About Silk Rhode Books

Frankly, the idea of Silk Rhode Books happened after many literary agents said “no” to queries for publishing Across the Sun. If you’ve ever tried to traditionally publish a manuscript for the first time, you can probably understand this predicament. If a first-time author isn’t otherwise famous or noteworthy, there is little appetite for agents to take them on as clients. The author’s name isn’t a brand yet; it doesn’t guarantee a volume of sales created by some mystery forecast plan all about money.

Publishing books shouldn’t be all about making money. Physically holding the book that you wrote in your own hands comes with an incredible feeling of validation and accomplishment. At this company, we believe everyone with the skill and determination to complete a well-rounded manuscript should have a path to publication without having to know people in the industry or how to do all the layout and design work themselves.

One of the side effects of a limited number of major players in the publishing industry is a limited selection of different perspectives and styles from a limited number of worthwhile writer candidates. So many people may have the dream and ambition to write a manuscript in their own voice – a voice not well-represented in the world of books – but decide or assume that the barriers to entry are too steep for them to get that partnership and representation. Our mission is to be that representation, in characters and in writers, with a focus on the international community.

Silk Rhode Books was founded in 2021 by Rhode Island native Jason Pagano. He had been writing books on the side since 2010, then self-publishing through CreateSpace under his old pen name. It was relatively easy to lay all the elements down on the computer, whip up some cover artwork, and order copies through the largest self-publishing platform on the planet. But, looking back, those lightweight paperbacks feel like the dress rehearsal for today’s performance.

Jason has always been fascinated by geography and foreign languages. He loves reading about different cultures, particularly in the form of a good novel. Most American media that even depicts other cultures still evinces a heavy American lens for their audience. In turn, most Americans would struggle to name more than a handful of characters in any movie, film, book, or otherwise who were from a specific nation or culture that wasn’t American or Western European. We can do better.

In 2020, Jason and his co-writer Bill Robinson were querying literary agents for their finished manuscript Across the Sun. Getting countless rejections wasn’t so bad. The part that was the most painful was crafting countless well-researched, completely personal query letters to agents, only to wait on average over two months for an email response tantamount to “Not interested, but good luck!” After having extensively researched how to appeal to agents, it just felt like a turnstile of slaps to the face when receiving such generic, impersonal rejection letters. There had to be another way.

An author can always self-publish, of course, and that process certainly comes with that feeling of validation coupled with a comfortable degree of project control. But independent booksellers and many affiliated library systems look to a publishing house’s books for their acquisitions. So, in 2021, it was time to form a publishing house.

Silk Rhode Books is a play on words. As many would guess, the “Rhode” part comes from the founder’s roots in Rhode Island, USA. And the world setting for Across the Sun is largely inspired by maps and legends of the ancient days of the Silk Road that traversed several routes through central and southeast Asia. The Silk Road brought people and trade goods, as well as storytelling and culture across large spans of the ancient world. Thus, the name was the easy part: Silk Rhode Books was a perfect fit for the company’s ambition.

We want to hear from every writer looking for the publisher who’s right for them. Maybe you think your work is too niche for most mainstream publishers. Maybe you’ve been rejected by every literary agent like we have. Or maybe you just want to write but have no idea how to turn that manuscript into a beautiful book.

Please reach out to us and tell us your story. Silk Rhode Books wants to work with you, and we can often help with those other details like formatting, layout, cover design, and promotion. Our business model is remarkably simple:

We have partnered with BookBaby for all of our printing and distribution needs. As for the promotion, we will help launch a Kickstarter campaign to get the book out to a diverse audience. It can be an uphill climb, but success is absolutely possible. The fundraising goal of the Kickstarter campaign is designed to cover the costs of the initial print run and distribution of the book. You, the author, own your work 100% through this entire process and also after the book is published. After the initial run, your book will be available for purchase at just about every major bookseller out there. (Please see the BookBaby website for more information about their distribution models).

Why are we doing this? Well, like we said earlier, it isn’t about making money. Writing stories is an art form, and sometimes it can be really difficult to find the right space to grow and practice and present your art. We can all benefit from the caravan traveling the Silk Road getting us to that place that’s right for us.

Writers and illustrators: we look forward to working with you. Reach out to us with your project today!

silkrhodebooks@gmail.com