‘Black Nerd Problems’ authors reveal secret origins that turned a website into book

William Evans and Omar Holmon met astatine the 2008 National Poetry Slam portion determination representing antithetic cities. Fast guardant to 2021, they’re publishing a publication together. Their associated effort postulation “Black Nerd Problems” is conscionable retired successful stores.

“We got to beryllium truly bully friends and realized that we some had an affinity for nerd and popular civilization stuff,” says Evans, who lives successful Ohio, portion Holmon is successful New York, during a caller call.

In 2013, Evans pitched his person an idea: What if they launched a website sharing their perspectives connected popular culture?

“I was expecting to sermon it implicit the adjacent fewer weeks. The precise adjacent time helium was like, ‘We request radical to bash this. Who should we get to bash this?’” says Holmon. While the duo could person focused connected their ain takes connected popular culture, they instantly wanted to bring successful different perspectives, turning to their societal networks and tapping online friends to enactment successful the website BlackNerdProblems.com, which launched successful 2014.

“It was similar the Avengers coming together,” says Holmon.

Evans points retired that Black Nerd Problems developed astatine a clip erstwhile determination were communities and websites emphasizing the perspectives of marginalized voices successful the popular civilization journalism realm. “I deliberation that what drove america to beryllium antithetic was that we were conscionable our authentic voice,” helium adds.

That ended up moving to the site’s advantage. Seeing however the input of their friends was expanding their interests and the diverseness of voices, they realized this could besides “have the aforesaid effect for radical who were coming to the site,” says Evans.

Evans and Holmon screen a wide breadth of the popular civilization scenery — everything from comic books to anime to TV bid and videogames are referenced — portion besides digging into the radical past of the United States and tackling issues of practice successful media.

So however did it go a book?

“I had been moving connected a book, a poesy collection, a mates of years agone and was fortunate capable for it to get picked up by a ample press,” says Evans. In the people of that project, the taxable of turning Black Nerd Problems into a publication arose. “It was pitched to america as, ‘Would you ever see this being a collection?’” helium recalls.

It was an interesting, albeit unexpected, proposition. “We got into this due to the fact that we privation to nerd retired online and stock that with radical and person amusive with it and question our nerd flag,” says Evans. “I don’t deliberation that we ever pictured that we would beryllium publishing this work, but it was intriguing.”

Evans and Holmon constitute with enthusiasm and wit that matches the excitement successful their voices connected our telephone call. Their essays, with titles similar “I Hate It Here: Food Wars Would Be the Most Annoying Anime to Live In”  and “It’s Time We Stop Pretending That Simba Wasn’t Garbage successful ‘The Lion King’” instrumentality connected a code much reflective of conversations with friends.

“The mode we constitute is the mode we speech and we wanted to marque definite that radical felt represented successful that way, that we didn’t codification switch, that we didn’t set our dependable due to the fact that our words were going to beryllium successful people oregon due to the fact that we were hoping to get a wider audience,” says Evans. “It was inactive going to dependable similar us.”

While the publication is simply a caller benchmark, Holmon notes that it was determination was a infinitesimal helium realized they had a occurrence connected their hands with the website. “When the comments are trash, we made it,” helium says.

“Omar inactive reads the comments,” says Evans. “I don’t. I can’t.”