I’m nine years late and should be ashamed of myself. I had absolutely no idea that Black Expressions Book Club closed in 2013, and I’m clearly part of the problem when it comes to supporting the company.
There was a time when I was relentlessly buying books via that club or physical stores. I loved the idea of strolling into African-owned and African-American-owned bookstores in downtown Chicago and the South Side of Chicago, taking note of any new book I saw. I could stick my arm out, spin around and know for sure that I was going to knock over a book I desperately wanted to read.
If you’re a black Geriatric Millennial or from Generation X, you knew this book club. Pay $2 for five titles of your choice, a free gift and look out for 60% savings on retail publishers’ prices. I wasn’t quite sure how well mainstream authors were getting paid off of deals like this, but I crossed my fingers and hoped that publishers were offering them a reasonable contract. Between Black Expressions Book Club and Columbia House offering 12 CDs for $0.01, my teenage years were nonstop entertainment.
Recommended Read: “Black book characters make black kids like me want to read more ~ Why Young, Black & Lit is onto something with its literature nonprofits”
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