Kaepernick Publishing

Kaepernick Publishing is an independent publishing company established by activist and former American football player Colin Kaepernick in New York in March 2019. The company was created around a stated objective of enabling Black and Brown writers to shape and control their own narratives while retaining ownership of their intellectual property. Its identity therefore sits at the intersection of publishing, racial justice advocacy, social commentary, and creator-led media. Rather than being described primarily as a conventional mass-market publishing house, Kaepernick Publishing has used partnerships and commissioned content to develop work addressing structural inequality and the criminal-legal system in the United States. One of its most visible initiatives was “Abolition for the People,” a project produced with Medium. The series brought together 30 reprinted and commissioned essays focused on police abolition, prison abolition, and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The project was framed as an examination of the limitations and failures of police reform and as an argument for more fundamental changes to systems of policing, incarceration, and immigration enforcement. Contributors associated with the project included prominent writers and scholars such as Angela Davis, Ruha Benjamin, and Kiese Laymon. Their participation placed the initiative within a broader tradition of abolitionist political writing and helped establish the company’s editorial emphasis on historically marginalized voices and contested public issues. The Medium relationship was described as an ongoing partnership for creating content, suggesting a model that extends beyond a single book release and includes digital publication and collaborative editorial projects. In 2020, Kaepernick Publishing announced a joint venture with Audible. The arrangement included an audiobook memoir by Kaepernick, expanding the company’s activities into spoken-word and audio publishing. This partnership also connected the company’s publishing mission with Kaepernick’s own public biography and activism, although the available reference material does not provide a complete list of titles, release dates, commercial results, or the venture’s current status. The company’s positioning is distinctive because its publishing rationale is explicitly tied to narrative control, ownership, and representation. Its known output has concentrated on essays, social-justice writing, and autobiographical or audio storytelling rather than a broad commercial catalogue. Publicly available information about its staff, corporate structure, finances, headquarters beyond New York, and wider catalogue is limited. Accordingly, Kaepernick Publishing is best understood as a purpose-led publishing venture whose documented work emphasizes abolitionist discourse, Black and Brown authorship, and alternative channels for distributing politically engaged writing.

Kaepernick Publishing was founded in New York in March 2019 by Colin Kaepernick. Its founding purpose was to create publishing opportunities in which Black and Brown writers could control how their experiences and ideas were represented and retain ownership of their work. This objective linked the company’s commercial activity to Kaepernick’s broader public role as an activist and advocate for racial justice. The company’s documented editorial work has focused on politically engaged nonfiction and digital content. Its most prominent known project, “Abolition for the People,” was developed with Medium as part of an ongoing content partnership. The project assembled 30 essays, including both reprinted and newly commissioned pieces, addressing police abolition, prison abolition, and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The series presented abolitionist perspectives on the U.S. criminal-legal and immigration systems and was intended to illustrate what the project characterized as the inadequacy of police reform alone. Writers associated with the series included Angela Davis, Ruha Benjamin, and Kiese Laymon. This initiative gave Kaepernick Publishing a recognizable editorial identity. Instead of presenting publishing as a neutral distribution function, the company used its projects to foreground questions of authorship, institutional power, ownership, and the authority of marginalized communities to define their own histories. The use of Medium also demonstrated a willingness to work through digital publishing partnerships rather than relying exclusively on traditional print channels. In 2020, Kaepernick Publishing announced a joint venture with Audible. The venture included an audiobook memoir by Kaepernick, extending the company’s activities into audio and autobiographical storytelling. The announcement connected the company’s publishing program with the founder’s life and public activism while also broadening its potential distribution through Audible’s audio platform. Public reference material provides limited information about the company’s subsequent catalogue, corporate organization, employees, financial performance, or current publishing schedule. There is also insufficient information to establish a complete list of releases or to describe the precise legal and financial structure of the Audible arrangement. The documented history nevertheless establishes Kaepernick Publishing as a small, mission-driven publishing venture centered on representation, narrative self-determination, and social-justice writing.

• 2020

  Audible joint venture is announced

  [1]Kaepernick Publishingen.wikipedia.org

  Kaepernick Publishing announces a joint venture with Audible that includes an audiobook memoir by Colin Kaepernick.

• 2019

  Kaepernick Publishing is founded

  [1]Kaepernick Publishingen.wikipedia.org

  Colin Kaepernick establishes the publishing company in New York with a stated mission of helping Black and Brown writers control their narratives and retain ownership of their work.

• Abolition for the People is developed with Medium

  [1]Kaepernick Publishingen.wikipedia.org

  The company works with Medium on a content project comprising 30 reprinted and commissioned essays about police abolition, prison abolition, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A purpose-led, creator-centered publisher focused on Black and Brown narrative control, ownership of intellectual property, racial justice, abolitionist writing, and socially engaged nonfiction.

• Essay series and digital editorial project

  Abolition for the People

  A collaborative project produced with Medium consisting of 30 reprinted and commissioned essays. The series addresses police abolition, prison abolition, and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, presenting arguments that critique the limits of conventional police reform. Contributors identified in reference material include Angela Davis, Ruha Benjamin, and Kiese Laymon.

• Audiobook · 2020

  Colin Kaepernick memoir audiobook

  An audiobook memoir by Colin Kaepernick included in the joint venture announced between Kaepernick Publishing and Audible in 2020. The available reference material does not specify the final title, publication date, format details, or commercial performance.

• Abolition for the People

  United States · Digital

  Kaepernick Publishing and Medium created an essay project examining police abolition, prison abolition, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It combined commissioned and previously published writing and featured prominent abolitionist and social-justice voices.

  Outcome. The project produced a 30-essay series and became the company’s clearest documented expression of its focus on marginalized authorship and abolitionist discourse.

  Source

• 2020

  Enter an Audible joint ventureProduct launch

  Background

  The company sought to extend its publishing work into audio and to develop memoir-based storytelling connected to its founder.

  Action taken

  Kaepernick Publishing announced a joint venture with Audible that included a Colin Kaepernick memoir audiobook.

  Aftermath

  The announcement broadened the company’s documented format and distribution partnerships, although further operational details are not provided in the available reference material.

  Source

• 2019

  Build a publishing company around narrative ownershipStrategy

  Background

  The company was established in response to the stated need for Black and Brown writers to control their narratives and retain ownership of their work.

  Action taken

  Colin Kaepernick founded Kaepernick Publishing in New York and positioned it as a mission-led publishing venture.

  Aftermath

  The company subsequently pursued social-justice essay publishing and digital partnerships, including the Abolition for the People project with Medium.

  Source

• Use a continuing Medium partnership for socially engaged contentStrategy

  Background

  Kaepernick Publishing sought a distribution and content model suited to essays about policing, incarceration, immigration enforcement, and abolition.

  Action taken

  The company partnered with Medium on Abolition for the People, combining reprinted and commissioned essays.

  Aftermath

  The initiative resulted in a 30-essay project and expanded the company’s activity beyond conventional book publishing.

  Source

1. 1Kaepernick Publishingen.wikipedia.org