Crystal Lacey Winslow
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Crystal Lacey Winslow is an American author, agent, and book publisher from
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York. She is the founder of Melodrama Publishing, an American independent
publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
house based in East Patchogue, New York, that specializes in
urban fiction Urban fiction, also known as street lit or street fiction, is a literary genre set in a city landscape; however, the genre is as much defined by the socio-economic realities and culture of its characters as the urban setting. The tone for urban ...
novels geared toward women.


Writing career and Melodrama Publishing

In 2001, Winslow founded Melodrama Publishing, a New York-based company, and self-financed her first novel, ''Life, Love & Loneliness'', in June 2002. Within eight weeks that novel had independently sold out its first print run and was on the ''
Essence Magazine ''Essence'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly lifestyle magazine covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and culture. First published in 1970, the magazine is written for African-American women. History Edward Lewis, Clarence O ...
'' bestseller list. Following the overall success of ''Life, Love & Loneliness'', Winslow opened a bookstore in 2003 called Melodrama Books & Things in
Far Rockaway, Queens Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County li ...
. This was the town's first bookstore in decades. In 2004
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
Pocket Books printed the first edition of ''Four Degrees of Heat'' with Brenda L. Thomas, Rochelle Alers, and ReShonda Tate Billingsley. Winslow’s second novel, ''The Criss Cross'', and Kiki Swinson’s first novel, ''Wifey'', were released by Melodrama Publishing that year. Publications such as ''
Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' (stylized in all caps) is an American multimedia company. A Black-owned business since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African American businesses with a readership of 3.7 mil ...
'', the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'', and ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' covered Winslow’s accomplishments, and in 2005 Vibe.com referred to her as "Melodrama's Queen Pen". In 2008 Winslow ghostwrote ''Cartier Cartel'' by Nisa Santiago, and that novel launched a series of lawsuits, with Winslow and Melodrama Publishing on the defense. Throughout five years of legal battles, Winslow remained silent, choosing to not comment or defend her position through social media. Melodrama was eventually vindicated in all legal matters. Moving forward, Melodrama Publishing launched its Brooklyn Books imprint in 2014.U.S. Trademark Reg no
filed Oct. 29, 2014, reg. Mar. 31, 2015
Accessed May 22, 2016.


Winslow Shim Literary Agency

In 2007, Winslow started the Winslow Shim Literary Agency. Since creating the company, Winslow has brokered book deals for clients with major and independent publishing houses.


Works

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References


External links


Melodrama Publishing
official website African-American publishers (people) American publishers (people) African-American novelists American romantic fiction writers Writers from Brooklyn Novelists from New York City Living people American women novelists 21st-century American novelists People from East Patchogue, New York American women romantic fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers {{US-novelist-stub