The Urgent Crisis Facing Black Authors Right Now

Purchase Lawrence's book, The Divine Nine: https://shorturl.at/hAoJO Join the FREE The Write Shade Newsletter: https://thewriteshade.beehiiv.com/ Lawrence Ross discusses the future of Black books, the importance of supporting Black authors, and strategies to increase their visibility and sales in a changing media landscape. Key Topics: The decline of Black books in mainstream media The importance of buying Black books to support authors Creating Black-centric spaces for writers and readers Strategies to increase Black book sales and visibility The role of social media and community in promoting Black literature Titles: The Future of Black Books: Strategies for Success Supporting Black Authors in a Changing Media Landscape Sound Bites: "We have to make every Black book sell." "4% of subscribers could buy 40,000 books." "Support Black authors and support Black books." 0:00 Black books are dead — and here's why that's not clickbait 0:48 Who Lawrence Ross is — 7 books, 26 years, The Divine Nine 1:20 DEI is now SEI — and the book industry will feel it 1:55 What it actually takes for Black books to thrive, not just survive 2:21 The Metaphor Club — shrinking access and privilege for Black writers 3:05 Why The Write Shade exists and what it's trying to do 3:45 Every Black author is judged by sales — what that means for their next book 4:48 How the algorithm works against us — and how to fix it 5:10 The goal: 1 million subscribers and why that number matters 6:00 The math — 4% of subscribers buying books = 40,000 copies per author 6:45 What hitting the New York Times bestseller list consistently would change 7:14 The 20 Questions format — writer to writer, not fan to author 8:10 My 10 Fave Black Books — the second series explained 8:45 What kind of community The Write Shade is building 9:38 A note on reviews — authors read them, make them count