Bloomsbury, Amy Martin, Black Panther, and Me

In October 2024, Amy Martin, a literary acquisitions editor at Bloomsbury Academic, reached out to my brother Kenton and me to ask whether we were considering expanding our article, "How the “New York Times” Covers Black Writers" into a book. She encouraged us to submit a proposal if so.

As it turned out, Kenton and I had already been developing our ideas into a larger book project. We completed a proposal and submitted it. Right after submitted, I followed up with Amy, writing: “Not to overwhelm you with proposals, but I noticed your 'Black Literary and Cultural Expressions' series, and since I’m nearly finished with my manuscript on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s run on Black Panther, I decided to prepare a proposal. Let me know if it might fit within your series.”

Amy kindly reviewed the materials and invited me to share draft chapters. I sent what I had at the time, the introduction through chapter eight of a projected ten chapters.

The rest is history, and in this case, “history” means rounds of reader reviews, revisions, editorial feedback, production processes, and now an upcoming release on May 14.

Along the way, Amy shared some very good news. First, beyond the standard academic contract, she noted that the U.S. retail price would be set at a level that allows the book to be sold in bookstores, an uncommon circumstance for a work of literary scholarship. Second, she confirmed that the press would also produce an audiobook edition, another notable advantage for an academic title.

Related:

• Book Notes: Writing Black Panther