We want to thank everyone who made purchases in celebration of Juneteenth. As a result, $67,462 will be shared between 55 Black-owned Libro.fm partner bookstores.
It was incredible to see your support for Black-owned bookstores, and we believe that this is only the beginning. Libro.fm is committed to doing the work: amplifying BIPOC voices, diversifying our small team as we grow, evaluating our partnerships, and pushing for change within the book industry. We are looking back with an awareness of how we’ve fallen short in the past, and we are taking action as we move forward.
How we’re moving forward:
- We will actively recruit and hire BIPOC team members as we continue to grow.
- We will prioritize audiobooks by BIPOC authors by regularly sharing pre-orders and new releases on our channels. We invite you to explore this list of 2020 releases by BIPOC authors.
- We will feature BIPOC-operated bookstores and BIPOC booksellers on our social media channels and blog, and will actively seek these voices out to share with the larger community.
- We will offer more website customization for our bookstore partners, ensuring that their Libro.fm homepages reflect the books they want to feature, their ownership, and their staff.
- We will focus influencer outreach to BIPOC creators exclusively for the remainder of the year, and ensure that future programs featuring creators include at least 50% BIPOC.
- We will advocate for BIPOC authors in our interactions with our publishing partners, requesting more BIPOC author representation across Audiobook Listening Copies (ALCs).
- We will evaluate current and future partnerships for inclusivity.
- We will self-educate about racist and anti-racist behavior as a team through the consumption and discussion of BIPOC books.
We hope that the actions we are taking show our intentions, and we also acknowledge that this work will never be “done.” This is an evolving list of actions that we’re taking as a company, and we invite dialogue, questions, comments, and suggestions from our community. Please connect with us at hello@libro.fm with your thoughts.
Only 2 chapters in to “Stamped” (Kendi) and I’m both impressed (by historical data) and pretty much staggered (by the lack of what we were taught in our “history” classes in prior times). But for some twist of fate, my “people” (Slavs) would be facing all the same hurdles as those Kendi describes. I’m only beginning to understand the difference between being “anti-racist” and “assimilationist” and can easily see that regardless of self-images of being “progressive”, most all of us have a lot to learn.