Dear Publishers,

Spring 2021

Instagram: @DearPublishers

CW: Police Brutality

On April 15, 2021, Post Hill Press, an independent publisher and distribution client of Simon & Schuster, announced a book deal with Jonathan Mattingly, one of the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor. Since then, Simon & Schuster has failed to truly recognize and address their involvement, reflecting the deep-seated issues of racism and oppressive practices within many publishing houses. Even if Simon & Schuster decides to not distribute this title, they continue to support and profit off of a company that has chosen to commodify Breonna Taylor’s murder.

For this reason, we are holding publishing houses accountable to change. Our long-term aim is to ensure that publishers are addressing and dismantling these problematic behaviors and policies. Every week, we will release a new set of actions for the bookstagram community to take.

Mobilizing with fellow Bookstagrammers, we created the Dear Publishers movement the weekend of 04/17/21. On 04/18 I designed the entire brand identity and website for the movement’s launch on 04/19. Within two days, our Instagram account had over 5,000 followers and 23 accounts re-posted the graphics I created to their feeds.