Street Literature [1802] is on the cutting edge of the new literature selling millions of copies to the urban youth in cities all over the USA. There are many new and independent publishing houses focusing on writers such as Shannon Doyle and Sistah Soulja. Street lit is a style of writing focusing on gritty urban tales. It is a more urban view, written as a type of "pulp fiction". Most street lit authors, like the two described below, had their beginnings in prison but not all 'Street Lit' authors or publishers focus on prison writers.

Chester Himes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Himes began writing his version of street lit in prison in the early 1900's. Some of Hime’s novels include; Yesterday Will Make You Cry, If He Hollers Let Him Go, A Rage In Harlem, and Cotton Comes To Harlem. Chester Himes’s Life Of Absurdity, part of a two volume memoir, captures the life of an expatriate American, told from his early days spent serving prison time where he learned to write, to his later days in France, where he lived out his days as the contemporarys of Richard Wright and James Baldwin. Eldridge Cleaver [1803] also began writing from prison where he wrote Soul On Ice, the book which he is most famous for. Cleaver is famous for Soul On Ice and for being an original member of The Black Panthers.

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Reviews for Soul On Ice herald it as "A collection of essays straight out of Dante's Inferno.  The hell is there, and its name is America...as with Malcolm X, Cleaver's book is a spiritual autobiography.  An odyssey of a soul in search of itself, groping toward a personal humanism which will give meaning to life...the book is important...the book is extraordinary." said --Shane Stevens from The Progressive

The Nation said it is"A remarkable book...beautifully written...Eldridge Cleaver makes you twist and flinch...he throws light on the dark areas that we wish he would leave alone."

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Augustus Publishing [1804] focuses on emerging hip hop writers which organically emerged as a subheading under Street Literature. Whyte, founder of Augustus Publishing, always credits the original street lit writers discussed above along with many others for spearheading this genre.

After publishing the first of his Ghetto Girls series [1805] with a publishing house Whyte didn't trust (both for financial reasons in addition to a conflict in market visions) he decided to open his own publishing house. Whyte learned marketing techniques through a combination of research and hard work, including trial and error. Starting out a virtual unknown, Whyte learned how to publicize himself so that his books have become best sellers at bookstores such as Barnes and Nobles and the famous Hue-Man Bookstore in upper Harlem. Both display Whyte’s books prominently.

Whyte became a publisher to promote himself and other writers. Whyte is a renowned author in the hip-hop fiction genre. His list of published works includes Concrete Jungle, Ghetto Girls, Ghetto Girls Too, Ghetto Girls 3: Soo Hood, and Streets of New York Volume One. Whyte worked as a social worker for the Department of Social Services for New York City’s Child Protective services, when he began his career as a writer. He first joined a writer's group, The Tuesday Night Writers’ Workshop conducted by the NYU School of Continuing Education. [1806] Whyte lives in New York City and his writings are based on characters of the hip hop culture.