Exploring Life & Business with Antonia Royal Whitmore of Mind Of Gold to Publack Library Publishing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonia Royal Whitmore. She and her team share their story with us below:

Publack Library Publishing, formally known as Mind Of Gold, was founded by Antonia Royal-Whitmore in 2019.

Publack Library Publishing is a publishing company focused on creating representative literature and supporting Black aspiring authors throughout their journey.

Until recently, I subconsciously normalized the lack of representation, especially positive representation, in books, movies, and other forms of literature and media. It was ‘normal’ to read about characters who did not look like me or share similar life experiences. I underestimated how the lack of inclusiveness impacted me emotionally, psychologically, and mentally and decided to create relatable and reflective literature for my community.

With a few years under my belt and over 10 published projects, I recognized that the literary world had a specific look. Only 5% of all published authors are Black. This statistic raised many questions for me. Questions like:

1. Why were traditional publishing companies not onboarding more authors of color?

2. Is there a correlation between the low literacy rates in the Black community and the lack of Black authors, Black characters, and Black experiences depicted in many books?

3. What can I do to change this narrative?

With research and acquired knowledge from self-publishing, Publack Library Publishing was birthed!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?

Most things in life are not a smooth road, especially being a business owner. Although I have a minor in business and received A’s in most of my business courses, I was not prepared for the business world.

In addition, I knew nothing about authorship or publishing companies and I strongly disliked English and struggled with grammar and spelling.

Loving a good challenge, I combined things I knew very little about and ran forward, full speed. The biggest lesson I learned was understanding that I didn’t have to be exceptional at everything but to find the people that were, to help. Now I have editors to edit my work and the work of our authors. (If not, there would be so many grammatical errors in all of our projects!!).

A challenge we are also overcoming is having such establish competitors like Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House whose been around for decades, if not longer. Although these companies are reputable, they lack one important thing, diversity.

We’ve been impressed with Mind Of Gold, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

85% of Black students are functionally illiterate. At Publack Library Publishing, we believe to increase the literacy rates within our community we must increase the positive representation in literature. We strive to change the racial status quo in literature by publishing representative children’s books that educate, empower, and entertain young readers, written by Black authors. Our books are filled with inclusion and representation on each page of our publications ranging from African American main characters and even bilingual literature!

We are huge advocates for community outreach and volunteering as we visit schools, read to students, and donate our books. Publack Library Publishing plans to launch an annual Summer Reading Program filled with gifts and prizes to promote and encourage reading in our community.

We also collaborate with other companies and organizations with our wholesale program where organizations that are education-based, centered around inclusion, and or service the minority population receive our books in bulk at a discounted rate.

If your company fits that criteria, we would love to connect to see how our organizations can partner!

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?

My favorite childhood memory is having tea parties with my grandmother, Gloria Royal, using my plastic Disney princess tea set. We would also play Candy Land often and even Shoots and Ladders! Another memory is playing Dominoes with my grandfather Morris Royal. I’m not sure if I’m a better player than him now or he just lets me win often!

My family are major supporters and investors for my company, and I am forever grateful for them!

I love you all!

Contact Info:

• Website: publacklibrary.org
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/publacklibrarypublishing

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