I have always had a love-hate relationship with BookTok. Partially for the same reasons that every bookish content creator does: the constant bigotry, the weird takes, the surface-level engagement and the unbelievably irritating cyclical arguments (que Jonathon Reynolds)_. _But on top of all of that, there are additional conversations that have left me feeling like I'm screaming into the void.

When it comes to the BookTok is too political discourse, everyone rose to the occasion. Dozens of voices were added to the conversation by the time I had even heard the silly takes start to roll in. Blogs have been written, hours of content have been filmed, relationships have been severed over this. BookTok showed up. And the same can be said for all of the conversations that have become a tedious part of our BookTok experience:

• Audiobooks are real reading
• Black books sell
• KKK fanfiction is a bad idea
• Black romance isn't icky

And of course...my personal favorite...

• Publishing has a racism problem

The list could go on. And should. There is a lot to talk about. Especially when it comes to the systemic barriers in the publishing industry. In my opinion, we can't explore that conversation thoroughly enough. But, I do have a bone to pick with the way that many of us have tried to tackle it. Because, while we love to engage in that conversation, we refuse to talk about the ways we are complicit in that continued problem. And, I don't know... I kinda want to.

Now, before you continue, please know that I'm gonna say some heavy stuff. And I'm not saying any of it to posture or to belittle anyone. I am saying it because there is a real problem and we can't do anything about it as long as we are ignoring the solutions in front of us. So, like... take a deep breath, pour a glass of chardonnay (or Dr Pepper), throw your favorite heating pad over your lap and let's do this.

Some of you already know what I want to talk about. But for those of you who don't, let me just say it...

It is time to take indie authors seriously.

Day after day, I watch as we engage in conversations about how the publishing industry doesn't want to create space for Black and brown people, and I struggle with the fact that an aweful lot of us are happy to call them out for that, but won't go a step further and throw our support behind those authors being left behind. We are angry at publishers for being racist while ignoring the publishing community where most Black authors will spend their entire careers.

It drives me crazy, to be honest.

And don't get me wrong, indie books are selling. I sell hundreds of indie books to my audience every single month. And not just books from widely successful authors that everyone has forgotten are indie. I sell books from authors none of you have heard of constantly. And they sell. Because their books are just as worthy. But despite that... despite the fact that readers are happy to support indie authors, the platforms that are putting books in front of tens--sometimes hundreds--of thousands of people refuse to give the authors they champion in their conversations an opportunity to actually take up space on their platforms.

I am speaking in generalities, but of course there are people who do! Especially in the romance space, there are many creators who have found value in championing the Black women fighting from the bottom. But in many other spaces--especially fantasy--being an indie almost guarantees an author that they can't count on influencer support. Even from influencers actively talking about the problem.

And I am suggesting that means we are failing to actually show up for the fight to change publishing.

When we talk about oppression, I often say that no matter what community you look at, there is a pile of Black bodies at the bottom. And it's true. While there is a wide variety of identities that experience very real and very painful oppression in this country, the harshest manifestation of that oppression will always fall on the most marginalized. Which is usually going to be queer and/or disabled Black women.

I want us to start applying that concept to this fight.

All marginalized people are effected by the systemic barriers in the publishing industry. And we should fight for every single one of them, regardless of what identities they hold or what opportunities they forge for themselves. And discrimination in this industry is applied to everyone, regardless of whether they are traditionally published or not. But, at the core of this problem, we have to acknowledge that there the pile of bodies at the bottom are Black and brown independently published authors.

And if you are struggling to believe me, consider what demographic of authors we collectively punish the hardest every time we grow angry as a community. It is almost always indies. Scroll through threads for five minutes and you will find an indie author who is being drug accross the internet by people who never would have picked up their book to begin with, while massively successful traditionally published authors are left unscathed for the same behaviors. And that is not to say that indies should be above accountability. It is to say that we are conditioned to hate them.

I love Tracy Deonn. I love Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah and Jordan Ifueko. I love Nia Davenport, and Kennedy Ryan, and LaDarrion Williams. I love Stephen Graham Jones and Cherie Dimaline. And I love the hundreds of other Black and brown authors who have fought to carve out a space for themselves in this industry. Their fight has been valiant. They have created change. They have opened doors and forced conversations onto the table that the world desperately needed. Voices like Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin won their seat at the table and proudly used it to change the world as we know it. I remember watching R.F. Kuang stand strong behind the Harper Collins strikers. They matter.

But today's fight needs us to think deeper. I am not saying that we shouldn't be throwing our platforms behind those authors. We absolutely should. We should be using our collective voice and influence to strengthen their position as they fight for change in the industry. We absolutely should. But I need us to stop seeing that as our end goal.

For decades, we have heard as justice advocates have told us that we aren't just fighting for room at the table. We are fighting for changed systems. And that is true here too. The end goal cannot just be for the old white men who didn't want our stories to let a few of us tell them anyway. It has to be those old white men no longer having the power to make that decision to begin with. And a massive step toward making that happen would be us--the people and platforms holding this industry together--empowering the authors they don't want.

At the bottom of this community is a pile of Black and brown indie authors. And if we want change, it is time for us to stop looking away.

Now, I want to be clear. This article isn't meant to be a condemnation of BookTok. Not at all. I love this community and I believe it is fighting for change. So I am not interested in condemning the people I share this community with. My interest is in challenging us to fight better.

What can we do?

One of the most common things people say to me is how funny they find my bio. Which reads: Dismantling white BookTok one fragile reader at a time.

It's funny. Hee-hee, ha-ha. But I'm also being incredibly serious. I do not believe that our strongest weapon against systemic racism in publishing is helping Black and brown people find a place within the racist system. In fact, I think that as long as our only method of fighting back is to stand behind authors that have been validated by that racist system, we are going to fall short in our efforts to bring change. In my opinion--which you are free to disagree with. This is a community, not a classroom--the strongest blow we can deal to publishing is to strip it of its power. And the most effective tool we have in that effort is the indie space.

Indie authors--Black and brown indie authors specifically--are the primary targets of this type of discrimination. It is them publishing is trying to keep out. It is their voices publishing is trying to overshadow. It is their work publishing is trying to convince you can't be good. So, if we want to take publishings power away from them, we have to loudly, and effectively, disagree.

I repeat: I am not interested in condeming anyone. I'm not going to tag people, or start stitching and doing call-outs. I don't see value in any of that. What I am trying to do is to have a real conversation so that we can shift course and be disruptive.

Which is why Left Unread exists. So thank you for being here. I hope that as our community grows, we will be able to throw more and more of our collective influence behind the authors who are most in need of our advocacy.

In the meantime, sit with what we talked about here. This is just the start of what I hope will be a long and healthy dialogue on what it is going to take to change this industry.

I am committed to using this space, and our publishing imprint, to create real change. And that is going to require us to be united in our fight for the least represented.

WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED NOW

• If you are reading this article and are not already subscribed to this community, please take a few seconds to officially subscribe. Join our community and help us bring change. You can do that for free, and you can engage as little or as much as you want to.
• If you have the resources to invest $5, $12 or $25 a month into our mission, please subscribe or upgrade to a paid tier. Not only is publishing expensive, and time-consuming, but one of my goals is to be able to pour real resources into the indie space. The more resources at our disposal, the more we can pour into this work.
• Start being intentional about the books you read. Include indies. Especially marginalized indies. I share many indie books right here on Bindery. Engage with them. Go search indie hashtags on social media. Buy their books. Talk about their books. Treat them like the publishing professionals that they are.

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