How This Self-Published Author Raised Over A Million Dollars

Row House is the one that was really the big, audacious project, where we were trying to raise 900,000 dollars—and that turned into 1.2 million. We were trying to blow the lid off the industry in terms of the inequity and pay, so we introduced this 4040 model, which gives a 40,000 dollar advance and 40% royalty to every single author, regardless of the size of their platform.

So, one of the major challenges was doubt. Many people told us it was impossible—that we couldn’t do it because it had never been done. The other challenge was raising money and awareness, and getting people involved, especially from traditional routes, like venture capitalists—a lot of people were looking for me to fail. I was constantly having to not only justify the mission of the company, but also really justify my existence as a person in business. It was demoralizing, it was frustrating, and that’s why we went the crowdfunding route.

It turned out to be historically successful. There’s a very short list of Black women who have raised a million dollars through traditional financing routes, and our entire publishing council is made up of women of color. We hit almost 1.2 million in less than a year, so it was a really big deal.