Sister of Silence: Silent No More!

Nellie Bly Books
Funding for: Paying actors a fair wage, production expenses

This project is in draft mode.

  • 0

    days to go

    $415.00

    funded of $5,000.00

    $4,585.00

    still needed

  • 9% funded

  • this venture is currently in draft mode

  • elevator pitch

    We want to raise awareness about the dangers of sexual assault, by creating a video about one woman's amazing journey from victim to victor.

    • project_bottom

about entrepreneur

Daleen Berry

Author, co-director / Nellie Bly Books

When I was eight, my future was sealed when my father talked me into taking a weekly Grit route. I rode my bike more than two miles on our country West Virginia roads to deliver the paper to my 50 or so customers. In 1979, I became a reporter for The Panther Press at West Preston High, which gained the dubious distinction of having more pregnant teens than any high school in the country. We were featured on 20/20. I was one of those teens. What no one knows is how many of those pregnancies were due to child sexual abuse. Mine was, and since my book, SISTER OF SILENCE, was released last year, other women have come forward saying they were abused, too. That brief journalism stint helped me escape a violent marriage when, in 1988, I walked into The Preston County Journal, a local newspaper office, and asked for a job. Linda Miller Benson, the editor, remember my work from eight years earlier, when I was still in high school--and she became my mentor. That job allowed me to take my four children and leave my husband. Since then I've worked at newspapers in Texas, California and Maryland, and won awards for investigative journalism, as well as my weekly column, which started out as "Vintage Berry Wine." SISTER OF SILENCE also took first place at the West Virginia Writers Conference. Because of changes in the publishing world (and since it took me 20 years to write this book and I figured it might take another 20 to find an agent--meaning I could be dead before that happened), in 2011 I opted to create my own indie publishing company. Nellie Bly Books is the result, and it has a small niche market: books for, by and about journalists and journalism. So far, NBB hasn't made a dime--but because of SISTER OF SILENCE, it is helping more people break their silence about sexual abuse and violence. With the recent Penn State scandal, society is truly beginning to understand this type of crime. Ken Lanning, one of the top experts in this field (and who wrote my foreword) has been widely quoted in the media since that story broke. Ken and I will keep on working to help educate people about sexual abuse that occurs at the hands of people we know and trust--and I'm proud to say that my book, SOS is doing just that. Beyond my sister Rebecca's wedding, this is my first attempt at helping to create a video project. But I hope it's not my last.

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