Pride, Not Prejudice: I’m doing a book, and you can too!

Well, not quite a whole book. Last year I was approached by the editorial team at Unbound, the crowdfunding publisher, to contribute to an anthology of transgender and nonbinary writers, something like Nasty Women or The Good Immigrant. I immediately agreed and started working on my essay, excited about my authorial debut. 

That’s right, we’ve got a hashtag!

Fast forward a few months, and the realities of crowdfunding are pulling the scales from my eyes: before this book can be a book, it must be a campaign! I’ll admit at first I wasn’t fully aware of how much work it takes to crowdfund a book but the process has been interesting, and it’s beginning to be rewarding.

I’ve renewed my contacts in the transgender and LGBT community, and renewed some friendships along the way! I’ve learned how to talk to people about something I’m passionate about, and (hopefully) to convey my passion to that person. I’ve gotten to design graphics (like the one at the top here!) and cold-call people I haven’t spoken to in years (terrifying and strangely debasing). It’s all been very character-building.

The book itself is going to be a veritable bestiary of trans identities (there’s a really great list of who we are and what we do in this post by Matti Colley, one of my fellow authors, a list which also includes Kate Hutchinson, musician and campaigner for Wipe Out Transphobia, and writer and activist Maria Munir, who came out to President Obama!) and it’s going to talk about everything from media representation to role models to religion. Out of all the people involved, I’m probably the least well-informed about trans history and issues, which is saying a lot, let me tell you! I’ve gotten to know my fellow authors to varying degrees and it’s been amazing just to see the diversity of perspectives!

The hardest part, as you might guess, is getting enough people to believe in the project to get it funded. If you’ve read this far, you might be one of these people! Do you want to know what it’s like to be a transgender person, in our own words? Or are you trans, and you want a little solidarity, a reassurance that you’re not alone? I can confidently say this is a book that you will want to read.  We’ve got the passion, the knowledge and the willingness to share it, but we need your support.

What you can do for us is pledge for a copy of the book! If Pride, Not Prejudice seems like the kind of thing that you’d pick up in a bookshop, then pledge here! It’s basically preordering, and the more people prepay the faster the book will get published. The first 50% of funds is the hardest to raise, so we really really need a groundswell of support to get this thing going.

Again, this project needs YOUR SUPPORT in order to become a reality! Whether you’re a trans activist supporting in solidarity or even just curious about what it’s like to be us, we can use your help!

Have a beautiful day, Eris out.