Special Missive: 10 Reasons to Support The Holy Hour
An Anthology on Sex Work, Magic & the Divine
Hi loves! I wanted to send you all a bonus letter to let you know about this new project I’ve been pouring my energy and DIY heart into! Molly Simmons and I have co-founded Working Girls Press, an independent publisher dedicated to collectivist publishing & equitable business practices. The Kickstarter campaign for our debut anthology launched today, and I would love to make the case for your support!
It’s the first of its kind! To this day, there hasn’t been an anthology centered around these themes with work by current and former sex workers—you can help us make publishing history!
Visually stunning. The photos and art pieces included in this collection are evocative. Each one tells a story. Each one is sublime.
Written works include poetry, fiction, nonfiction, recipes, spells, and liturgies. Something for every reader’s taste!
Makes a great gift! With the reward tier: One For You, One For a Friend ($50), you can enhance your library and give your nearest and dearest something special for their bookshelf, coffee table, or bedside table.
Our cover!!! The cover image is a film photo taken by the incredible Layla Tobin from her series “Let’s go somewhere more private.” On the inspiration behind the image, Layla shares: “I love the idea of the red glow of the VIP and these sacred beings guarding the room. I used 35mm cinestill film with red LED lights and candlelight to try and emulate this.”
Support a new, independent press that centers on profit sharing. Let’s face it, the publishing industry can be extractive and structured in a way that disenfranchises artist and writers. Not only are we paying contributors a competitive rate for their work, we are also offering profit sharing from sales, in perpetuity. We plan to do this for future publications as well.
Inspiring and thought provoking. In this collection, 46 contributors explore what it means to connect to the divine as erotic laborers. Sex workers are unique in that the work is a walk between normalcy and criminalization— SWers are often space holders and facilitators of deep emotional experiences. But, we are not seeking to validate the client experience as holy or play into respectability politics. After all, even magic is complicated by money, survival, and political battles.
Exposure to a diverse array of views on magic, religion, and the divine from erotic practitioners themselves. How do sex workers connect to the divine? How do we choose to make meaning from our experiences? What spiritual practices sustain us?
Support sex worker writers and artists. Sex workers are often the first to feel the impacts of economic downturn and recession. By supporting this anthology, you are making it a little more sustainable for a SWer creative to sustain their practice and share their work with the world!
Experience our NYC launch party as a VIP! Our two highest reward tiers offer you the chance to come party with us: drink tickets, gift bags, & the works. If you can’t make it to NYC, we’ll offer you an exclusive event livestream and mail you your books and goodies!
Support here!
Thank you, from the depths of me, for taking the time to read this and engage with this project. It means more than I can say. xx
Until later this month! <3