Alternative Publishing, LLC, (AltPubs) was established in June 2026 by our founder and editor in chief, Chanese A. Forté, PhD, PhD, MPH, RSO. Having spent over 20 years in higher education, sciences, and technology as well as being a first-generation college graduate, Dr. Forté is used to creating their own lane and opportunities. Seeing the biased publishing practices of the scientific literature and having been an avid reader from the age of 9 years old, Dr. Forté honors and appreciates all ways of knowing and storytelling and understands that they are not the only modern reader seeking new story types, independently collected and reported information, and hoping for a fresh, independent publisher that opens the pathway to publication for nontraditional authors.
Non-traditional authors and creatives are defined as first time writers, online storywriters and fan fiction enthusiasts, as well as artists, and folks with amazing stories who may or may not be literate. Specifically, when these non-traditional creatives do get the opportunity to publish their works to a broader audience, their words are overedited and the publisher decides the artwork and other factors of how the story are released. At AltPubs, we leave the ownership over the publication to the creative. We create your work as you intended (yes- even if you are writing in your own voice or local slang and not the westernized norm for English publications). AltPubs wants your story to be told your way, which is also why we do not limit our publications by genre.
Historically, conversational salons and independent publishers have been the lifeblood of liberatory movements and philosophy and overtime those interactions have shifted and been forgotten. More people need to be able to share their story and learn from the stories of other folks like them. This is why AltPubs is so focused on creating a community and looping in members to in-person and virtual conversations and events centering literature and liberatory theory and action. We are not just an independent publisher but also working to curate culture and cross-dialogue across a community of readers, writers, and other creatives—all with the end goal of freeing the human mind and communities from the chains of division and authoritarian ideologies.
Currently, AltPubs only publishes works that are in English, however, we are hopefully to scale up one day and be more inclusive of more languages as more multi-lingual editors and reviewers are brought into the organization.