Colin Kaepernick, who founded his own publishing company in 2020, has now launched Lumi. Lumi is a self-publishing platform that will focus on comic books and graphic novels to start; Kaepernick has already raised $4 million in venture capital. (Lumi currently has a waitlist, so it’s not possible to get an immediate look.)
Like so many publishing startups have claimed before—often with limited knowledge of the author community and the flourishing self-publishing environment—Lumi, Kaepernick says, will “democratize storytelling” by providing tools to create, publish, and merchandise. If there’s a difference so far with Lumi, it’s the celebrity name attached as well as Kaepernick’s focus on Lumi as an extension of his activism.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
