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In 2023 I got called out on TikTok … well, not directly, but Directly – you know how that works right? The reaction of “why didn’t you just @me?”
Well, @serareadthat commented on how black content creators on BookTok constantly made videos and did reviews for white authors and books, but white content creators didn’t do the same for BIPoC authors. Why should the BIPoC community invest in the white community if they are not returning the favor?
Here on my blog, I have worked hard at making sure I have equal representation of women and men. My annual spreadsheet is broken up in alternating reviews and blogs between the genders. I even pay attention to the queer community and endeavor to include diverse characters in my stories. But on TikTok, at that point I got called on the carpet, I hadn’t been making an effort.
Fortunately my efforts of equality on Erin Penn’s Second Base carried the gender work to my BookQuotes. But … big BUT … I still complete Fell Down on BIPoC. I also, during my TBR Project, got a good intense look at my actual reading. It wasn’t pretty how much I leaned on a system that I knew was broken but didn’t try to avoid the embedded bigotry. I needed to do better.
First, and immediately, I created a system for creating my BookQuotes where BIPoC consideration is a step. No matter what 25% of the BookQuotes for TikTok will be BIPoC. Took nearly two months, but I managed to turn the percentages around. To do so used up every indigenous, Hispanic, Immigrant, and black book I had read in recent memory. So next, I had to set up a system to READ books by BIPoC so I could keep up the BookQuotes in an appropriate ratio in the future. I had to Read with Intent. (I created a whole series of why Reading with Intent is important and you can find it on my YouTube channel – @erinpenn7745.)
Sistah Sci-Fi has helped a lot. Rather than curate through Amazon’s crazy mess, I can focus on solid science fiction by black woman science fiction authors. Completely online, this store has been perfect to get me connected to the books I would want to read.
Let me tell you, there are books in here you want to add to your Christmas List too: https://sistahscifi.com/
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