Hello, Left Unread family!

I know that we have talked about Goodreads before but I see some online conversation sparking up again and want to weigh in early. Because, despite my distaste (and by distaste, I do mean deep hatred) for massive corporations like Amazon, this conversation is not nearly as Black and white as the internet would like it to be.

For those of you not super familiar with the conversations surrounding Goodreads, here is a short summary so that we're all on the same page:

Goodreads is an online review platform where readers can share their honest feelings and reflections about the books they are consuming. Which is great, in theory. Except that Goodreads is owned by Amazon, who have made a practice of intentionally underselling books in order to push indie bookstores out so that they can monopolize the industry. So, in short, while Goodreads provides a needed service, they are owned by a company that is harming the industry.

When it comes to the way I navigate this industry, there are many goals I keep at the forefront of my mind:

• To resist capitalism while staying loyal to the authors trying to survive it

• To engage as ethically as possible with my time and money

• To hold to my integrity and principles even if it costs me money or success

But absolute chief among them is my commitment to create space for Black and brown authors.

That is my number one focus in everything that I do. To challenge barriers that keep Black and brown authors from having access and to fight for them to thrive. Which, for the most part, has looked like working to break away from the way the industry operates and to do things entirely differently.

That is why I spent several years working directly with Black and brown indie authors to promote their work. That is why I started a series on TikTok in 2024, selling out indie books through the shop on a regular basis. And that is why I partnered with Bindery to start this imprint and to fight for Black and brown authors with an entirely new model of publishing. One centered in community.

But it is important to note that, even in this new model, the success of marginalized authors depends on books actually making it to bookstore shelves. And that is where this conversation about Goodreads gets difficult.

Over the year and a half that I have been working to set a new standard for how publishing works, I have had several people criticize me when I have asked you all to go add our books to Goodreads or to drop reviews after you read them, but here is what I need you to understand:

• Goodreads is the most widely used review platform in existence

• Goodreads is the only widely used review platform that has public TBRs

• Goodreads is the only widely used review platform with awards and best-of lists that are respected industry wide

What does all of that mean? It means Goodreads is the review platform that is the most capable of significantly benefiting an authors career.

And don't get me wrong, I know and relate to all of the opposing arguments. I understand that Black excellence is not a substitute for dismantling oppressive systems. I understand that integrity matters more than success. I even understand that everyone feels like giants cant be taken down until they are.

Simultaneously, I need us to think about this from a wider lens than Amazon. I need us to think about the actual impact of Black and brown literature and the role it is capable of playing in liberating the world. Because that is what weighs heavy on my mind.

Throughout history, literature has always played a huge role in both reflecting and shaping society. Books have played a role in major movements of resistance and in efforts to subjugate and control. Which is why I believe, without question, that literature has the power to change the world. But if we want that change to be for the better, it has to center the voices of the marginalized.

That is why this matters so much to me. I am not suggesting that making Black and brown authors rich will change the world. No. Capitalism is evil even when it makes room for us. What I am suggesting is that the systemic suppression of Black and brown voices in the arts is not just about money. It is about preserving a narrative that reinforces white supremacy's power to shape our society. And by fighting for Black and brown voices, we are working to challenge that narrative and destabilize that system of power. Black and brown authors are literally a threat to white supremacy.

This is why when we are having conversations about boycotting Amazon or abandoning Goodreads, I am always quick to question how we will ensure the fight for Black and brown art continues. Because lets just ask some honest questions here. When you boycott Amazon, are you doubling your efforts to fight for Black and brown indie authors who have historically been unable to get shelf space in indie bookstores? Are you moving over to platforms that celebrate their art? Are you being intentional about buying their books elsewhere and pushing the reader spaces you are in to do the same? Or is your fight against capitalism reinforcing its aims by helping to erase the MAJORITY of Black and brown voices in the industry?

Do you see the issue I am pointing out?

Boycotting Amazon is a GREAT thing. But can we accomplish that ethically without first unpacking the white supremacist lies and systems that keep us from throwing our collective support behind the marginalized authors who rely on Amazon to make their voices heard?

And the same is true with Goodreads.

Do I think Goodreads is a good company? No, I do not. I think it exists to support Amazon's growing monopoly. I think it is also filled with bigotted readers who intentionally leave Black and brown people out. And I am honestly not sad at all about the prospect of other platforms growing and figuring out how to replace them completely.

Simultaneously, by abandoning Goodreads, we limit our fight for Black and brown authors while leaving an already poisoned industry to even further center their preferred narratives and prevent our society from growing past them.

Tell me... who does that help?

And I need to be clear. I am not pro-Goodreads. I am pro Black and brown authors. I am pro ground-breaking literature. I am pro CHANGE. And change does not come from abandoning ground to our oppressors. It comes from us strategically outmaneuvering the systems designed to silence us. And at this point in time, I believe our focus needs to be on decolonizing our reading so that we are actually prepared to continue this fight without these tools.

Until conscientious reader spaces have unpacked the white supremacist standards that keep Black and brown stories underperforming and leave indie authors without respect, we are not actually doing the work to take our fight elsewhere. Harsh, but I believe it to be true.

So for me, I am going to continue challenging you to fight for our authors to take up space. We are not giving up ground. We are not throwing away shelf space with retailers. I'm just not gonna do it.

I will continue to push indie bookstores and bookshop.org over Amazon. I will continue to support growing platforms that challenge Goodreads. And I will continue to openly talk shit to and about Barnes and Noble and every other massive company that threatens the future of this industry. Simultaneously, I will continue to demand that every single one of them make space for Black and brown people. Because the alternative, at this time, is losing ground. And I'm not willing to do that.

Benefits to supporting our books on Goodreads

Just so that you have a practical understanding of what I am talking about, here are a few practical ways we leverage Goodreads to fight for Black and brown authors:

• White supremacy has convinced people that Black and brown books are a risk. Which makes many bookstores, book boxes and foreign publishers hesitant to invest in our stories. But because Goodreads TBRs are public, I can put out a call for our community to add the book to their TBR and then our team can go to those companies and use those TBRs to prove our books have high demand.

• Even more importantly, early reviews can be leveraged to show those companies what kind of impact our books will have in reader spaces. We can do a massive ARC campaign, including physical ARCs and a huge Netgalley push, and then go to bookish companies and ask them to invest in our books because, according to you all, the books are not a risk.

• Additionally, let's just face it, a lot of readers are hesitant to pick up Black and brown books because of the same racist undertone in this industry that keeps bookstores from investing shelf space. And overwhelming numbers on Goodreads can often make a massive difference with readers too. Not just because some readers check reviews before reading a book, but because Goodreads engagement can push our books into spaces they wouldn't have ended up otherwise. (Through Goodreads giveaways, best-of lists, individual reader shelves, etc. All of these things help the books to circulate to people who would not see them otherwise.)

To US, our books are not a hard sell. But we have talked about this many times, if you are not intentionally looking for Black and brown books, you often won't see them. By leveraging Goodreads engagement, we can--AND DO--effectively combat that and push these books in front of readers and bookish companies that would not have otherwise seen them, or believed in them.

So I repeat... Goodreads is not our friend, but it is a tool that can and does effectively create space in an industry that is working tirelessly to keep us out. And if fighting for Black and brown authors is our number one goal, which it is for me, then we have a lot more work to do than just creating a new review platform if we want to throw this tool away. Because this isn't just about reviews. It is about access.

But what about indie bookstores?

This is the most important question for me. Because I do care very much about indie bookstores and I think fighting for indie bookstores is also crucial to creating change. And truthfully, Goodreads presents a threat to indie bookstores because it is connected to Amazon and directs readers there. And as many of us know, most people are going to choose the link in front of them, rather than go out of their way to look for a more ethical option.

There are a few things I want to say on this argument:

First, I have been a part of plenty of campaigns where indie authors chose to remove their books from Amazon in order to do things more ethically, and almost without exception, their sales stop almost immediately. Which tells me that either a lot of you are demanding changes that you're not actually willing to make yourself, or you are comfortable leaving indie authors behind as you fight for change. Which, isn't progress, especially considering that the vast majority of Black authors specifically will be indie their entire careers. We cannot get to change without them.

Second, the people who are passionate about fighting for indie bookstores will continue to consciously support indie bookstores over Amazon. Which means a part of our efforts needs to be in exposing readers to the reasons they should support indie bookstores and not just shaming them for shopping at Amazon.

And third, the two points I just made are intimately linked. Fixing our collective indifference toward indie authors is directly relevant when it comes to conversations about fighting for indie bookstores. I do not believe we can effectively win the fight against Amazon without bridging the gap between indie bookstores and the authors fighting hardest for their place in the industry.

Change happens from the bottom up. Both positive and negative. If readers took indies seriously, bookstores would feel confident in taking them more seriously and amazon's grip on them would loosen. But friends... it literally can't happen the opposite way.

Consider the work that has been done by indies over the last two decades. Indies went from being a joke to everyone to being true competitors in the industry. Today there are indie authors who wildly outperform the vast majority of traditionally published authors. And while there are still huge barriers for indies, many of them have broken through successfully enough where the industry has been forced to pay attention to them. Which has resulted in publishers rushing to sign indie authors and profit from their success.

AND YET... if you pay attention to online bookish spaces, you will find conversation after conversation that is directly designed to undermine that progress.

In fact, nearly every conversation about harm in the bookish world is primarily directed at indie authors. Despite the fact that most harm is done by traditional publishers (not even authors at all), it is indie authors who face the most criticism from readers. Their reviews are harsher, their work is judged more thoroughly, and their careers are impacted by every mistake. Even as we watch editing efforts in trad companies decline rapidly, we overlook bad writing from the authors who are affirmed by the industry, while continuing to openly suggest that indie books are inherently bad.

Just yesterday, a major publisher was forced to drop a book for AI usage and instead of a conversation about publishers developing the tools and expertise to combat the growing wave of people trying to pass off AI as their own, plenty of people are talking about the danger that comes with lazy publishers just picking up indie books they don't plan to invest energy into. (Which is not to say there is no legitimate critique of indie spaces or of publishers suddenly caring about indie projects. Only that the way we engage in those critiques is often disproportionately focused on how indies harm the industry.)

Do you see what I mean?

Capitalism protects itself by convincing us that allowing outsiders access will diminish the things we love. When in reality, if we were to unpack that and begin fighting for real resources for the arts to flourish, we could reshape how all of this works and literally change the fucking world.

The answer to almost every problem we have in this industry is for us to collectively prioritize the fight for Black and brown authors. Which means creating meaningful access, effective tools and creative resources.

Ok, I have rambled long enough. All of this to say, this industry has real problems. And they are problems that reach far beyond literature. They impact our society, as a whole. And these problems need real solutions. However, those solutions have far more to do with us addressing the way white supremacy has impacted our collective perspectives and practices than with us taking down the companies that have capitalized on those perspectives and practices.

Decolonization has to be the center of our effects or else we will just end up juggling back and forth between systems that abuse us and/or completely fail to make room for us.

So here are some things you can do to start that work:

• Intentionally add some indie books to your TBR and ask your local indie bookstore to order them for you, rather than buying them from Amazon.

• Ask your favorite indie bookstore what their policy is on stocking indie books and recommend books to them that you have personally read and loved.

• When you leave positive reviews for a book, drop a link to the bookstore you bought it from IN the review and encourage people to grab it there.

• Start talking to your community about the way you have engaged with literature and ask real questions about why you believe what you believe. Have some of these conversations publicly.

• Be intentional about reading traditionally published books as critically as you do indie books. Not for the sake of critical reviews, but to unpack why you have been giving them more grace.

• When a book gives you the ick, examine why. Start figuring out what standards are impacting your experience with a book and which standards are about adhering to the industry's expectations.

• Consider grading a book on its message AS well as its production. I will never encourage you to lie about a book's flaws. But I will encourage you to ask yourself if the book delivered in spite of its flaws. If it did, be honest about that too. (Whether trad or indie. Deconstructing this is important in both spaces because we are conditioned to hold Black and brown stories to a higher and unfair standard).

Look, I know my thoughts here aren't going to be comfortable for everyone. You paid for a book and expect this and that. Cool, I hear you. I also don't really care. We are not talking about our expectations as Readers. We are talking about fighting for access. If that is not a priority for you, that's your business. But it is for me and the conversations I have will always prioritize that fight. You do you however you want to.

I think we, as a community, have a lot of work to do in order to become useful in the fight for change. And I am committed to talking about all of the ways that we can do that work until the work is done. I am also committed to continuing to build THIS publishing imprint as an example within the industry that this CAN BE DONE WELL. I want to prove that fighting for Black and brown books is not a risk and that we don't have to sacrifice community in order to succeed.

If you want to do that work with me, make sure you are subscribed so that all of this content makes its way directly to you. And consider upgrading to the $5 or $12 tier in order to help support the work we are doing to bring you quality stories and to create resources that help foster meaningful change. I cannot do this work without you and I am so grateful for every single one of you who help me get it done! The more we grow, the more time and resources we have to produce the projects and resources we have in mind.

Love you all!

And while we are here, please consider adding our upcoming books to your Goodreads TBR! Links below:

Devil of the Deep

Buzzard