Rare Bird Books

American publishing house

Rare Bird BooksFounder| Tyson Cornell

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Country of origin| United States
Headquarters location| Los Angeles
Distribution| Publishers Group West
Publication types| Books
Imprints| California Coldblood, Barnacle Book, Vireo, Archer
Official website| www.rarebirdbooks.com

Rare Bird Books is an American publishing house. It was founded by Tyson Cornell, the former director of publicity and marketing at Book Soup.[1][2][3] Rare Bird has five imprints: California Coldblood, which is focused on sci-fi and similar genres; A Barnacle Book, which produces crime fiction, memoirs, and Hollywood literature; A Vireo Book; Archer; and Rare Bird Books itself.[1]

Cornell, who published Bonnie Weinstein's 2014 book, To the Far Right Christian Hater ... You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, But You Can't Be Both: Official Hate Mail, Threats, and Criticism From the Archives of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told an interviewer in that he is "disgusted" by hate mail.[4]

## Book cancellation

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In 2019, Rare Bird became the subject of national attention when it cancelled a book by first time novelist Natasha Tynes. Tynes, a writer in Washington, D.C., had tweeted out an image of a uniformed black female Washington Metro employee eating on the train.[5] Social media users criticized Tynes, accusing her of racism, linking the episode to other famous cases of black people reported to the police for everyday actions.[5] Rare Books called Tynes' actions "truly horrible" and cancelled distribution of her novel, telling the author that "did something truly horrible today in tweeting a picture of a metro worker eating her breakfast on the train this morning and drawing attention to her employer. Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies... We think this is unacceptable and have no desire to be involved with anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to jeopardize a person’s safety and employment in this way.”[6][7] Amidst the controversy, Texas multimedia company Cinestate acquired the book to be the first title launched under their new Rebeller literary imprint, part of a larger lifestyle brand that also encompassed an action movie label and website. The book was released in April 2020, two months before Cinestate shut down amidst a sexual abuse scandal.[8][9]

## References

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1. ^ a b Locasio, Lisa (23 December 2014). "5 Indie L.A. Presses You Should Know". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
2. ^ Joe, Ryan; Daniel, Alex (26 June 2015). "The Indie Authors Guide to DIY Audiobooks". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
3. ^ Ulin, David (16 April 2018). "How Small, Scrappy Local Book Presses Have Turned L.A. Into a Publishing Town". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
4. ^ Lingar, Edwin (1 December 2014). "Christian right's rage problem: How white fundamentalists are roiling America". Salon. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
5. ^ a b Bever, Lindsey (12 May 2019). "A D.C. author shamed a Metro worker for eating on the train. Now her book deal is in jeopardy". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
6. ^ Miller, Joshua Rhett (13 May 2019). "Author may lose book deal after shaming black transit worker". New York Post. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
7. ^ "An author was close to publishing her debut novel. Then she tweeted about a public transit worker eating on a train". CBS News. AP. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
8. ^ "Cinestate's #MeToo Scandal and the Upheaval of the Dallas Film Scene". D Magazine. 2020-01-08. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
9. ^ @SonnyBunch (10 June 2020). "Sonny Bunch's Announcement of Rebeller Shutting Down" (Tweet) – via Twitter.