{"id":1041,"date":"2016-02-29T10:18:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T18:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2016-02-29T19:19:16","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T03:19:16","slug":"still-self-publish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/still-self-publish\/","title":{"rendered":"If the Publishing World Were to Change Tomorrow, I&#8217;d Still Self-Publish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1045\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/close-up-with-watermark-209x300.png\" alt=\"close-up-with-watermark\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/close-up-with-watermark-209x300.png 209w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/close-up-with-watermark.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/>What if the children\u2019s book industry changed tomorrow? And the number of books that actually reflect our communities was equitable with those of straight Euro Americans? What if I began getting calls that offered real advances and publicity for books with larger publishing houses? What if for some reason, after 20 years in the industry, I was known, valued, wanted for my experience? I\u2019ll tell you. I\u2019d take it. I\u2019d be happy to support my family and my work and get my name out there. Come on change! I welcome you!!!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>But I would not stop self-publishing.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I never intended to be in the children\u2019s book industry. I initially entered the scene as an artist and an activist through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leeandlow.com\/imprints\/4\" target=\"_blank\">Children\u2019s Book Press<\/a>. But after spending time with these books what I found was that <em>real power<\/em> lies at the heart of them. The more involved I became in creating children\u2019s books the more I understood that. I understood the<em> power<\/em> it had for me personally to heal the experiences I had not only growing up but also as an adult, and by extension the <em>power<\/em> I got to share as my books circulated in my communities and the world.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1044\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/medium-shot-with-watermark-1.png\" alt=\"medium-shot-with-watermark\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/medium-shot-with-watermark-1.png 600w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/medium-shot-with-watermark-1-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Self-publishing stands on its own<\/strong>. <\/span>It is about owning voice; stepping outside of historically oppressive systems to claim ownership of my perspective, my world as a working class, radical queer xicana and others like me; it is about modeling new ways of <em>power<\/em> rising and being shared, creating new systems that support us ALL equally.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>ULTIMATELY SELF PUBLISHING IS ABOUT THE RECLAMATION OF STORYTELLING BY THE PEOPLE<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>IT&#8217;S ABOUT POWER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Our creative <em>power<\/em> is our own and it does not have to be tied to financial viability to heal and transform our communities. <strong>Our voice is for ourselves.<\/strong> It is us who must hear it and claim our stories so that we become whole. This is for me. This is for my family. My communities. My world. This is for you.<\/p>\n<p>Voice is a revolution. My voice. YOUR VOICE. My revolution. YOURS. Traditional publishing will do whatever traditional publishing does. But we will endure.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reflectionpress.com\/kids\/\" target=\"_blank\">EVERYONE make books now!<\/a> The <em>power<\/em> is OURS and it&#8217;s FREE!!! Let it rise&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1042 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/big-group-with-watermark.png\" alt=\"big-group-with-watermark\" width=\"600\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/big-group-with-watermark.png 600w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/big-group-with-watermark-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if the children\u2019s book industry changed tomorrow? And the number of books that actually reflect our communities was equitable with those of straight Euro Americans? What if I began getting calls that offered real advances and publicity for books with larger publishing houses? What if for some reason, after &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9,7,11,5,6],"tags":[30,195,51,138,137,139,115,141,126,44,62,98,205],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>If the Publishing World Were to Change Tomorrow, I&#039;d Still Self-Publish - Maya Gonzalez Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/still-self-publish\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"maya\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/still-self-publish\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/still-self-publish\/\",\"name\":\"If the Publishing World Were to Change Tomorrow, I'd Still Self-Publish - 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