The Black Creatives Marketing Symposium for Published Authors, In Partnership with the Brown Bookshelf, will provide guidance and support to authors who are seeking to energize their careers.
Purpose
WNDB is offering twenty (20) slots total to writers who identify as part of the African diaspora for this Marketing Symposium to provide guidance and support for published writers looking to energize their careers through established and innovative marketing techniques. Faculty will include marketing experts, independent booksellers, school visit coordinators, and other authors who will share tips and best practices for marketing books, including support for social media and events outreach. We have a particular interest in supporting mid-list authors working to revive their methods of marketing their books for contemporary markets!
Program Structure
WNDB will select up to 20 Black published authors to participate in a Marketing Symposium that will take place virtually. The schedule will include faculty-led talks, Q&As, and breakout sessions. Faculty will include marketing experts, independent booksellers, and other authors who can share tips and best practices.
At the conclusion of the symposium, participants will receive a template to create their own book branding kits and educator guides.
Eligibility
Participants must identify as part of the African diaspora and must have at least one published book.
Judges’ Criteria
WNDB team members will work together with The Brown Bookshelf to assess applicants by using a mutually agreed upon rubric.
Cost
Free
Symposium Speakers
Ebony LaDelle is a brand marketing director at Penguin Random House with over 10 years of book publishing experience, currently working on books like A Promised Land and Becoming. Prior to, Ebony worked at HarperCollins where she worked with authors such as Ibi Zoboi (Punching the Air, American Street, and Black Enough), Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give, On the Come Up and Concrete Rose), Elizabeth Acevedo (Clap When You Land, The Poet X and With the Fire on High) and countless others. She also interviewed authors and helped create content for Epic Reads, an online young adult book community with over 7 million followers across all social platforms and online; as well as was the co-host of Why Not YA?, a monthly video series where she interviewed authors in the young adult space with Karah Preiss from Belletrist. You can visit her online at www.ebonyladelle.com and follow her on social at @ebonyladelle
Publications
- Editor Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth (2006).
- Contributor - “Featuring Leaders of Poetry Organizations for Kids from Around the United States” in the publication Open the Door: How to Excite Young People About Poetry (McSweeney’s April 2013).
- Author On My Own: Vision Board Guidebook for Young People (2015).
- Creator Ananse Journal (2020).
- Editor On My Own: Vision Board Guidebook for Young People 5th Anniversary Edition (2021
- Author Notes from A Literary Activist: Creating the Next Generation of Readers, Writers and Leaders scheduled for 2022 (Third World Press).