the real deal

It’s official! This notice was posted in Publishers Weekly yesterday. “Femme” is used incorrectly here, so we’ll fix that going forward. So many people have shown support on social media and I really appreciate the excitement around this book and this deal. I do, however, want to situate my personal success within the larger context of what’s happening in children’s publishing. I cringe when people say, “All that hard work finally paid off!” Because there are so many writers who work hard and never get a book deal due to systemic bias in the industry. Publishing is not a meritocracy—it takes more than talent to get published. Here’s a summary of the 2017 statistics compiled by the CCBC:

Please don’t assume that folks who haven’t gotten a book deal simply aren’t trying hard enough or don’t have enough talent. We’ll never know how many gifted storytellers simply gave up because the door was closed in their face over and over again. I’m happy my poetry collection will find its way into the world, but I also know that 90% of the folks celebrating on social media would be silent if I self-published this exact same book. We’ve got a lot of work to do…