Today is my birthday! But that is not exactly what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to talk about Bindery and why I have been so incredibly focused on building this platform over the last year.

Obviously, you know the core details. Bindery is a publishing company that partners with bookish content creators like myself to create publishing imprints that are centered around community involvement and a desire to create space for authors that are often otherwise left behind in this industry.

We all know that. We all understand that. We are all excited about that.

But here is the part that may not register as easily:

Succeeding in an industry that already has a collection of massive figureheads is unbelievably hard. When it comes to art, you would think there would be room for everyone. But that doesn't actually translate in an industry where artists have often been reduced to zeroes on a check and art has become a way for a handful of old white men to become filthy rich and to use their power to protect narratives of white superiority and "traditional values".

From the outside looking in, many of you probably see a growing tide of diversity in the arts. But on the ground, that is not what is actually happening. A handful of marginalized people are being given minimal access in order to mask the impenetrable walls of a very racist, sexist and homophobic industry. And while there are very lucrative alternatives to traditional publishing, throwing away the industry altogether is not an achievable solution to the barriers that are keeping our voices out.

Bindery is not just a publishing company. It is a publishing start up that was born out of a desire to interrupt that very real, and very dehumanizing, pattern of exclusion.

Here is where the difficulty comes in. While our founders have an unbelievable amount of experience and expertise in navigating the publishing industry, Bindery remains a start-up in the early days of its operations. Which means, regardless of our know-how, we are small fish in a very very big pond. A pond that is filled with not only more connected, and organized, opponents. But very very fat wallets.

Year after year, authors make huge waves in bookish spaces for books that we collectively look at in confusion. Authors who spread hatred and confusion; stories that misrepresent or appropriate the lived experiences of marginalized people... those become massive best sellers, while Black and brown authors are left with crumbs. Even the ones who readers are collectively demanding more from.

That is what we are competing with. Massive corporations with near-limitless budgets that are focused on reducing art and identity to something safe and profitable.

Many people have looked at Bindery's model and wondered why we have chosen to do things the way we do. This is why. Because, quite frankly, community is how we stand our ground and find the fortitude to weather just how competitive this industry is. Without it, our success has no chance of reaching the heights that these authors deserve.

As a whole, this industry is not interested in the voices of marginalized people. But we are. We are not only interested. We are desperate for them. And by partnering with you, we are equipping ourselves to not only create space for marginalized authors, but to platform them so well that their voices are heard, no matter how crowded the room is.

Publishing in community enables us to compete with companies that have decades (longer for some of them) and billions of dollars on us.

Rest assured, our model is not an attempt to prey on readers. It is an attempt to successfully fight for authors in the gap. This is how we push back. And more importantly, this is how we win.

Bindery has now released two seasons of books. And while I cannot take you through the particulars of how those projects did, I can tell you that each and every one of them outperformed what you would expect from a publisher in its second year of operation. This model is working.

Which is why, as the founder of Left Unread, I am incredibly focused on ensuring that THIS COMMUNITY has everything it needs to take this fight to an even deeper level. Because if you haven't been paying attention, my aspirations are quite a bit higher than the average person in publishing. I don't just want to publish successful books. I want to challenge the way publishing is done period. I want to be a disruption. And for that to happen, I need your help.

Back to my opening statement. Today is my birthday! And I would love it if I could end this day by reaching a goal I was been fighting for for months. I told you back in June that I was aiming to hit 500 paid subscribers by the end of the summer. Well, here we are, and we are still about 100 subs away.

Think we can do something about that?

I want to be clear: being a paid subscriber is not the only way you can meaningfully contribute to the work we are doing. In fact, it is far more important that you are engaging with these stories and helping us to talk about them and spread the word. That is the number one way you can contribute. But those of you who are contributing that $5, $12 or $25 a month are also helping more than you can possibly know. You know exactly how the world works. Money is not optional if we are trying to compete with billion dollar companies. This work costs a small fortune. In fact, every single book we produce costs a small fortune. And your contribution helps us to cover that, so that we can produce and release these books COMPETITIVELY.

So this goal--500 paid subscribers--is not arbitrary. I am trying to ensure that this community is equipped to handle the publishing load I want to pick up. Right now, we are publishing our first book in less than a month. Then we have two books coming out in 2026, and hopefully another two in 2027. But MY GOAL is to build this community well enough where we can reasonable and effectively handle publishing more than that.

There are so many Black and brown authors out there and so few Black and brown people in a position to open doors for them. I am in a position to open those doors for them and I want to make sure that I am equipping myself to do that for as many authors as possible. To open doors...and eventually, to leave them open.

So yeah,... if you are not already a paid subscriber, I want to ask you to PLEASE consider upgrading your subscription right now. I want to be able to go to our team and to say that our community is ready to handle more books, more authors, more conversations...just more. Because I believe we are. But this is how we get it done. So come be a part.

And if you are a $5 subscriber, I also want to let you know that there are some new perks on the way for our $12 and $25 subscribers, so now would be the perfect time to upgrade! More on that later...but trust me...you're going to want to move up.

Anyway, thanks for listening! I appreciate every single one of you. And while you're here, make sure you go pre-order Cry, Voidbringer as well! Our debut novel comes out in less than one month and I would love to see that book hit best sellers lists! Which is absolutely possible with a community as large as ours.

Love y'all!!!! I'll report back tomorrow to let you know if we hit our goal! But i really hope we do. Cause I want to break some stuff, and I want you to help me do it.