A year and a half ago, a brilliant young woman named Ankhesen_Mié and I came together and formed Middle Child Press, an independent publishing house for WoC authors. We specialize in publishing works by women of color authors. The time has come for WoC to tell our own stories: stories that run the gamut of human experience. We don’t all write hood lit or streamlined interpretations of our culture. We don’t all write romance or stories that even slightly paint PoC in a negative light. The problem is that we’re rejected from the mainstream publishing world by TPTB because we refuse to fall in line with their narrow-minded standards.
We all have a particular slant on the world and it’s time we step up and share them with other PoC. For instance, Ankhesen typically tackles unusual subjects with diverse characterizations, sometimes with a dark edge, and she sometimes caters to audiences who enjoy that kind of work. She also writes poetry, and does other amazing things with words and images. You can find two of her books in our E-store: Violet Dusk and her latest, The Woman from Cheshire Avenue, a novel I lovingly call Chessy Ave.
I'm into contemporary storylines, Blasian fiction, sci-fi/fantasy and modern gothic subjects and I try to reach a broad audience with my work. I’m also an author of erotic fiction and the editor of MCP’s erotic anthology The Sultry Court. My first attempt at Blasian fiction, a novel titled Corruption, is slated to be released within the next few weeks. But MCP isn't all about us; we dearly want to have a bevy of WoC authors featured in our store lineup.
Ankhesen and I want to give WoC a chance to see their work in print, or in our case, in eBook format. We are dedicated to MCP, so much so that we ensured its legitimacy by spending thousands of dollars of our own money to get it off the ground. We have an excellent IT specialist, who ensures that when our product reaches the store shelves, readers are getting the best eBook possible. We believe in this endeavor, or we would have never fronted the cash to give birth to it.
As of right now, we have three (soon to be four) books in our E-store. We need your help to spread the word about MCP and what it is we do. Support us by promoting us on your blogs and websites. Help get the word out for WoC authors who’ve faced arbitrary hurdles in trying to get published. We believe in reciprocity; if you promote us, we’ll promote you. If you follow us, we’ll follow you, be it through blog, Facebook, or Twitter. It’s the way to get the word out for all PoC authors. We’ve got to get better at supporting each other.
(Strongly) Suggested Reading:
I'll be cross-posting this as well.
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