Emily Marie Passos Duffy had been a sex worker for nearly a decade when she started preparing to publish a poetry collection in 2023. She knew she needed to drum up media interest ahead of the book launch, but she was nervous about discussing sections that drew on her experiences in the industry. She feared they might be distorted.
“It’s easy to be a publishing darling as a former worker who is telling a story about their time in the industry, and usually there’s a redemption arc,” Passos Duffy said, adding that in most media representation of sex workers, there’s “this dichotomy between the happy hooker or this trauma-porn aspect and there’s not a lot of room for nuance.”
A publicist connected her with someone on the same wavelength: Molly B. Simmons, the literary editor of Petite Mort Magazine, a publication that centers stories from the sex work community in its art, fashion and culture coverage.
The two soon discovered they shared a goal: creating an anthology by and for their community. That conversation led them to co-found Working Girls Press, an independent publishing collective that publishes anthologies, poetry collections, art books and resource guides, including works on navigating relationships for sex workers and their partners. It’s also committed to promoting values Passos Duffy and Simmons felt were often missing from collective projects at other publishing presses: financial transparency, giving contributors a role in decision-making, and providing advances as well as royalties.
When Epicenter NYC spoke with the founders, they were in the middle of a nationwide book tour for “I Hate My Job,” their second anthology, about labor, burnout and survival in the field.
“Even though the experience of sex work is not universal,” Simmons said, “everyone can connect to the universal experience of hating their job.”
Kickstarting their dream
Working Girls Press grew out of the pair’s first project together: “The Holy Hour,” an anthology of writing and visual art exploring spirituality, divinity and survival through the perspectives of 45 sex workers.
“I felt very connected to something divine or greater than myself when I started doing sex work,” said Passos Duffy, who was raised and confirmed as Catholic. She and her co-founder shared a sense that “our erotic selves and our desires are just a part of the human experience,” she said.
But finding a publisher proved difficult. The project was highly specific, and the founders wanted contributors to be paid. So they decided to start their own press. They thought, “ ‘How hard can it be?’ ” Simmons said. “ ‘What do we need? A logo, a website? Let’s go.’”
The founders financed the project through a Kickstarter campaign that ultimately secured more than 200 preorders. They didn’t anticipate the ways that the first book would circulate through the community. Copies began appearing at workshops, reading groups, sex worker gatherings and personal altars. Contributors connected with one another through the anthology. Academics began drawing on it in their research and teaching.
Building another publishing model
Neither founder came from a traditional book-publishing background. Simmons had experience in magazine publishing and literary editing. Passos Duffy brought experience from publishing her own poetry collection and academic work.
“We were beautifully naive starting the business,” Simmons said. Launching a press meant navigating contracts, crowdfunding campaigns, printing schedules, distribution logistics and endless administrative work. Much of that labor remains unpaid.
It helped to treat crowdfunding like grassroots political organizing, part of Simmons’ former life. “It feels a lot like phone banking,” she said. “You’re just constantly like, ‘Hey, pledge the money,’ ” but framing campaigns as community-backed preorders instead of donations.
The founders were determined to build an equitable publishing model: one that paid contributors for accepted work and shared royalties from book sales, a practice uncommon in anthology publishing. Even if the royalties are split 40 ways, everyone involved gets a little something.
Rooted in New York
While Working Girls Press now reaches readers nationwide and abroad, New York is core to its identity. Simmons has lived in the city for a decade and credits it with shaping both her creative life and the press itself. That includes an outpouring of support from the sex-working and literary communities.
“New York City has taught me what it means to show up for each other, and the power of true solidarity,” Simmons said in an email, adding that the city “isn’t always an easy place to live, but it has taught me resilience and perseverance and is constantly pushing me to grow.”
Today, the press has expanded to host workshops on topics such as “anthology as a gathering place,” participate in literary festivals and explore translation projects and international collaborations, including in Portugal, where Passos Duffy is based.
“We’re both educators at heart,” Passos Duffy said. “We love sharing our knowledge and experience and creating spaces where folks can bring ideas and troubleshoot and have very real conversations.”
For now, though, the founders are focused on publishing work by and for sex workers that might otherwise struggle to find a home.
“It’s an access point to community,” Simmons said.
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Follow on Instagram at @workinggirlspress.
