FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Black Creatives Marketing Symposium Opens for Applications
July 28, 2021
Washington, DC — We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) is excited to announce the opening of applications for the Black Creatives Marketing Symposium in partnership with The Brown Bookshelf. The Symposium is one of the three programs of The Black Creatives Fund which supports emerging and established Black writers and illustrators. Applications are open from August 2 at 10 am EST until August 16 at midnight EST. Learn more and apply on our website at https://diversebooks.org/programs/black-creatives-marketing-symposium.
The Black Creatives Marketing Symposium will take place virtually on September 25 and 26, 2021. The event will run from 1-3:30 pm EST on September 25 and from 1-4:30 pm EST on September 26. WNDB is offering twenty (20) slots to traditionally published authors who identify as part of the African diaspora for the symposium, which will 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, and other authors, who will share tips and best practices for marketing books, including social media, events, outreach, and more. The Symposium is open to all authors with at least one to two published books but will focus on supporting mid-list authors working to revive their marketing methods of their books.
Confirmed sessions for the Symposium include a marketing panel with specialists Ebony LaDelle and Tracy Sherrod; Editor and Author Relationships to Marketing Best Practices with editor Dana Chidiac and WNDB Program Manager and author Breanna McDaniel; a Q&A session with Speaker Agent Patrick Oliver; a session with Lathea Mondesir, publicist at Penguin Young Readers; and a bookseller panel featuring Hannah Depp of Loyalty Books, Washington, DC, and Datricia Rolllins of Charis Books and More, Atlanta, GA.
WNDB warmly thanks Penguin Random House for providing the donation that made the inaugural cycle of the Black Creatives Fund possible; and The Brown Bookshelf for assisting in nurturing the Marketing Symposium’s strategic direction.
About We Need Diverse Books. We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. It is our mission to put more books featuring diverse characters in the hands of all children. You can learn more about WNDB programs at www.diversebooks.org.
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Press Contact: Alaina Lavoie, alainalavoie@diversebooks.org
