is available from our website
in an Ebook format. I have several lesbian novels on the back-burner too. We
have been Featured Writers and Advice Columnists for LesbianNation magazine, Lesbians
On the Loose" (LOTL) Magazine, Shewired.com, Lesbianation.com, Gaywired.com,
247gay.com, Latinoglo.com, Queerfuture.com, Countrygayweb.com, Gaymonkey.com and
Grayandgay.com. We've also been interviewed by companies like Match.com
and have worked with producers from the Showtime network.
While writing books for lesbians, bisexual and questioning women, creating Amazing
Dreams Publishing and her sister websites, managing the SFLCO Group, and being
an Advice Columnist for women worldwide is a large portion of my life, it's only
a small part of the big dream I have had since I was very young.
I have been a lesbian from birth, although I didn't put a name on my orientation
until I was 15. Ever since then, one of my biggest dreams has been to create a
community where women can live and work together in a safe haven. This
dream has evolved over the years, and I've had a couple of members in our Support
Group freak out about this idea, asking if I'm trying to start up a commune or
a cult, but nothing could be further from the truth.
I'm thinking of a cooperative community, where the land can be subdivided, so
that women of different income brackets can afford it. I'm thinking at least 100
acres--preferably 200 to 500, but 100 is a good start, with portions of it that
would be subdivided and sold to women who want to buy in to the community.
It would
be great to have some kind of an apartment building for younger women just starting
out, then 1/4, 1/2, 1, and 5 acre land parcels for women who want to build their
own homes.
In my dream
of this co-op, there is a little town in the front of the property, where women
can have shops, restaurants, etc., then the apartment buildings, then the neighborhood,
then the acres going from smallest to largest, then a therapeutic horse facility
with lots of pasture and gardens on the back end of the property. If anyone wants
to sell, then that property would be bought back into the co-op as part of the
agreement of living on the land.
Because I came from an abusive situation myself, one thing I REALLY want to do,
is to have this Co-op set up so that some of the profits can can provide assistance
to young runaway lesbians. Over 40% of runaway teens are LGBT and have been disowned
by their families. Wouldn't it be great if we could join together and help these
young women by giving them a safe place to live, and setting up scholarships so
that they could get a good education and have happy productive lives? It would
be so much better than having their lives totally shattered because they have
been forced by homophobic parents to live on the streets.
Kathy and I also want to have a conference center that offers all kinds of workshops
and seminars like writing conferences and relationship seminars. I'm also very
much into horses, I've had horses all my life, and at some point I want to incorporate
my knowledge of horses and provide therapeutic programs for women who have been
abused.
When I was
little, the only thing that saved my life was my horse. I was a small person who
was able to ride on a very large, powerful animal. He gave me so much strength
that I made it through those years of being abused. When I was on him I felt safe.
If not for my horse, Shane, I would not be alive today, and I'd like to help others
gain back their power through relationships with horses.
I'd also love to set up this Co-op so that we have assisted care facility for
when the women living on the land get older. Maybe even some kind of lesbian nursing
home...I'm hoping that after the runaways are educated, that they would want to
be involved in some of these businesses in our community.
This is my dream I've had for most of my life, and I really hope that one day
all the work I've done will pay off so that we can buy our large tract of land,
and the community of Dreams, NC will be born. If not, I will keep on with my mission
of helping women have better lives worldwide.
Sincerely,
Tracey Stevens
Amazing Dreams Publishing
www.amazingdreamspublishing.com
www.adgraphicdesign.com
www.lesbianecard.com
www.comingoutlesbian.com
www.howtomakelovetowomen.com
Our
Services OUR
ONLINE COMING OUT SUPPORT GROUP
FOR LESBIANS, BISEXUAL AND QUESTIONING WOMEN
Some of the women who have downloaded our coming out guide have written us notes
of thanks, but many have voiced that they are isolated and have no way of locating
a community where they can feel safe and find the support they need. Because of
these emails, we paired-up with Gayellow Pages to sponsor our online Yahoo Group:
Support For Lesbians Coming Out.
With this group, we provide a haven for women where they can find acceptance
and a friendly atmosphere to post messages to each other. New members are given
a special link to our Coming Out
Support Package. The writers are moderators of the group, so they are
always available for questions.
The
Editor of the Gayellow Pages is also a member of this group. Gayellow Pages has
been extremely supportive by joining us in our mission to help women who are coming
out worldwide. They sponsored the download of this book from the very beginning.
If you do not have a copy of the Gayellow Pages, you should think about getting
one. It is one of the best resources for finding all kinds of services for our
community in the USA and Canada. It is known as THE
SOURCE FOR WOMEN SINCE 1973.
If you are just coming out, or if
you can be a supportive "Big Sister" to someone who is, we invite you
to join the Support For Lesbians
Coming Out group. Be brave, introduce yourselves, and find an online community
that will be there for you. OUR
LESBIAN BI WOMEN REGIONAL NETWORK
LESBIAN NETWORK is our networking
service for Lesbians, Bisexual, and Bi-Curious Adult Women. All such women ages
18 to 118 are welcomed free. We have networking groups for every main region in
the US, and many English speaking countries. These groups are for women to find
a supportive community in their own areas, a thing we all desperately need in
the finger-pointing, prejudiced times we are going through now. We decided to
start these networking groups as a way for local women to have a friendly place
where they can go and possibly have a social outlet in their areas. We hope that
these groups will be beneficial to all the women who become members. See our Regional
networking groups here: Lesbian/BI Women
Networking Groups. THE
STORY OF OUR ECARDS
People seem to absolutely love our Ecards,
and we just wanted to share the little story of how the Ecard gallery on our website
got started. Several years ago, the founder of Amazing Dreams Publishing, writer
and artist Tracey Stevens, wanted to send an Ecard to her partner for their anniversary.
She was sadly disappointed to find that nearly all the Ecards available for lesbians
and bisexual women at that time were pornographic in nature and unsuitable to
send to her partner's place of work. Since Tracey worked as a graphic designer
by day, and a publisher by night, she decided to design Ecards that everyone could
use, and the Ecard Gallery at the Amazing Dreams Publishing website was born.
Amazing Dreams Publishing also purchased Lesbianecard.com, and we now have over
1,500 Ecard designs from 35 artists and photographers who showcase their work:
www.lesbianecard.com
ARE YOU AN ARTIST OR PHOTOGRAPHER?
If you are an artist or photographer, or if you know of someone who may be interested
in having her work shown in the Ecard format, please visit our information page:
www.amazingdreamspublishing.com/artists-join-gallery.html
Our
Awards  
Amazing
Dreams Publishing Receives
2010 and 2011 Best of Business Award
Click For
Press Release
   
  
Help us to help others
To
all the people who have visited our site in the last few years, we'd just like
to say how much we appreciate your ongoing support. We are a small company, struggling
to provide services for our community. If you would like to help us to continue
on our mission to have a safe, supportive place for women worldwide, there are
a few things you can do:
TELL YOUR FRIENDS
ABOUT OUR SERVICES
Send an email telling all of your friends about
Amazing Dreams Publishing. Let them know about our Ecards, our online support
and networking groups, and our books and services:
http://www.amazingdreamspublishing.com
http://www.lesbianecard.com
BUY A BOOK OR AN EBOOK FOR YOURSELF OR A FRIEND
Know someone coming out, needs help in her relationship or who is in need of ideas
in the making love department? Our books make perfect gifts for birthdays or just
to say you care.
BOOKS FOR WOMEN:
Coming Out Support Group Package
How To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming
Out Guide
Coming Out Advice
for Lesbians and Bisexual Women
Relationship
Advice for Lesbians and Bisexual Women
Women
Loving Women Support Package
Lesbian
Sex Tips
Sex Tips Para Lesbianas
Spanish Edition
The
Lesbian Big O: Over 100 Sensual Illustrations
BOOKS
FOR MEN:
Lesbian Sex Tips
Package for Men
Sex Tips Para Hombres
Package
Over 100 Sensual Positions
from the Kama Sutra
Ancient Forbidden
Sex Secrets from the Kama Sutra
WRITE A SHORT BOOK REVIEW ON AMAZON.COM
If you've read our soft cover books or downloaded the Acrobat PDFs, and you liked
what you read, you can help our books sales by writing positive 5 Star reviews
on Amazon.com. For more information, see this page::Help
Us Help Women Worldwide, write positive Amazon Book Reviews
BUY A LESBIAN DVD
We are an affiliate
with TLA Video, so any movies you purchase by linking from our site to TLA gives
us a small percentage back from them. This helps us to continue providing free
services for our community. We have over 100 lesbian film reviews that go back
to 1928.
Check out our online lesbian
movie reviews.
LESBIAN/Bi MAGNETS
We've got 60 of the best lesbian magnets to ever adorn your refrigerator or filing
cabinet! From sensual to radical, from pride to fun, these magnets make great
gifts for friends, lovers, and just about anyone who loves women!
Visit
our Lesbian Magnet page for the best in miniature art.
LESBIAN
POSTERS AND ART PRINTS
Want to really impress the neighbors? We've
found 35 gorgeous lesbian-themed posters and art prints, and we'll be adding more
soon. Frame them yourself, or most can be bought with frames. Decorate your home
with beautiful photos of women together, or hang one on your bedroom ceiling!
Visit our Lesbian Poster Page for beautiful prints.
FANTASY WOMEN POSTERS AND ART PRINTS
Are lesbian posters a bit too much for your taste? Check out our gorgeous fantasy
women artworks! There are many shown on our website, some are available printed
on canvas, and you can choose to also have them framed and shipped directly to
you or a friend as a gift. Who can resist a gorgeous woman with a sharp, shiny,
sword? We sure can't!
Visit our Fantasy
Women Page for beautiful prints for us.
SPICE
UP YOUR LOVE LIFE, VISIT OUR LESBIAN-BI SENSUAL STORE!
Amazing
Dreams Publishing proudly presents the sister store for both our Coming Out and
Lesbian Sex Tips guides. We have over 5,000 of the best sensual toys, hand-picked
by and for lesbians and bisexual women. Our store has secure online shopping,
fast delivery, discreet packaging, and no embarrassing visits to your local male-owned
toy store. From multifunctional vibrators, to pillows with secret compartments
for your toys, we have the best selection for women on the web.
Visit
The Lesbian-Bi Sensual Store
LINK TO OUR SITE
You can put a small
link to our site from yours. Here is a paragraph that summarizes our website:
Amazing
Dreams Publishing
http://www.amazingdreamspublishing.com
Amazing Dreams Publishing features a Coming Out Support Package, and a Sensual
Support Package written with inclusive language for anyone, female or male, who
loves women but needs a road-map to Femville. Our books have been recommended
on TV by Sue Johanson on the "Sunday Night Sex Show." We also have over
1,500 free lesbian Ecards designed by amazing artists; the top 100 lesbian movie
reviews; an online Flower Shop for lesbians; a 24/7 coming out support group;
a Coming Out Section with Over 100 Online Resources; Regional Lesbian Networking
Groups; Fun Lesbian Magnets and a Lesbian Sex Tips Toy Store which features over
5,000 sensual products. SEND
US A BUCK OR TWO
If everyone who visited our website sent us one
dollar, we would be well on our way to making our Founder's dreams of a woman-owned,
Co-op community near Asheville, NC come true! ! If you'd like to send a much appreciated
non-tax-deductable contribution of any amount, you can do so through our Paypal
account here:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/ema/index-outside
Just use our email address: contact@amazingdreamspublishing.com
Or if
you'd like to support us with a small monthly donation, CLICK
HERE
THANKS AGAIN FOR HELPING US SERVE OUR COMMUNITY!
Sincerely,
The Amazing Dreams Team
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Amazing Dreams Publishing
Quality books and Ecards
for our community.
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http://www.amazingdreamspublishing.com |
