HOW TO SUPPORT LATINA-OWNED BOOKSTORES AND PUBLISHING HOUSES

BILINGUAL … BOOKS … BILINGUAL … BOOKS … BILINGUAL … BOOKS …

Day 4 of my listicles of Latina-Owned Businesses

✅ Top 8 Beauty Brand Businesses Owned by Latinas

✅ Top 9 Private Mental Health Businesses Owned by Latinas

✅ If You’re in the Market for Ethically Sourced Products from Mexico …

Today’s listicle is so powerful for me and the Latinx community. I didn’t know people could own or even start a Publishing House, let alone a Latina.

The reality of being a BIPOC author

Much like the challenges with big brands and cookie-cutter home decor pieces from a popular 2-day shipping website, the U.S. Book Market sees its fair share of discrepancies regarding BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) authors.

Lee and Lowe Books, a minority-owned publishing company, publishes a Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS) conducted every 4 years to track demographics in the Publishing Industry. In the 2023 survey, the results showed that 72.5% of the industry is white.

American Dirt

Additionally, there have been occurrences where white American authors will write stories about BIPOC communities in first person, telling a story of lives they’ve never experienced outside of white America’s perspective of the struggles of marginalized groups.

This played out in the book American Dirt by Jeannine Cummins. The entire team who handled the release of this book seemed oblivious to the stereotypes they were perpetuating.

Not only that, this book details a story about immigration. Her publisher, chose a Caucasian woman’s story about the first-hand experience of coming to America illegally.

Needless to say, it was jam-packed with “trauma porn” from the “white gaze” perspective.

1. Her story was chosen over many Latinx authors.

2. The story she told was woefully ignorant.

3. On top of that, many of our books have been banned in different states due to inappropriate content. The reality of our lived experiences are systemically being eliminated.

Latinas to the rescue!

Thankfully, we have Latina leaders in literature, paving the way for equal access on their own terms.

Here is a list of 8 Latina-owned publishing houses and bookstores specializing in bilingual books and BIPOC authors that you can support.

Uno. Lil’ Libros — Publisher | Bilingual Children’s Books

Website: Lil’ Libros — Bilingual Books for Children English & Spanish (lillibros.com)

IG: Lil’ Libros® (@lil_libros) • Instagram photos and videos

Dos. Lectura Books — Publisher | Bilingual Children’s Books | School Programs

Website: Bilingual Children’s Books in Spanish and English (lecturabooks.com)

IG: Lectura Books (@lectura_books) • Instagram photos and videos

Tres. The Libro Lincoln Heights — Indie Bookstore

IG: thelibros_lincolnheights

Quatro: Riot of Roses Publishing House — Xicana Brenda Vaca

IG: Riot of Roses Publishing House (@riotofrosespublishing) • Instagram photos and videos

Cinco. Barrio Books — Independent Bookstore | Literature by BIPOC Authors

Website: Barrio Books Bookshop

IG: barriobooks520

Seis. Con Todo Press — Publisher

Website: Con Todo Press — Bilingual Children’s books

IG: Con Todo Press ®️ (@contodopress) • Instagram photos and videos

Siete. Mija Books — Bilingual and Multicultural Kid’s Bookstore

Website: MiJa Books Shop

IG: mijabooks

Ocho. Ashley Saywers — Horror Genre/Leader of Book Club/Co-Owner of Night Worm Monthly Book Box

Website: Night Worms Horror is Our Happy Place

IG: coffeeandcuentos Book Club

IG: Night Worms (@night_worms) • Instagram photos and videos

We have so much access with this little list here. We can easily find bilingual bookstores and reach out to BIPOC-specific publishing houses to publish your own book.

If this doesn’t work out, there are more Latina-owned bilingual bookstores and Publishing houses out there waiting for you.

Full transparency

I haven’t been to or purchased from any of these bookstores or publishing houses … yet, I know! This blog post is to get the names of these Latina-owned bookstores and publishing houses out there. Don’t get me wrong, I did a lot of “research” on these literary geniuses by window shopping on their websites and honestly, it’s only a matter of time until I get out there to visit and support these publishers in other ways.

But, yes … yes, I am dyyying to visit and make several purchases. You see, the way my bank account is set up (just kidding, Kevin Hart humor) … financially I’m in a position of only purchasing necessities. This is me being responsible in life. It sucks. But God is good and I am blessed. I know the day will come! Until then,

I LOVE to do product reviews. So, I’m also interested in creating content for gifted products for reviews posted on my platforms. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Books about immigration stories written by Latine

Solito by Javier Zamora
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

*Book suggestions contain affiliate links