We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael LaBorn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

I have spent the majority of my adult life working for companies where I have thrived, despite there being little to no opportunity for growth. I was a team player, a leader in creativity, and someone that others could lean on for help and community. In fact, for most of the companies I have worked for, I have been a top employee and have often been tapped on the shoulder to help with training new employees. Despite all of that, I have found that with each company, there was only so far that I could climb. While I was often praised for my work ethic, my productivity and my community drive, I would repeatedly find out that white employees were making more money than I was, and were being groomed for advancement, while I was being expected to be satisfied with praise alone. And each time this happened, I would fight for myself and push until space was made for me, or I would leave in the hopes that the next company would be different.

It never was.

I went in to the work force knowing that I was a Black man in America, and that my reception would be different than my white co-workers. But after years of having to fight for every inch of growth I received in my career, I began to realize that there was no space to be made at their table. If I wanted an environment where I, and other marginalized people, would be received warmly, I would need to find a table that was created with us in mind. And so today, everything I do is directly in community with people who see my humanity and are ready to fight for the humanity of everyone the world has left behind.

Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I run a publishing imprint called Left Unread Books, which is specifically focused on making space for Black and brown authors. I started doing this work because the statistics are clear: the publishing industry is not open to making space for authors of color. And that is largely due to the fact that very few of the people making publishing decisions are people of color. Which is why I believe this work is so important. If we are ever going to see real change in this industry, we need more people of color behind desks, making decisions.

Left Unread Books was started in partnership with Bindery Books, an online community building platform that is focused on creating space for marginalized people in the bookish community. In addition to working together to put out Black and brown books, our model relies on building strong communities of conscientious readers. My imprint funds books through monthly subscribers, who work with me to foster strong community, challenge systemic barriers in the industry, and champion marginalized authors in bookish spaces. In addition to helping me to fund the books I will be publishing, we are also engaging in other bookish conversations, talking about literature, and developing meaningful community. This model allows for authors who are otherwise forced to work twice as hard for half the results to have access to the same level of support that the world’s largest publishers are offering their authors.

Our goal is to remind the world that Black and brown authors have something meaningful to say and to give them the resources they need to say it.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I built my reputation by dedicating myself to championing Black and brown indie authors. Recognizing that, because of systemic barriers in the industry, the vast majority of Black and brown authors will never receive traditional book deals, I dedicated myself to combating misinformation about independent publishing and uplifting the Black and brown authors who are likely to spend their careers in that space, particularly in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. As one of few bookish content creators who was prioritizing those authors, I quickly become associated with a needed shift in the industry. I wasn’t saying anything that had never been said before, but I was combining those conversations with an aggressive attempt to build community among content creators and authors who were pushing for this same change, and that helped me to develop a strong reputation among conscientious readers who occupied the same space that I did.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In agreement with Bindery’s model, Left Unread Books is a community supported publishing imprint. Like much of the work I have done prior to launching this imprint, I have put together the resources we needed by consistently and aggressively talking about my vision for change in the publishing industry and inviting other readers to join me in making it a reality by committing to a monthly subscription, which helps us to fund the books we are publishing. Like many other online community building platforms, I am providing them with plenty of exclusive bookish content, as well as a direct role in the publishing process. Which is the primary appeal to subscribers. By contributing monthly towards funding Black and brown books, they are also getting access to the entire process, where they can not only see where we are in producing those books, but can actively contribute their thoughts, ideas and feedback. From start to finish, Left Unread Books is a community effort.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/michaellaborn
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@michael.laborn