Welcome
The Frederick Douglass Books publishing imprint is a joint effort between Forefront Books and Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives to establish a pathway for Black and Brown authors to write and publish a professional book they own the rights to with distribution into traditional retailers through Simon & Schuster.
our concierge publishing process
Discovery Call
Publishing Agreement
Publishing Agreement
Our team can't wait to hear your book idea and better understand your goals for publishing. We like to meet our authors first to determine if our publishing imprint is a fit and we can cover all the details on a short call. We look forward to meeting you!
Publishing Agreement
Publishing Agreement
Publishing Agreement
Once we determine our imprint is a mutual fit we will present you with a simple publishing agreement including all costs, the definition of terms and how you make money on your book through generous royalties and discounted author buy-back pricing.
Senior Level Editing
Publishing Agreement
Senior Level Editing
Have you ever read a book you can't put down? That's because it had a great developmental edit focusing on the arch of the book and reader experience. Our editors skillfully take your book through all phases of editing creating a professional manuscript.
Cover Design
Interior Layout
Senior Level Editing
Our award-winning team will design a cover that makes your book stand out and grabs the attention of readers and the media. If you already have a design we turn it into your dream book cover.
Interior Layout
Interior Layout
Interior Layout
Want callouts, chapter summaries or photos added to your book? Our team takes your book from front cover to back cover and creates a layout that will keep readers engaged and connected to the content.
Publication
Interior Layout
Interior Layout
Imagine walking into a traditional retailer and seeing your book on the shelf! Through our exclusive distribution partnership with Simon & Schuster all authors receive distribution into traditional retailers.
A trailblazing imprint
One Million Abolitionists
The first book featured under the Frederick Douglass Books imprint will be Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, a book the Library of Congress named one of the 88 Books That Shaped America. Published in 1845, Douglass's first autobiography became an instant bestseller and, having escaped slavery just seven years earlier, put his life in immediate danger. The Narrative helped change the course of the U.S. Abolitionist Movement in the mid-nineteenth century and has changed the lives of readers ever since.
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI) wants to inspire and empower one million young people to do and be more than they ever dreamed possible. In honor of Douglass's 200th birthday in 2018, FDFI published a special Bicentennial Edition of the Narrative. Through Frederick Douglass Books, FDFI intends to publish and distribute one million hardcover copies of a new Douglass Family Edition of the Narrative to students worldwide.
"My great-great-great-grandfather, Frederick Douglass, understood the importance of telling his story and amplifying the voices of the enslaved and oppressed. It is my hope that this imprint will carry on his legacy and provide a platform for Black and Brown authors to publish their own narrative."
Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. Co-Founder and President FDFI
"With the large disparity in the amount of Black and Brown authors in the book publishing industry, the Frederick Douglass Books imprint will continue the educational work of Frederick Douglass by giving an opportunity to those with a message for the world."
Jonathan Merkh President and Publisher Forefront Books
Publishing Imprint Partnership
