Gets Real: Amplifying the voices of marginalized authors

SEATTLE — Hinton Publishing is providing a place for Seattle writers with marginalized experiences to publish their books.

Marcus Green and long-time librarian Maggie Block joined forces to create Hilton Publishing with a mission to shed light on experiences that have been overlooked or ignored in mainstream literature. Their main focus is to offer a seat at the table to authors of color, queer, or with disabilities as many in Seattle don’t get the publishing opportunities that they deserve.

They say that this is important because while diverse stories are written, they are often never published. This is a problem because people rely on stories as a way to have their life experiences affirmed and understood.

“I think that publishers and people who own media companies believe that only stories about white Christian straight people are going to sell. And that’s not true,” said Block.

Green and Block use social media to reach writers around the Pacific Northwest and encourage them to submit a manuscript, authors like Juan Carlos Reyes. He says that there are many authors in Seattle who are not getting the opportunities they deserve, and not from a lack of trying.

‘I think we’ve done a great job in the city individually as artists to gather momentum around that, and it’s about maybe encouraging institutions to sort of catch up,” said Reyes.

Since the field of publishing is historically and overwhelmingly white, Harrison says that it can create an unconscious bias in what gets published and what does not.

“Many times it’s not anything that’s malicious, it’s just what’s familiar to me. This author’s voice is familiar to me. This scenario is familiar to me. And this is something I know will make money and so ‘let’s go with this’. ‘to have the team behind Hinton be a queer non-binary person and a man of color…I think that really sets us apart,” said Harrison.

The story of Hinton Publishing is just beginning, however, the business partners say that they have big plans for the literary space. They hope to release two books through their publishing agency next spring while explaining in the coming year.

“I’m the type of person that at the end of my life I want to be able to say that I did something. And tried to provide some level of meaning and understanding,” said Harrison “to have the team behind Hinton be a queer non-binary person and a man of color…I think that really sets us apart.”

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