Help Middle Child Press Reach 1000 Copies
"We wear our weird on the outside."
Middle Child Press is a publishing company that was founded by and is for women of color. Their goal: to meet the needs of WOC who have been marginalized, ignored and denigrated by mainstream media. What makes MCP unique is that they not only provide traditional literary titles but also Blasian, gothic, experimental and speculative fiction as well.
And now they need your help. With the release of their latest title, The Woman from Cheshire Avenue, MCP is aiming to sell 1,000 copies by Oct. 15, 2011 with the aims to expand their titles, promote other POC authors, and produce more POC titles.
MCP founders Amaya Radjani and Ankhesen Mié discuss why we desperately need more publishers like MCP.
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Amaya Radjani:
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.
Ankhesen Mié:
A year and five months ago, Amaya Radjani and I decided to start our own publishing press for authoresses of color. The Woman from Cheshire Avenue (2011) is our third release in almost a year, and we have a fourth on the way (*crosses fingers*).
When we first got into this venture, we invested literally thousands of dollars and reached out to several female authors of color spanning multiple styles and genres. I understood that such a endeavor takes time (and money) and I was willing to invest the necessary patience.
I still am.
I believe in what we are doing, most importantly because it's not something I'm seeing widely done, yet is so very essential for the literary needs of the modern WoC. At Middle Child Press, we wear our weird on the outside, and we want all of you to see.
So please help our cause by spreading the word and boosting the signal. We're trying to sell 1000 copies of TWFCA by October 15, 2011 (already got a sale this morning). A main priority of those proceeds - you guessed it - is to try to expand our titles and acquire more professional lunatics authors on the roster, and promote those authors as well.
We don't have much by way of prizes and such for now, but I do promise to keep posting some chapters from the sequel, The Velvet Hall.
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It's no secret that I've been following MCP's releases for quite a while now and I've been a huge fan of their work. Violet Dusk is incredible and I can tell you first hand that The Woman From Cheshire Avenue will not disappoint.
One of the biggest reasons why I've been a huge the MCP titles because they're works where POCs such as myself are provided escapism and a sense of pride. In their worlds, blacks and Asians are wealthy, powerful, accomplished and are not apologizing for their mere existence. Our stories are told with both authenticity and respect. More than that, these are some very talented authors.
And with the recent kerfluffle about diversity in publishing, now more than ever we need to support marginalized media. So for those of you who are constantly stating that we need more diversity, this is an opportunity for you to put your money where your mouth is. MCP is an excellent publisher producing some wonderful titles from some gifted writers. A little support from you will go a long way.