[MUSIC, INTRO] Hey, Book of Life listeners, Heidi here. I'm squeezing in an extra episode to let you know about a special project inspired by our July interview with Arthur Levine of Levine Querido. Authors Lisa Wiemer and Debbi Lakrtiz will explain.
I'm Liza Wiemer.
Liza is well known for her young adult novel The Assignment, and her debut picture book came out this year: Out and About: A Tale of Giving.
Hi, I'm Debbi Lakritz.
Debbi's most recent picture book is A Place to Belong: Debbie Friedman Sings Her Way Home, and she's got a middle grade novel coming out in spring 2024 called Things That Shimmer.
Neither of us are Levine Querido authors. We have no books on submission with them. And we really had no prior relationship with the publishing company before this.
A few weeks back, Debbi and I were at a coffee house together, and we were working on manuscripts and we started talking about the book bans that have been going on across this country. We also discussed the recent closures of publishing houses, including Inkyard, a division of Page Street, and the layoffs at Penguin Random House and their early retirement offers that they gave to their employees. We also discussed Simon and Schuster and how it was sold to a private investment firm. As we were talking, I mentioned to Debbi that I had heard The Book of Life podcast and Heidi's interview with Arthur Levine. He talked about the Levine Querido Challenge to sell 100,000 books by September 1. I looked at Debbi and said, "you know, there has to be some issues if they need to sell 100,000 books." Debbie looked at me and said...
I said, "You know, we need to do something about this."
And I said, "We absolutely need to do something about it!"
Liza and I looked up more about their 100,000 book challenge that started in April of 2023, where Levine Querido asked people to purchase 100,000 of their books by September 1. And what we learned is that they fell way short by 99,339 books, according to Arthur in one of his most recent Twitter posts.
Even though they worked hard to publicize the campaign, we were not aware of it until Heidi's podcast. Algorithms have a huge impact on what people see online. When I asked other authors if they had seen this campaign, they too said that they weren't aware of it. So even though LQ started this campaign in April, sadly, it fell short.
We also know that Levine Querido launched their first books in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when schools went virtual, and bookstores and libraries were closed, and in-person signings, book launches, and other author events were simply nonexistent. And also they have faced some extra challenges because the banning of diverse books like the ones that they publish, leads to reduced sales.
[Harp music indicating flashback to July episode] LQ's mission is to search for and support authors and illustrators from groups that have been particularly historically overlooked or underestimated. Basically, all of the books that are being banned, those are our books. So if you take the state of Texas and the state of Florida out of your ability to sell books, that's a lot of potential market that is not accessible anymore. I mean, even worse is the effect it has on the kids in those states who desperately need the books and the support. It hurts us to know that this book that we're making, so that they don't feel alone, they're going to not be able to find it in their library. So it's super bad for our audience, but financially, we can't shrug that off. We're a small publisher, you know, we don't have The Very Hungry Caterpillar on our back list. We need to sell these books now. So that's the challenge of book banning for a small company with the particular mission that LQ has.
We want to send a message that supporting these authors published by Levine Querido, and those who have the potential of being published by them, that it makes a difference. We also care that all children should be able to see themselves in the pages of books. Levine Querido is committed to doing this. And we are concerned that if we lose Levine Querido, that publishing houses will hesitate to increase their support of these authors. So with book bans and what we're seeing in the publishing world, we really felt that we needed to make a difference. We are organizing an online auction to help Levine Querido.
Some people may ask, why would a publisher need to raise money at all? And I give you Arthur's own words for the answer from another one of his recent Twitter posts. "Would you raise money for Penguin Random House? Well, I'd suggest this analogy. Penguin Random House is a huge corporation. Levine Querido is a tiny, brand new company. Penguin Random House is like Revlon. Levine Querido is like the indie bookstore in your town."
We would be so grateful if you would consider supporting our online auction by donating either a service or item. It could be a query critique, an annotated copy of your book, an illustration or a virtual school visit; we have a long list of ideas, and that link along with our letter donation form, and the site to see what's already been donated so far, is on the Book of Life podcast page. We also encourage all of you to join us beginning September 3, to bid.
And for those of you who have already donated, we are so appreciative, deeply appreciative. And wait until you see our beautiful site where you'll see your donation listed. And you will be very, very inspired to bid on some of the incredible things that are coming in. I know Liza and I already have plans to bid and to donate and we're very excited about it. So on behalf of Liza, me, and Levine Querido, we thank you deeply for listening to us, for considering our project, and we hope that you will be involved.
Levine Querido is a remarkable publisher with an important yet imperiled mission. In the few short years since they were founded, they've won over 150 awards for their devastatingly beautiful books. But the timing of the pandemic and the rise in book banning is a huge challenge for them. We need Levine Querido to succeed not just because they're doing great work, but because the publishing industry needs to see that diversity does sell. Please join me in buying Levine Querido books, requesting them from the local library, and in supporting Liza and Debbie's auction. See the show notes for links to the ways you can help.
[MUSIC, OUTRO] Say hi to Heidi at 561-206-2473 or bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com. Check out our Book of Life podcast Facebook page, or our Facebook discussion group, Jewish Kidlit Mavens. We are occasionally on Twitter too @bookoflifepod. Want to read the books featured on the show? Buy them through Bookshop.org/shop/bookoflife to support the podcast and independent bookstores at the same time. You can also help us out by becoming a monthly supporter through Patreon. Additional support comes from the Association of Jewish Libraries, which also sponsors our sister podcast, Nice Jewish Books, a show about Jewish fiction for adults. You'll find links for all of that and more at BookofLifepodcast.com Our background music is provided by the Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Thanks for listening and happy reading!
