Silk Rhode Books was founded in 2021 by Rhode Island native Jason Pagano, when he realized one of the side effects of a limited number of major players in the publishing industry is a limited selection of different perspectives and styles from a limited number of worthwhile writer candidates. So many people may have the dream and ambition to write a manuscript in their own voice – a voice not well-represented in the world of books – but decide or assume that the barriers to entry are too steep for them to get that partnership and representation. Our mission is to be that representation, in characters and in writers, with a focus on the international community.
Silk Rhode Books is a play on words. As many would guess, the “Rhode” part comes from the founder’s roots in Rhode Island, USA. And the world setting for Across the Sun is largely inspired by maps and legends of the ancient days of the Silk Road that traversed several routes through central and southeast Asia. The Silk Road brought people and trade goods, as well as storytelling and culture across large spans of the ancient world. Thus, the name was the easy part: Silk Rhode Books was a perfect fit for the company’s ambition.