Sistah Scifi: Black-Owned Bookstore of the Future
A community for lovers of Afrofuturism, Octavia E. Butler, and Indigenous Futurism
Project Description
MISSION Sistah Scifi is the first Black-owned bookstore focused on Science Fiction and Fantasy in the United States validated by the American Booksellers Association. Our vision is to double the number of Science Fiction & Fantasy titles by Black and Indigenous authors on the New York Times Best Sellers list by launching a national network of book vending machines. This would make the discovery of Afrofuturism & Indigenous Futurism books as easy as buying a candy bar.
PROBLEM 98% of authors on bestseller lists, who are the beneficiaries of promotion, marketing, media attention, and book tours are White.* Diving deeper, in the fifty years between 1970 and 2020, less than ten speculative fiction titles by Black and Indigenous authors made the New York Times Best Sellers list. **
As a result, many avid readers of Black literature and Science Fiction believe that there is a lack of diverse writers in genre. For example, how many Black women Science Fiction and Fantasy authors can you name? How many Indigenous women authors? Don't worry, Sistah Scifi is here to help!
SOLUTION Sistah Scifi is a technology company leveraging ecommerce and social commerce:
- Our highly optimized online bookstore is in the top 3% of Shopify stores,
- Facebook and Instagram traffic account 13% of our sales,
- In the past 12 months, our social media reach has exceeded 2.5M views,
- Our email open rate is 37% versus the industry of 16%, with a click thru rate of 4.6%!,
- We held 67 virtual events in 2021 with over 1.4K attendees and 225 of them attending at least two events.
This allows us to have a national footprint versus a regional focus. Our community spans 35K+ highly engaged readers from LA to DC growing at a rate of 1K a month.
As a result, Sistah Scifi has been featured in:
- The New York Times,
- Oprah Magazine,
- Buzzfeed,
- PopSugar,
- Syfy.com, and
- Book Riot to name just a few.
Our biggest accomplishment to date is being a part of the promotional team that ensured that The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae debuted the New York Times best sellers list.
USE OF FUNDS We are raising funds to launch four book vending machines from in Black-owned cafes in Seattle, Oakland, Denver.
THANK YOU Join us in building the Black-owned bookstore of the future by supporting our IFW crowdfunding campaign. We have lots of amazing perks from curated Black and Indigenous speculative fiction playlists and watchlists to marketing packages for Black and Indigenous indie Science Fiction and Fantasy writers.
Remember, claim our magic; create our future. And we all say ashe.
SOURCES
- * Redlining Culture: A Data History of Racial Inequality and Postwar Fiction by Richard Jean So
- ** Wikipedia
Updates
The Campaign FAQs
Have questions!?!
We would love to "hear" them! Visit our website at ww.sistahscifi.com and use the chat function to contact us. Most inquiries get a response in 12 hours during standard business hours.
In addition to the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify and television watchlist available Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO+, The Rebecca Roanhorse includes a curated collection of Black speculative fiction short films and shows from kweliTV and Sistah audiobooks available from Libro.fm inspired by the work of Rebecca Roanhorse.
The Rebecca Roanhorse includes an one year annual subscription to kweliTV and a three month subscription to Libro.fm.
**
Rebecca Roanhorse is a NYTimes bestselling and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer and the recipient of the 2018 Astounding (Campbell) Award for Best New Writer.
Rebecca has published multiple award-winning short stories and novels, including two in The Sixth World Series, Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Race to the Sun for the Rick Riordan imprint, and her latest novels, are the epic fantasies Black Sun and Fevered Star. She has also written for Marvel Comics and for television, and had projects optioned by Amazon Studios, Netflix, and Paramount TV.
She lives in Northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pup. She drinks a lot of black coffee. Find more at https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/ and on Twitter at @RoanhorseBex.
SOURCE: https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/
Just Because I Care
Get the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify! Voyage to outer space and alternate dimensions with music inspired by the work of Octavia E. Butler featuring music by Janelle Monae, SunRa, and Tanerelle and many more.
**
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
Born in Pasadena, California, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. While participating in a local writer's workshop during her enrollment in community college, she was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focuses on developing the craft science fiction writers.
She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards soon followed. She also taught writer's workshops at Clarion West Writers Workshop, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
In addition to the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify, This Nisi Shawl includes a curated list of Black and Indigenous science fiction and fantasy television shows available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO+. Everything from Black Lightning and Luke Cage to The Man Who Fell to Earth and Cleverman. We are hope one day, we will be able to include the television adaption of Nisi Shawl's Everfair to the list!
**
Nisi Shawl is an author of works of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction who teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of gender, sexual orientation, race, colonialism, physical ability, age, and other sociocultural factors.
Nisi’s Filter House was one of two winners of the 2008 James Tiptree, Jr. Award. It was also chosen one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly magazine. Her Everfair: A Novel was a finalist for the 2016 Nebula Award.
SOURCE: Lifeboat Foundation
One month of Instagram promotion, a total of 10 posts on Sistah Scifi's feed and stories, for high quality* Black and/or Indigenous** science fiction and fantasy media projects and inclusion on the Sistah Scifi third party marketplace.
*High quality:
- Compelling book/project cover image as rated by Sistah Scifi community
- 4+ star ratings from over 50 users
- Social media reach of 1k+
** Black or/and Indigenous
- The writer self-identifies as Black and Indigenous on website, articles, and other public media
- The book/project description includes identification of Black and/or indigenous characters and cultural references.
One month of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and email promotion for high quality* Black and/or Indigenous** science fiction and fantasy media projects and inclusion on the Sistah Scifi store.
*High quality:
- Compelling book/project cover image as rated by Sistah Scifi community
- 4+ star ratings from over 50 users
- Social media reach of 1k+
** Black or/and Indigenous
- The writer self-identifies as Black and Indigenous on website, articles, and other public media
- The book/project description includes identification of Black and/or indigenous characters and cultural references.
Six months of advertising and monthly reporting in one Sistah Scifi PopShop machine.
Compelling video assets must be provided by the advertiser.
One year of advertising and monthly reporting in one Sistah Scifi PopShop machine.
Compelling video assets must be provided by the advertiser.
Sistah Scifi Book Vending Popshop Machine in your venue for three months.
Rewards
In addition to the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify and television watchlist available Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO+, The Rebecca Roanhorse includes a curated collection of Black speculative fiction short films and shows from kweliTV and Sistah audiobooks available from Libro.fm inspired by the work of Rebecca Roanhorse.
The Rebecca Roanhorse includes an one year annual subscription to kweliTV and a three month subscription to Libro.fm.
**
Rebecca Roanhorse is a NYTimes bestselling and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer and the recipient of the 2018 Astounding (Campbell) Award for Best New Writer.
Rebecca has published multiple award-winning short stories and novels, including two in The Sixth World Series, Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Race to the Sun for the Rick Riordan imprint, and her latest novels, are the epic fantasies Black Sun and Fevered Star. She has also written for Marvel Comics and for television, and had projects optioned by Amazon Studios, Netflix, and Paramount TV.
She lives in Northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pup. She drinks a lot of black coffee. Find more at https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/ and on Twitter at @RoanhorseBex.
SOURCE: https://rebeccaroanhorse.com/
Just Because I Care
Get the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify! Voyage to outer space and alternate dimensions with music inspired by the work of Octavia E. Butler featuring music by Janelle Monae, SunRa, and Tanerelle and many more.
**
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
Born in Pasadena, California, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. While participating in a local writer's workshop during her enrollment in community college, she was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focuses on developing the craft science fiction writers.
She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awards soon followed. She also taught writer's workshops at Clarion West Writers Workshop, and eventually relocated to Washington state. Butler died of a stroke at the age of 58. Her papers are held in the research collection of the Huntington Library.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
In addition to the ultimate Sistah Scifi Playlist available on Tidal and Spotify, This Nisi Shawl includes a curated list of Black and Indigenous science fiction and fantasy television shows available on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO+. Everything from Black Lightning and Luke Cage to The Man Who Fell to Earth and Cleverman. We are hope one day, we will be able to include the television adaption of Nisi Shawl's Everfair to the list!
**
Nisi Shawl is an author of works of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction who teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of gender, sexual orientation, race, colonialism, physical ability, age, and other sociocultural factors.
Nisi’s Filter House was one of two winners of the 2008 James Tiptree, Jr. Award. It was also chosen one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly magazine. Her Everfair: A Novel was a finalist for the 2016 Nebula Award.
SOURCE: Lifeboat Foundation
One month of Instagram promotion, a total of 10 posts on Sistah Scifi's feed and stories, for high quality* Black and/or Indigenous** science fiction and fantasy media projects and inclusion on the Sistah Scifi third party marketplace.
*High quality:
- Compelling book/project cover image as rated by Sistah Scifi community
- 4+ star ratings from over 50 users
- Social media reach of 1k+
** Black or/and Indigenous
- The writer self-identifies as Black and Indigenous on website, articles, and other public media
- The book/project description includes identification of Black and/or indigenous characters and cultural references.
One month of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and email promotion for high quality* Black and/or Indigenous** science fiction and fantasy media projects and inclusion on the Sistah Scifi store.
*High quality:
- Compelling book/project cover image as rated by Sistah Scifi community
- 4+ star ratings from over 50 users
- Social media reach of 1k+
** Black or/and Indigenous
- The writer self-identifies as Black and Indigenous on website, articles, and other public media
- The book/project description includes identification of Black and/or indigenous characters and cultural references.
Six months of advertising and monthly reporting in one Sistah Scifi PopShop machine.
Compelling video assets must be provided by the advertiser.
One year of advertising and monthly reporting in one Sistah Scifi PopShop machine.
Compelling video assets must be provided by the advertiser.
Sistah Scifi Book Vending Popshop Machine in your venue for three months.