Category: Blog

…and Those Who Want to Start One

At PTP Press, the traditional imprint of Path To Publishing, we recognize the value that book clubs bring to their members, to authors attempting to spread a message, and to publishers like us. We value the work that you do.

Bringing in a book like The Price We Pay and facilitating the kind of work required to create open, honest, and meaningful conversations around race relations and diversity, equity, and inclusion may seem daunting. That’s why we stand ready to support you.

The book launched in Fall of 2023. Interested book clubs are invited to sign up now and join us for a special Zoom call series we’ll be hosting to help them prepare. During the call, we’ll be guiding you through:
• Planning the introduction of the book and the purpose of the discussions to your members
• Putting to use the resources and systems we offer to support your group in creating a safe, welcoming environment for these conversations to take place
• Practicing having those discussions in our moderated breakout rooms
• Getting answers to your questions and concerns about the book and the challenges it presents

We will also be offering the opportunity for those who attend to meet the author, listen to her experiences, and ask questions about the content in the book. This will be a judgment-free zone, so bring an open mind and a willingness to explore life from a different perspective.

To thank participating book clubs, PTP Press will be compiling and publishing a list of all book clubs who have registered to host these conversations and including them in our press releases. Book Club Facilitators and Presidents are encouraged to sign up at https://ptppress.com/book-club-signup to be notified when these events are taking place.

To discover more about our plans, visit our crowdfunding campaign’s page at ​https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change​​​.​ Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every publisher who signed on to publish a book and wondered, “Will it be worth the investment?”

We know what that’s like. We know the risks you take, both professionally and financially, every time you say “yes” to one title and “no” to another. We know that, in most cases, you never make back the money you invested, but you keep investing anyway because you know the value that books bring to society.

Publishing is a leadership position. Society may not recognize this, and the losses publishing companies take may not always reflect this, but it is true. The words a publishing company prints today won’t just impact this generation. They will impact every generation to come.

Today’s generations are still reading the works of people who wrote their words more than 5,000 years ago. They are being influenced by those words and their lives are impacted by them.

We want to encourage publishers to #JoinTheConversation and support Path To Publishing’s mission to change the conversation around race relations using our upcoming book, The Price We Pay, which is being published on our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press. We know that it may sound odd to promote work published by what might be considered the competition, but when it comes to race relations, our success or failure will impact everyone.

We’ll do this using Nikki T. Anthony’s book, The Price We Pay. We want to leverage it to demonstrate the value of fiction and a writer’s ability to make a difference with a book.

Our pledge to those publishers who step up and join this movement is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered. We will be giving our supporters access to:

1. Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
2. Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
3. A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics in an inter-racial community.
4. A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

In return for the support of those who join us, we’ll be willing to lend our support to titles they represent, which lends itself toward making a social impact. We’ll offer the inside information needed for them to take our concept and adapt it to their needs.

Discover more about our crowdfunding campaign at ​https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change​​​.​ Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every business owner and entrepreneur who is concerned about the impact that growing racial divisions and escalating tensions will have on their business.

Unaddressed racism hurts the bottom line. It leads to ​higher employee turnover and lawsuits​. It can also impact the goodwill of consumers, leading to a loss of business and revenue. If we want to stop racism, it starts with opening the doors of communication and changing the conversation around race relations.

Nikki T. Anthony’s new book, The Price We Pay, is about the price businesses and communities pay when people remain silent and do nothing to stop racism in its tracks. That makes it the perfect vehicle for opening the doors to honest communication around race relations that can lead to lasting change.

Partnering with Path To Publishing by supporting our crowdfunding campaign is a solid step forward in opening those doors. For those with employees, the book can be used as a tool to engage in dialogue about the difference in racial perspectives and how those impact their ability to get along with their co-workers and employers.

Those conversations may be difficult to have, but are essential to finding lasting solutions. And along with the book, Path To Publishing will offer resources for the training, assistance, and guidance needed to have those conversations.

Offering space for book club meetings or hosting discussion groups is another way that businesses can bring more people to them while at the same time helping to foster an environment where honest conversations and meaningful dialogues between races can take place.

They can also provide copies to clients and customers, asking for feedback on how their business is doing in terms of race relations. Are they contributing to the problems, or are they seen as part of the solution?

The results of these conversations may not be what business leaders and entrepreneurs would like to hear, at first, but lasting change cannot happen without them.

We aren’t asking business owners and entrepreneurs to do this without support, though. Our pledge to those who step up and #JoinTheConversation is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered.

We will be offering those who #JoinTheConversation access to:

1. Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
2. Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
3. A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics.
4. A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

These are designed to help business owners and entrepreneurs engage in productive conversations about race relations while at the same time developing the leadership skills needed to make lasting change possible.

We want to encourage business owners and entrepreneurs to #JoinTheConversation and support Path To Publishing’s crowdfunding campaign. Together, we can demonstrate the value that business owners and entrepreneurs bring to the table and their ability to make a difference in their communities.

To discover more about Path To Publishing and our plans for changing the conversation around race relations, visit our crowdfunding campaign at ​https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change​​​.​ Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

And to learn more about our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, visit ​www.ptppress.com​.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every parent or grandparent who watches in frustration as their children grow up amidst growing racial divisions and escalating tensions, fearing for their safety, and wonders, “What can I do?”

The answer: Help us open the doors to communication and change the conversation around race relations.

Parenting and grandparenting is a leadership position. Society may forget this, but it is true. A parent’s influence begins the moment of the child’s conception and lasts all the way through to death.

No matter what peer influence may come or what social pressures may exist, parents are the most important influence in any child’s life. Nikki T. Anthony’s new book, The Price We Pay, is told from the perspective of a Black teenage girl whose relationship with her parents is something all too familiar to many parents: she’s rebellious and doesn’t trust her parents.

The relationship between her and her father is especially strained. Adding to the strain between them is a community that’s experiencing escalations in racial divisions due to unresolved and unaddressed injustices that have piled up over years.

Reading this book may prove difficult for many parents and grandparents, but we encourage them to use this book as a means of opening the door to conversations that begin with race relations and end with discussions about their own relationships.

Those conversations aren’t easy to have and staying calm enough to listen through them is tough. This isn’t about blaming parents and grandparents for the problems.

Blame does not help the teen, the parent, or the grandparent and does nothing to solve the problem. This is about opening the door to communication so that solutions that work for all sides can be found.

We aren’t asking parents and grandparents to do this without support, though. Our pledge to those who step up to #JoinTheConversation is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered.

We will be offering those who #JoinTheConversation access to:

1. Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
2. Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
3. A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics.
4. A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

We want to encourage parents and grandparents to support Path To Publishing’s mission to support our efforts to change the conversation around race relations and set the example for their teens of how to navigate the challenges that face them. We know that the leadership of parents and grandparents is a powerful force in any teen’s life, and what they do has much more of an impact than what they say.

To discover more about Path To Publishing and our plans for The Price We Pay, visit our crowdfunding campaign at ​https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change​​​.​ Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

And to learn more about our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, visit ​www.ptppress.com​.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every pastor who feels frustrated as they watch youth who grow up and leave the Church, and wonder, “What can I do?”

The answer: Help us open the doors to communication around religion and its role in improving race relations.

Religion gets a lot of pushback in today’s environment because it is seen as a bunch of rules and regulations leveraged in an effort to control and manipulate others. It’s safe to say that most people’s first brush with religion is experienced as “Rigid Expectations, Legalistic Indoctrination, Growing Inconsistencies, and Overbearing Nosiness.”

That’s not pleasant. It’s not something anyone wants. And that’s why people walk away.

However, at its core, religion isn’t about the rules. It’s about the relationships. It’s a set of concepts for helping people learn to live in healthy relationship with one another, with God, and with their environment.

When religion is done the right way, it shows up as “Respectful Empathy, Loving Intentions, Guided Instruction, and Ongoing Nurturing.”

Nikki T. Anthony’s new book, The Price We Pay, is told from the perspective of a Black teenage girl whose experiences with religion are not always positive. It is the church, though, that rallies together to help fight back when racial tensions in the community reach their height.

We encourage pastors to leverage this book as a means of helping parents and teens engage in open, honest conversations about religion and its role in helping to unite people to fight for a common cause while at the same time helping to heal racial divisions. The results of these conversations may not, at first, be what parents and pastors would like to hear, but lasting change cannot happen without them.

We aren’t asking pastors to do this without support, though. Our pledge to those pastors who step up and join this movement is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered.

We will offer Study Guides to help pastors, teens, and parents engage in productive conversations about race relations and religion’s role in helping to heal those divisions and unite communities. We’ll also offer access to the Magnetic Thought Leadership Training needed to implement what they’ve learned and lead the way to a better, brighter future for all races.

To discover more about Path To Publishing and our plans for The Price We Pay, visit our crowdfunding campaign at ​https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change​​​.​ Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

And to learn more about our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, visit ​www.ptppress.com​.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every educator who ever stepped up in front of a classroom and wondered, “Does my work matter?”

The short answer: Yes.

Teaching is a leadership position. Society may forget this, and the pay educators receive may not always reflect this, but it is true. The lessons a teacher gives today won’t just impact this generation. They will impact every generation to come afterward.

Not every lesson passed on in a classroom comes out of a textbook. The most important lessons often come from the relationships a teacher forms with his or her students. The impact of those relationships, good or bad, influence the way that future generations think about and discuss education.

Nikki T. Anthony’s new book, The Price We Pay, is told from the perspective of a Black teenage girl whose experiences with her teachers and principal are not positive in large part due to racial prejudices. That can make this a difficult read for educators, and we recognize that.

However, we encourage educators to use this book as an opportunity to open the doors to honest conversation with their students and parents about how they feel they are treated by the staff at their school and how that treatment impacts their ability to learn. The results of these conversations may not be what educators would like to hear, but lasting change cannot happen without them.

It’s clear that the education system as it exists is failing Black students. The graduation rate for Black male students is 59% — lower than any other population in the nation. Black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled, and are less likely to be identified as gifted and placed in gifted classes.

It’s fine to bring in outside researchers and to examine test scores to try and see where the problem is, but that won’t give the kind of insights that students themselves can provide. This isn’t about blaming educators for the problems. Blame helps neither the student nor the educators and does nothing to solve the problem.

We aren’t asking teachers and educators to do this without support, though. Our pledge to those educators who step up is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered. We will be offering those who #JoinTheConversation access to:

• Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
• Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
• A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics in an inter-racial community.
• A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

We will work to help educators, parents, and students engage in productive conversations about race relations in the classroom, while at the same time developing the leadership skills needed to make lasting change possible.

We want to encourage educators to #JoinTheConversation and support Path To Publishing’s mission to change the conversation around race relations with Nikki T. Anthony’s book, The Price We Pay. We want to leverage it to demonstrate the value educators bring to these conversations and their ability to make a difference with a book.

To discover more about Path To Publishing and the traditional publishing imprint we are publishing the title under (PTP Press), as well as our plans for The Price We Pay, visit our crowdfunding campaign at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

This is an open letter from Path To Publishing to every writer who ever sat down at a keyboard and wondered, “Does it matter whether I finish this or not?”

The short answer: Yes.

Writing is a leadership position. Society may forget this, and the pay writers receive may not always reflect this, but it is true. The words a writer pens today won’t just impact this generation. They will impact every generation to come afterward.

Today’s generations are still reading the works of people who wrote their words more than 5,000 years ago. They are being influenced by those words and their lives are impacted by them.

We want to encourage writers to #JoinTheConversation and support Path To Publishing’s mission to change the conversation around race relations. We’ll do this using Nikki T. Anthony’s book, The Price We Pay, a novel being published on our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press. We want to leverage it to demonstrate the value of fiction and a writer’s ability to make a difference with a book.

Our pledge to those writers who step up and join this movement is that our service will not stop when the book is delivered. We will be giving our supporters access to:

• Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
• Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
• A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics in an inter-racial community.
• A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

Along the way, we’ll be demonstrating to you what is possible for you to achieve with your work if given the right support and backed by the right community. We are working to establish a publishing brand known for producing conversation starters that challenge the status quo and open the door to productive conversations around the issues that divide people.

Those writers who are members of our LEADERS community will be given preference when it comes time for us to review submissions.

To discover more about our plans for The Price We Pay, visit our crowdfunding campaign’s page at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

And to learn more about our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, visit www.ptppress.com.

The crowdfunding campaign we are running for The Price We Pay — the novel being released on Path To Publishing’s traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press — is much more than a book. It is a movement to cultivate LEADERS who are not content to allow racial divisions to grow unchecked and who are willing to take action to help us change the conversation around race relations.

Being LEADERS takes courage. It takes courage to be the first to start something. Our supporters are LEADERS who will be standing on the front lines, facing the opposition from those who don’t yet understand the vision as well as those who have a vested interest in perpetuating racial divisions.

By joining with us in our work to change the conversation around race relations, they are taking a social risk, and we intend to honor that risk. That’s why we are pledging to our supporters that our service to them will not stop with a book.

We will support them in organizing communities and book clubs. We will keep them updated with inside information about the book’s progress, media and author interviews that they can share with their followers, as well as access to the following resources:

• Magnetic Thought Leadership Training to equip them to lead these conversations in a way that creates an inviting, respectful space where all voices are recognized and seen as being of equal value.
• Lessons in how to hold difficult conversations that are productive and meaningful where both sides feel respected and heard, yet challenged and encouraged to find room for compromise.
• A Study Guide to navigating the challenges of discussing sensitive topics in an inter-racial community.
• A community of like-minded individuals who are ready and willing to lend their support and encouragement along the way.

This training and the experiences of becoming LEADERS will offer lifelong value going far beyond the price of the book.

To discover more about our plans for The Price We Pay, visit our crowdfunding campaign page at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

It’s one thing to build a community of like-minded individuals, but to build momentum, that first community must extend beyond itself to cooperate with other organizations and communities that share similar goals.

The more people that are involved, the faster progress can be made as new ideas and greater energy is added to the mix. Great leaders recognize this truth and are always seeking to partner with other organizations in order to achieve their goals.

At Path To Publishing, we routinely look for partnerships with other organizations and work with them to help them meet their needs just as they help our community meet its needs. One of those partnerships is with the IBPA or the Independent Book Publishers Association, (https://www.ibpa.org).

The IBPA serves to help independent publishers and self-published authors get the help and support they need to produce books of the same quality as traditional publishing houses, while getting many of the same networking advantages.

We are also looking to partner with other writers, book club leaders, educators, pastors, community leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as parents and grandparents, to help us in our efforts to change the conversation around race relations using our upcoming novel The Price We Pay, being published on our traditional publishing imprint (PTP Press), as a starting point.

We know that by working together with these organizations and individuals, we will be able to extend our reach, expand our opportunities, and bring our vision of a future where children do not have to experience racial divisions to life much sooner than we could on our own.

To discover more about The Price We Pay and our work to open the doors of communication and change the conversation around race relations, visit our crowdfunding campaign page at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Those who sign up to #JoinTheConversation will receive an invitation to join our private LEADERS community.

P.S. And if you know any individuals, companies, foundations, or organizations who might make for a solid partner in supporting and pushing our movement forward, please feel free to pass on this email to them or send them our way.

A leader who recruits individuals has followers. Great LEADERS bring those followers together into a tight-knit community that supports and encourages one another. As a unit, they stand strong and continue working together to achieve the vision even when the leader isn’t there to help guide them.

Weak leaders fear people communicating, connecting, and coming together. They fear what people will say about them when they’re not there to control the conversations.

They fear that people will join together to oppose them. They fear communities rising up against them. That’s why they encourage division and focus on differences, hoping to use those as a wedge to keep people apart.

Great leaders recognize and respect that there is strength in numbers. They actively work to bring people together and cultivate unity among those who follow them by celebrating diversity, integrity, and service. They encourage people to be their best and elevate those who strive to serve others rather than those who seek to be served.

When Path To Publishing acquired The Price We Pay for its traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press, we saw in author Nikki T. Anthony’s writing a chance to showcase the differences between how great leaders act and how weak leaders act. That is one of the reasons we are launching a crowdfunding campaign to invite public participation in a movement we hope will change the conversation around race relations.

Our goal is to use that book as a means of creating shared experiences among readers that can foster open and honest conversations about the way that race relations impact the characters. Those discussions can then become a launchpad for open and honest dialogue about how our own personal experiences either differ or match up with the character’s experiences.

We believe these are important discussions to have and are looking for the right LEADERS to step up and join us in engaging in these conversations. We know that when it comes to race relations, the tendency is to talk about one another rather than to one another, but that strategy is why the divisions are growing.

We don’t want another generation to pay the same price we are paying for past failures to step up and do something about the growing racial divides. We want to ensure that everyone has a seat at the table and an opportunity to make their voices heard about this important topic.

To discover more about our work to open the doors of communication and change the conversation around race relations, visit our crowdfunding campaign’s page at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. Sign up to #JoinTheConversation and join our private LEADERS community.