Young Diamonds Books is the premiere urban publishing company targeted to young adults. It is the first publishing house that will introduce street literature or “hip-hop” lit as it has been dubbed by the media, with no explicit language, violence or graphic sexual content. This has been called a groundbreaking product for our youth by educators, clergy and parents. Our teenagers have grown to love entertaining storylines that too often contain adult content that many parents find offensive. Young Diamond Books is a gigantic step in the right direction.

Darren Coleman, a former school teacher who currently mentors young people and coaches youth sports for the Central PG Panthers in Maryland, is the author of the bestselling hits, Before I Let Go, Don’t Ever Wonder, Do or Die and his latest Ladies Listen Up teamed up with Joy King author of Dirty Little Secrets, and Bitch, which she wrote under the pen name Deja King, to found Young Diamond Books. They also hope to make this an opportunity for aspiring young adult authors to have their voice heard in a positive light.

On the reasons for publishing young adult fiction, Coleman stated, “Since 2003, I have nearly 200,000 books in print bearing my name. Even though they are for adults, I know that young people are picking them up. It doesn’t sit well with me, yet I know why. They don’t have anything else to read that appeals to them. At this point I felt blessed to be able to put something in print that is intended for young people. I’ve been approached by the majors to do young adult fiction, but I, with Ms. King, decided to come with our own specific flavor. This right here, isn’t for the money, it’s for the diamonds. Our youths are far more valuable than any money, they are our crown jewels, our young diamonds.”

Ms. King stated, “I decided to start Young Diamond Books after doing a speaking engagement at a high school for a street novel I’d written. Although entertaining, I felt the explicit language, the graphic sex and violence wasn’t appropriate for young adults but yet all the kids there wanted to read my book. The teacher informed me that she had such a difficult time getting the kids to read period, but they all loved to read street novels and she felt it was better for them to read something rather than nothing. That wasn’t good enough for me. Yes, I was happy that the kids were thrilled to open a book but I also wanted them to read a story where the context was appropriate for their age.

If you have a title, that is polished and ready for print, reach out to us at Young Diamond Books. Remember, first and foremost, we’re keeping it positive. Use Ride Wit’ Me as a measuring tool. You may be next up!!