Dear Friends,
I wanted to create a press that was led by black/brown folks that was inclusive to all writers of a multicultural sensibility that also explores social justice, with a sensitive ear to women and writers of color. It has been no secret that the past few years have been a struggle, but the writers stuck with me through thick and thin to help keep the press going. Editors and artists volunteered their talent and time to help keep the press alive. Now, with our recent distribution agreement with University of Chicago Press, 2Leaf Press is entering a new stage of development, which includes achieving a stable presence in the publishing industry. We need funding to continue our transition with Chicago; we need funding to pay people for their services, and we need funding to market our books in conjunction with Chicago. Since we do not take money from outside sources (giving us free reign of who and what we publish), we rely on donations to stay afloat, making your support essential to our existence. Please support 2Leaf Press. We need your help. Donate today.
All donations are being managed by FRACTURED ATLAS, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions for the purposes of 2Leaf Press are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. All donors will receive a receipt from FRACTURED ATLAS.
Gabrielle David, Publisher
Here’s Our Story
The idea of 2Leaf Press came about in 2000 when my Dad was screaming about how to make two leaves for a pie during one of his baking stints. The name just stuck in my head and I thought it was a pretty cool name for a small press. In fact, I reserved a website soon after and held onto it for years. It wasn’t until 2012 when I finally published the press’ first book, HEY YO! YO SOY! by Nuyorican poet and friend, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez. Having assembled a fine group of editors, translators and artists, we felt we were on to something and we cranked out a bunch of books. By 2014, 2Leaf Press published 16 print books and 15 ebooks, most of them poetry, four of them translations, but we weren’t making enough money to cover our expenses. We loved poetry, but we realized it doesn’t pay the big bills. We needed to develop a midlist; books which are not necessarily bestsellers, but sell well enough to sustain the press, and also meet our diversity and multicultural mandate. In 2015, as we witnessed the changing social and political climate, we developed 2LP EXPLORATIONS IN DIVERSITY, a new series, and published its first book, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA in 2016.
Here’s What Sean Frederick Forbes Has to Say About 2Leaf Press
In the meantime, distribution and marketing became another problem. No matter how many postings on social media or how many emails we sent out, it just wasn’t enough to sell books. The distributor we had was not a partner, they just wanted to charge us exorbitant amounts of money to promote the books (money we did not have), while taking a percentage from the books we did sell and killing us with “returns” (when bookstores return books and ask for their money back.) You can have all the great books in the world, but if no one knows about them, what difference does it make? In the meantime, we expanded our catalog with memoirs like THE FOURTH MOMENT, short story collections like THE BEAUTY OF BEING, and reprinting classics like ADVENTURES IN BLACK AND WHITE. We recently developed 2LP UNIVERSITY BOOKS, and are publishing our first book under this series, DESIGNS IN BLACKNESS, a book about African American literature, which is forthcoming in 2019.
Here’s What Claire Millikin Raymond Has to Say About 2Leaf Press
To our good fortune, we were able to strike a distribution deal with University of Chicago Press in July 2018, which really saved the day. Chicago is more than a distributor; with their marketing and publishing expertise, they also serve as a partner that has a vested interest in 2Leaf Press. In fact, 2Leaf Press is the first U.S. black/brown woman-led publisher to be marketed and distributed by Chicago. This certainly wasn’t intentional, but it sure is an added plus that’s worth mentioning as a major milestone while we continue to build and expand 2Leaf Press.
Here’s What Abiodun Oyewole Has to Say About 2Leaf Press
We’ve got nine new books coming out Spring 2019. These books are of special import not only because they are amazing in themselves, but because they are our first books with Chicago. We are honored to see these through to completion with our new partner and look forward to their success.
We Need Your Help
We have an immediate need to raise $25,000 to get back on our feet. We need $11,000 to cover debt, and $14,000 to pay for operating and publishing expenses, and marketing and advertising fees going forward. We have a great line-up of books for Spring 2019, but in order to launch them successfully, we need to be able to work in conjunction with Chicago and promote these books. We also need to promote the other books in our catalog as Chicago makes them available in distribution channels we were unable to penetrate. Here’s why we need your help:
As a small independent publisher, our struggle to find a supportive distributor for 2Leaf Press, has successfully been found with University of Chicago Press. A partnership with Chicago, while great, comes with the cost of processing fees that are moderate, but painful for a small independent press. This is especially true when added to the old debt that came from partnerships with two previous distributors. The purpose of this fundraiser is to cover old debt and raise money to pay Chicago, and promote 2Leaf Press’ books – all of them. I hope that when you lend your personal support financially, you will also share this request with your circle of colleagues, family and friends. 2Leaf Press is a great cause; one that can gain so much with a collective rally that supports multicultural literature and writers of color, especially in the social and political climate we find ourselves facing today.
—Robert Coburn
Business manager in Washington, D.C.
Board advisor of the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS)
More importantly, when you donate to 2Leaf Press, you will get the personal satisfaction of helping a small fledgling press publish books that mainstream small presses or publishers will not touch. Your reward is that your generous support helps provide a platform for multicultural poets, writers and scholars. Please donate today.
