Letter from TTP's President

Dear Page Turners, 

 

As a self published author I understand the difficulty in marketing your own book. I know first hand how it feels to do it all on your own without the support that a published author would receive from their agent and publishing company. Today, Dr.Seuss can still sell 12,000 units in one month while self published Authors hustle to sell a handful of books, never making it on shelves nationally nor books being adapted into films, etc. 

 

These days there are many organizations that encourage literacy to kids of color. Many times that means that you donate a certain amount of books to encourage literacy and in order to gain a larger audience, but you fail to make sales. Even though many authors that I know, do it for several reasons beyond monetary gain it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t fight to live comfortably while writing. Various art forms encourage thought, change and mould minds while schools are underfunded and artists remain starving. It’s no coincidence. 

 

The film industry seems to slowly move in the right direction by making sure that more people of color have opportunities. However, no matter how much the libraries support people of color by hosting panel discussions on diversity in literature, the gatekeepers in publishing companies don't seem to get the memo. So that's why I started “Turn the Pages,” not only to promote literacy but to support the author by creating reviews that can be shared which include art projects in order to establish the value of the authors books.

 

One of the major problems that I see is how publishing companies play a part in the school to prison pipeline system. If teachers don’t have access to books that look like the black and brown population of their students, we have a problem. Black and brown students have a higher rate of going to prison if their reading level is low. The goal is to encourage literacy among students and their families. Not every student will be interested in the stories written by white authors that target white children. Even though I’m pointing out the issues of black and brown communities, it doesn’t mean that it’s not an issue for other ethnicities. My hope is to be one of the vessels that can assist authors in promoting their books, in an effort to make necessary changes with or without the publishing industry. We have a long way to go, but great things can happen for all of us if we work together and remember to “Turn the Pages.” 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Jordan