By Kelly Morgan

Indie Author. Indie Publisher. Host of Author’s Mic™

Hey everybody — Kelly here, indie author and indie publisher — and today on The Author’s Mic, I wanted to switch it up a little bit.

Usually, Wednesdays are when I drop tips or bring on a guest. But today, I want to do something different. I want to tell you the story behind my book, You Sound White — why I wrote it, where it came from, and what it really means.

“You Sound White” — Where That Title Came From

I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was often the only Black girl in the room. And the phrase “You sound white” is something I’ve heard over and over again — for most of my life.

Let me be clear: this book is not a memoir. It’s fiction. But it has a lot of truth weaved throughout.

It came from a lifetime of being labeled, misheard, misunderstood. From being questioned about my identity because of how I speak — as if the way I use my voice somehow makes me less Black. Or less “authentic.” Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Why I Wrote It

I wrote You Sound White because I was tired of explaining myself.

I was tired of trying to fit into some box of what people think Blackness should sound like, act like, feel like. I wanted to explore that tension — the identity crisis that so many of us go through when we’re constantly asked to prove who we are, or justify why we “don’t act Black enough.”

This book is for the ones who’ve been made to feel like outsiders in their own skin.

The ones who’ve been told they don’t belong — by both the world and their own community.

It’s fiction — but it’s also truth. And it was necessary.

More Than Just a Story

You Sound White isn’t about assimilation or respectability.

It’s about questioning the assumptions we’ve internalized — and the ones we project onto others.

It’s about challenging the idea that there’s only one way to be Black, or one way to speak, or one way to be accepted.

This book was my way of taking that narrative back.

Of saying: this is my voice. And it’s valid.

📚 Grab the book:

You Sound White is available now on my website — along with my other book, Weight For It.

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Let’s keep building. Let’s keep writing. And let’s keep using our voices — however they sound.