Meet Michael LaBorn

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael LaBorn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

Building a career in the publishing industry can, and usually is, a very lonely experience. Especially for people who are dangerously underrepresented. I have existed in this industry, to some capacity, for my entire adult life and it is only now, in my mid-thirties, that I am finally seeing some semblance of success. For most of my career, I have operated in circles where I was one of very few, if not the only, Black person. And that type of isolation costs you something. Which is why my career has taken the specific shape that it has.

When I first began making bookish content on TikTok, I was desperate for real community. I had spent my entire career, up until that point, carving out space for myself in very white rooms. And I was so hungry for a community where I could just exist. And I found that on TikTok. I was able to build relationship with dozens of other Black authors, who were fighting to carve out the same space that I was. They were just as lonely, just as unappreciated, and just as desperate for change. So for me, the only reasonable next step was to start fighting for that community.

I began building relationships with Black authors, Black content creators, Black indie publishers, and other people of color in the industry. I asked questions, learned their experiences and worked hard to gather an accurate picture of what it looked like to have thriving community in bookish spaces. And then I started building exactly that. Instead of spending the rest of my life fighting for a seat at the table, I built a community around making our own table. Now, I am surrounded by people who are just as desperate as I am to see Black and brown authors thriving. And for me, that is success.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

For the last few years, I have been very focused on making as much space as possible for Black and brown authors within bookish communities. That has looked like: making content about the importance of reading indie books (because most marginalized authors will never be picked up by a traditional publisher), having conversations about systemic racism in the publishing industry as a whole, and helping Black and brown authors to market their work more effectively on social media. I have used my platform to help launch a number of authors and have built a thriving community of readers who love to champion marginalized authors.

More recently, I have partnered with Bindery Books to begin publishing books that I believe will have an effect on the world. Bindery Books is a community building platform (similar to Patreon) that specifically centers bookish content. Additionally, Bindery is seeking to take on the publishing world with a new model, that more closely follows the current market trends. By partnering with content creators who are already having a significant impact in the bookish world, they are hoping to launch Publishing Imprints that can bring new and exciting books into the world that have a thriving community championing them from the very start. Using this model, they hope to bring a significant boost to the authors and stories that the industry has long been ignoring. I recently partnered with Bindery Books to start my very own imprint: Left Unread Books.

Left Unread is focused on bringing stories into the world that challenge systemic issues, highlight underrepresented communities, and widen the worldview of every one of our readers. I am currently in the middle of searching for my first book to publish and could not be more excited! I have been building this community for so long and we cannot wait to be a part of championing the next world-changing book! In addition to searching for the perfect manuscript, I am also engaging in a lot of important conversations about literature, the publishing industry, and social advocacy right there in my Bindery; as well as continuing the world of building a thriving community there that is dedicated to helping me accomplish these goals: through their monthly subscriptions, but also through their regular engagement. Because for me, this is a collective journey. I am inviting people to accomplish this dream together.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Tenacity, desperation, and compassion. As a Black man in America who grew up in one of the poorer areas of the south side of Chicago, the odds were incredibly stacked against me. And I knew that from a very young age. I grew up dreaming about escaping the crippling poverty that had left my mother struggling to survive in a world that didn’t want her. I wanted better for myself. And I wanted better for her. But I also knew that no matter how skilled I was or how hard I worked, the same systems that had denied her access were eager to deny me access as well. I knew that there was no easy way out. In fact, the world wanted me to believe that there was no way out period. But I held on anyway. Not because I had any reasonable belief that I could be the one to beat the odds, but because I was too desperate to lose hope. I couldn’t afford to give up. And I still can’t. My desperation afforded me a level of stubbornness that kept me clinging to my dreams even when all of the evidence said I should quit. And it also afforded me the ability to see that same desperation in others. It allowed me to see beyond myself and to recognize how many people felt exactly like I did. Which led me to the one thing that actually helped me find a path out… community.

I couldn’t do it alone. And neither can you. No matter how many people have told you that they escaped on their own, they didn’t. The only way out is together. You need the courage to face your circumstances and the desperate drive to overcome them, but none of it means anything if you aren’t willing to step back and make space for others to join you in the fight. Alone, the systems are designed to drown us. But together, we have everything we need to humble every voice that told us we wouldn’t survive.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Absolutely. A major part of bringing change to this industry looks like helping Black and brown authors thrive. That means I spend a significant amount of my time promoting and supporting the least represented, and least resourced, authors in the industry. For that to be successful, I have to have a strong and committed community of people around me.

The number one way that you can support that work is by subscribing to my Bindery. My Publishing Imprint is community-supported, which means that the money you spend on a monthly subscription goes right toward helping me publish Black and brown books. But additionally, my paid subscribers have the advantage of being able to take an active role in the publishing process. As I am searching for manuscripts, I am summarizing projects with my subscribers and looking for their feedback on which projects to champion. And when we choose projects to move forward with, my subscribers are right there for the entire process, getting sneak peaks and giving real-time feedback to the choices being made for those books. So subscribers are not just helping to offset the cost of publishing. They are also getting to play an active role. (For those who want to be a part but cannot afford a monthly subscription, I do have a free tier and I highly encourage you to subscribe there. That is also support.)

Additionally, a lot of the work I do for independent Black and brown authors is outside of my Bindery. I am also championing them on social media, helping them to market their books, helping authors to publish and openly challenging the organizations and systems that keep them from thriving. So I am supporting Black and brown authors in the same ways that publishers serve primarily white authors, but without the resources that they have at their disposal. So I am always looking for people that want to help make that more possible. That means people to help champion books in bookish spaces such as BookTok, BookTube, etc, or freelance editors/graphic designers/sensitivity readers who are willing to work with independent authors and publishers at a more affordable rate, and/or people who are willing to invest financially in the future of Black and brown authors so that we can get these projects out into the world with the same quality and marketing power that mainstream literature is receiving.

If you want to subscribe to my Bindery and become a part of that publishing journey, you can find me at: leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com

If you want to support my efforts outside of Bindery, find me at either: tiktok.com/@michael.laborn or instagram.com/michaellaborn

You can also reach me at [email protected] if you are interested in partnering with me in any other capacity.

Contact Info:

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