Blogoversary Celebration Day 8: with Kelbian Noel of "Diverse Pages" + 15.00 Amazon Giftcard giveaway+Bonus 10.00 Amazon giftcard Giveaway!!!

There are so few book blogs that highlight main characters of color in books. This is why Diverse Pages stands out! While it is all run mainly by author Kelbian Noel, it is a collective effort of 5 author/writers hoping to give you more to choose from when it comes to diversity in your books! We always check back up with this page to check out new books!

1. So tell people who may not be familiar with your website/blog Diverse Pages. What is Diverse Pages and what is the site's goal?

Diverse Pages is a collective blog hosted by writers and readers of speculative fiction. The main goal is to introduce readers to and celebrate authors of speculative fiction featuring main characters of color. 

2. Who came up with the concept of Diverse Pages? Who is involved, and how long has Diverse Pages been around?

Diverse Pages is my brainchild. I started in the summer of 2012 when I realized there weren't many blogs dedicated to promoting writers who fearlessly broke the mold and wrote Main Characters of Color (MCoCs). I thought it was odd, considering the uproar surrounding the lack of diversity in speculative fiction--especially YA. So I contacted some writers and the blog was born!

Along with Jennifer Fischetto, Cecilia Robert, Harambee Grey-Sun and Rae Lori, we've been blogging about MCoC fiction for 2 years now :)

3. What are the requirements of a book making it's way to your blog? Do you get requests that don't fit Diverse Pages' requirements often? Do those who contribute to Diverse Pages have similar tastes in books, or do you all have your own preferences?

We don't get nearly as many requests as we'd like, but they do come in once in a while. I'm hoping, with time, more writers will discover Diverse Pages as a new and absolutely free way to promote their work. 

We feature books with MCoCs only. That means the main character must be a person of color. The book must also be speculative fiction--so mystery, suspense, thriller, science fiction, urban fantasy, paranormal.

Our tastes vary, which is why there is such a wide range to choose from in the genre pool. Some of us like a little mystery with our paranormal and some of us are totally into sci fi. The blog itself reflects the myriad of tastes from bloggers and readers alike.

4. Diverse Pages has had many themes/series' on it's site. Is it a collaborative effort to bring up ideas, or do you come up with most of them? What typically makes you discontinue a series?

Since we're a team, anyone can come up with an idea. Our main focus is to promote authors and connect readers with their work. So while we have featured themes at certain times throughout the year, it all depends on author participation. If we don't get enough author interest, a series might go on hiatus, but we never truly discontinue. If an author were to email me tomorrow and ask to write a guest post for Coloring Outside the Lines, for example, I'd be thrilled to have them on board! For the most part, we strive to feature at least one book a day. In doing that, we feel we're meeting the needs of both readers and writers.

We are always open to author interviews and guest posts. In our earlier days, we offered reviews, but since we're all writers, it became a little overwhelming. So we no longer take requests and now only review at our discretion. But any other form of author promotion is always welcomed!

5. How did you come up with your rating system? You actually have two types of ratings, so please explain both =)

We don't use the typical starred rating, because a book can be so much more than that. Instead, we focus on how we feel at the end of the book. Would we recommend it? How much did we like it? Sometimes we cross-post to Goodreads or Amazon, but mostly we review on the site only.

The cover rating is something we added because of the controversy surrounding YA covers that failed to properly represent main characters of color. There have been a few instances of publishers removing or replacing MCoCs with white models, which we obviously don't agree with! However, if a cover is truly beautiful, we want to highlight that.

We also celebrate Diversity! So the more characters of color the better. That's where the other part of our rating system comes into play. A book can be monotone, two-toned or rainbow :)

6. What theme or genre for a book are you looking out for but haven't read or seen yet?

We've seen just about everything but, as with most fiction, someone is bound to come up with something new and we can't wait to feature whatever that might be! 

7. What was the last great book that you read that featured a diverse main protagonist?

I recently read Ghosts of Arcadia by Ramsey Isler. It was a nice little Sci-Fi trip for someone like me who hasn't read that genre in a while. You should check it out!

8. Seems as though all of you ladies @ Diverse Pages are authors! Kelbian, why don't you tell us about one of you series?

Yep :) Ladies and a Gent. We are all writers. Some of our work is featured on the left sidebar on the site. 

I'm currently writing under another pen name. It's not speculative fiction, so I won't mention it here. I have been working on that series for a few months, but I am also working on the Witchbound Series. It's a Young Adult Urban Fantasy series about a group of four witches that are bonded by blood--all from different cultural, religious and family backgrounds. Books one and two, Roots and Sprung are currently available on Amazon. Books three and four, Smolder and Surface will be released in the next few months.

9. Finally, where can people go if they want to receive updates, info on things, and learn more about what's going on @ Diverse Pages?"

You can follow us on Twitter @diversepages,Like us on Facebook, Friend us on Goodreads and you can also follow our blog.And don't forget, we're also on Pinterest! 

Also, be sure to check out the diversity hashtag on twitter for updates on all diverse speculative fiction #DiversityInSFF

Thanks for having me on your blog! And congratulations on your Blogoversary :)

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