Your BIPOC Writing Coach
If you are a Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, or any other Writer of Color, and you're looking for your own personal writing coach - to help you stay motivated to write that book, get it published and promoted - then this is the podcast for you. Award-winning author, educator, and creative writing coach, Lori L. Tharps ( ”Hair Story,” ”Kinky Gazpacho,” and ”Substitute Me”) knows how hard it is to stay committed to your writing projects - whether you’re working on that debut novel, a gut-wrenching memoir, or an essay about your trip around the world. Writing can be your passion, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. And let's not forget about the path to getting published and the non-stop journey of promotion. It's a lot! Especially for BIPoC writers in a publishing industry that is still overwhelmingly centered on whiteness. On the podcast, Lori is here to serve as your creative-writing coach, and her goal is to help you love your literary life by giving you the tools and motivation to write, publish, and promote your work with purpose and joy. You’ll get inspiring pep talks and literary life lessons based on the lives of our BIPoC literary ancestors. Think Toni Morrison, Sor Juana de la Cruz, Phillis Wheatley e.t.c. AND ...You’ll hear inspiring interviews with best-selling, BIPoC authors and publishing professionals who share actionable writing tips and advice to help improve your craft, and better understand the business of writing and the publishing industry. New episodes of Your BIPoC Writing Coach are released on Mondays. Subscribe to the show and find more writing resources for BIPOC writers and the readers who love them at ReedWriteandCreate.com.
Episodes
On episode 70 of the podcast, we’re finishing the Your Famous Author Era season. For the last three months, we’ve talked about how to promote your work, build an author platform, and find the fans who will buy, read and support your work over time. And now it’s time for me to wrap up and for YOU to make a plan to truly lean into Your Famous Author Era.
- During the episode, you’ll be reminded of fo...
On episode 69, which is our final guest interview for the Your Famous Author Era season, my guest is Jen dePaula, a veteran in the book marketing space who is going to share her tips and strategies for long-term book marketing success that does not require selling your soul to the social media algorithms.
Jenn is a marketing and social media expert who has been working with authors, musicians, and other creatives for over 24 years....
THE DOORS TO THE REED, WRITE, & CREATE SANCTUARY ARE OFFICIALLY OPEN: NOV. 21 - 28, 2025. GET ON THE LIST TO GET AN APPLICATION.
On episode 68, get ready to go behind the scenes of the world of book influencing.
My guest is one of my favorite BIPOC book influencers, Jananie K. Velu, YouTube star and literary tastemaker. I invited Jananie on the show to share everything she’s learned from the influencing world about getting str...
On episode 67, get ready for a pep talk about the importance of community when it comes to stepping into your Famous Author Era.
Tune in to learn:
- Why you need a community of fellow authors to really help you thrive and survive in your famous author era.
- The proven benefits of having a community to help you achieve your book promotion and audience building goals.
- How and where to find the perfect author community.
- The pitfall...
On episode 66, we're talking about how to use the power of community, connection, and conscious marketing to sell more books and have a more successful and satisfying career as an author. My guest on the show is Tamela J. Gordon.
Tamela Gordon is a literary activist, the author of the critically acclaimed 2024 memoir, Hood Wellness, and she is an acquisitions editor at Row House Books. She is also a book critic, self-care coach, an...
On episode 65, I am giving you a pep talk about finding your 1000 true reader fans. This is a term that is often thrown about in entrepreneur spaces when it comes to sales and marketing, but it’s something authors need to think about as well.
Therefore, in this episode we’re going to talk about:
- Why authors should be searching for fans not audiences or followers.
- How to figure out who your real fans are.
- Where to find your fa...
On episode 64 of the podcast, you’re going to learn how to successfully strategize, plan and execute a book tour for your first (...second, or third) book that will set you on the road to literary success.
My guest on the show, Nadia Alexis, is a poet and writer who created a launch plan and book tour that is still going strong ten months after her debut poetry collection hit the market in March 2025.
Statistically speaking, a book’s chance of making The New York Times bestseller list is less than one percent. But that’s the list most authors want to be on. Well, on today’s episode of the podcast, I’m going to offer a different, better measure for success. And this isn’t just my opinion, this is what agents, publishers and savvy authors know is true. The backlist is where you want to be if you want a long career as an author.
...
On episode 62, we’re talking about how to launch a debut memoir in two different countries with journalist and author, Robin Allison Davis. Robin candidly shares everything - from finances to fashion - about how she managed her launch.
Robin is an Emmy award-winning producer based in Paris, France. Experienced in all forms of media, she has over 15 years of producing and scriptwriting experience, including a News & Documentary ...
On episode 61 of the podcast, it’s time to learn a thing or two about book promotion from the 19th century Beyoncé of bookselling, Frederick Douglass.
Forget everything you think you know about Frederick Douglass the historical figure, and get ready to learn about Frederick Douglass the bestselling author who sold over 30,000 copies of his debut memoir in less than five years, and made over $150,000 on his first book tour.
In thi...
When is the right time to start planning your nonfiction book launch? The answer is yesterday, but you can also start today after listening to this masterclass on book promotion with journalist and author, Ernest Owens.
Ernest Owens is an award-winning journalist and CEO of Ernest Media Empire, LLC. He is the Editor of Eater Philly, Political Writer at Large for Philadelphia Magazine, President of the Philadelphia Association of B...
Welcome to Season Six of the Your BIPoC Writing Coach podcast. On this short intro episode, we’re sharing why we changed the name of the podcast, what you can expect this season on the show (Think, Famous Author Era!), and a quick pep talk for the moment we’re in right now.
Press play to get inspired and get ready for another season of your favorite literary podcast.
If you're looking for more creative writing inspiration, an...
Episode 58 is the final episode of our special Behind the Book season. And we're going out with an inspirational bang.
In order to inspire you to rise up in defense of the book, we're sharing two exciting examples of literary activists from history.
We're going from Civil War era Spain, to the island of Puerto Rico. We're going from wartime, to story time, to showcase how many different ways we can all support a thriving literary ...
On episode 57 we’re going Behind the Book with legendary literary agent, Regina Brooks.
Regina is the founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency in New York, the largest African American–owned agency in the US. She has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature.
Currently the president of the Association of American Literary Agents...
On episode 56 of the podcast, we’re going Behind the Book with Stephanie Lim. Stephanie is the co-founder of Third State Books, a new publishing house that amplifies the voices, stories, and issues of Asian America and the Pacific Islands. They publish fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children.
Stephanie Lim is a publisher and marketing executive who brings an abiding love of literary classics, guilty-pleasure genre ficti...
We’re going Behind the Book with someone who plays a critical role in the literary ecosystem, you!
On episode 55 we’re replaying my short but important pep talk about why writers need a reading habit and not just a reading hobby.
Even if you heard this episode last year when it first aired, I encourage you to listen again to remind yourself why it’s so important for you as a writer, to develop a consistent reading habit in order to...
On episode 54 we’re going Behind the Book with bookseller Jeannine A. Cook, founder of Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jeannine A. Cook is a self-described word worker. In 2020, she opened Harriett’s Bookshop in the Fishtown section of North Philadelphia with the mission to celebrate women authors, women artists, and women activists. In 2021, she opened Ida’s Bookshop in Collingswood, NJ, and Josephine’s Booksho...
On episode 53 of the podcast, we’re going Behind the Book and back in time, to meet David Ruggles, the first Black American to own and operate a bookstore for Black people.
David Ruggles was a revolutionary thinker, a bibliophile, a healer, and a radical abolitionist who believed that reading and the written word would set his people free.
He opened the first Black-owned bookstore, D. Ruggles Books, in 1834 in New York City.
On th...
On episode 52 we’re going Behind the Book with Sylvia Arthur, the founder of the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora in Accra, Ghana.
Remember, for Season Five of the podcast, we’re going behind the book to talk to people whose livelihood and careers depend on the free flowing circulation of books in society.
Sylvia Arthur is the Founder of the Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD), a library, archive, writing ...
For Season Five of the podcast, we’re going behind the book and talking to people and reviewing the lives of our literary ancestors whose livelihood and life missions require(d) the free circulation of books in society.
On episode 51, we’re going back in time to talk about literary ancestor, Arturo Schomburg. Schomburg was a bad-ass bibliophile who dedicated his life to collecting proof of global Black excellence. The majority of ...
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