Dinosaur Books is a Black owned micro publishing company. They produce thrilling, inclusive children’s fiction for five to fourteen year-olds, and champion underrepresented voices.
Their titles reflect the diversity of the company and beliefs in inclusion: championing authors and illustrators that are underrepresented in publishing; often working with debut writers and illustrators, who have not secured representation with larger companies.
I had the wonderful privilege of chatting with Sonya, the owner of Dinosaurs Books, for this weeks Q&A. Enjoy!
Tell us about Dinosaur Books and why it was founded.
We publish middle grade fiction and we are a micro press - a tiny independent publishing company - we publish 3 - 5 titles per year. The company was founded by Sonya McGilchrist who, like so many others who get into publishing (especially in the micro press sector) was inspired to publish the books that she wanted to be available for her own children.
What's the process behind finding new voices to publish? Do you have any advice for writers submitting work to you?
We publish a lot of debut authors, and many who have been unable to find representation elsewhere (with agents or publishers). The process is that we go through our submissions! We keep everything on file and periodically find the right book for us in our submissions file. But we probably miss lots of good stuff! I think my main advice is, read children's books if you want to be a children's writer and ensure that they are reasonably up to date children's books. Not to say don't read books published a while ago but read some up to date ones too.
What's it like publishing an incredible array of diverse and inclusive books for children?
When you get feedback from children who love the book, and/or have seen themselves in the book it's magic because you know that it's a book that has made a difference in the child's life and for some, it might even stay with them for years. That is a lovely feeling.
With printing costs and the cost of living increasing, has this had a negative effect on you as a Publisher?
We've had to put up our prices a little - it's not something we want to do, but we had no choice. We've recently changed the covers of our Secret Dinosaur books, so we have some books with older covers and it's nice to be able to sell those more cheaply.
Can you tell us about any exciting projects you're currently working on?
Well we are working with Cheryl Diane Parkinson for a second middle grade novel, publishing in 2024. I think it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. Cheryl is a great writer - but I can't give any details yet.
Check out Dinosaur Books’ socials below: