Hello I’m Nana Malone

Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling author, Nana Malone writes Sexy Feel-Good Romance and loves all things romance and adventure.

Hi! I'm Nana Malone, creator of the #Brown NippleChallenge!

The challenge came out of my desire to empower women of color in the genre of romance.

When I started reading romance (way earlier than I should have), I’d get to all the good parts and all the nipples were, rosy, pale pink, dusky (whatever the heck color that is).

Basically communicating to me that the women in these books didn’t look like me. Giving me the subliminal messages that women who looked like me weren’t deserving of having their stories told.

When I started writing, it became my mission statement to feature women of color in my books-brown women like me with brown nipples. Lol.

In the summer of 2020, I wanted to do more. I wanted to help other women of color get the recognition that they deserved. And not just the same four or five Black women that the rest of Romancelandia has heard of. With the world suddenly paying attention to Own Voices works I wanted to shed more light on these great books that didn’t get the audience they deserved due to internalized biases and racism in the industry.

So I started the #BrownNippleChallenge, where every month, I pick a book from a WOC writing romance, and everyone participating in the challenge buys the book or audiobook, thereby directly putting money in the pockets of brown women who have been marginalized.

Then we invite the author onto my Instagram for a live Q&A. This final step is so crucial because books really break out when they are talked about, out loud where everyone can hear about them. It’s not enough to quietly tell people to read something. Requiring readers to have a book read for the challenge and discussion ensures real action to help the authors, instead of performative support.

Are you an author who would like to participate in your own
#Brown NippleChallenge? Here's how we do it!

1) Pick a romance written by an author of color that matches your style so your readers will love it.
2) Announce to your readers on social media and newsletter that you are participating in the challenge and what the book is. Be sure to tell the readers ALL the places they can find the goodies.
3) Reach out to the author to join you for a live Q&A on the book and set a date.
4) Remind your readers through the month who you will be reading and how awesome the book is. Basically, pimp it out!
5) Hold the Live Q&A on your social media of choice.
6) Do it again! What? You didn’t think this was a one time thing, did you?

#BrownNipple Challenge
January 2024 Featured Book: 

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