Embolden Media Group CEO Featured in PW Article on Changes, Challenges in Christian Publishing

On April 21, 2021, Publisher’s Weekly featured an article in its Religion section, “Agents of Color See Changes, Challenges in Christian Publishing.” Several agents of color were interviewed and then quoted in the article, including Sharon Elliott, the owner of Authorize Me Literary; Barb Roose, author and a new agent with Books & Such Literary Management; Adrienne Ingrum; Leticia Gomez of Savvy Literary Services; and Chris Park of DeFiore & Company.

Jevon Bolden of Embolden Media offered her observations on the changes and challenges she is seeing:

Jevon Bolden of Embolden Media Group says it seems that interest in publishing authors of color has increased, "especially since George Floyd’s death. But it’s hard to say if these are actual changes,” Bolden says. Although she reports close to a dozen book deals for BIPOC authors with Christian publishers recently, she's unsure if this signals lasting change…..

Bolden also has concerns. She says, “I wonder if we’re seeing changes or more a desire to catch up to something that should have been done already. I don’t want this to be ‘Oh, we need to get the next Latino, Black, Asian author just to be part of the trend,' I appreciate the effort and can see it, but I can’t say that I am full of hope that the changes we’re seeing will be sustained. We still need the infrastructure and publishing teams that are passionate about forming authentic relationships between themselves and booksellers, book reviewers, the authors themselves, and the target readers especially. We need teams that are diverse and speak the language of the diverse authors they serve and can help them translate and mold their ideas so decision-makers can give them the green lights they deserve. The audience is already there.”

Read the full article here.