|
Black History Month Author Roundtable
5.
AOTW: Do you feel that the publishing world is as welcoming and supportive of African-American authors as it is of other authors? Was it difficult to get published? If so, tell us about the challenges.
Harriette Cole: I don't know how the publishing world supports other authors, although I have spoken to many white men and women with book ideas who are still shopping a deal like many African-American writers are. Obviously there are more white writers published. It is also true that there are many Black writers getting deals now.
I have been writing for years. My first book, Jumping the Broom: The African American Wedding Planner, was published in 1993. That book actually came to me. I was working at Essence magazine and had been producing wedding stories for Black couples for years. A publisher was interested in doing a wedding planner for Black couples, and an agent approached me about writing it. This was a tremendous blessing. With that invitation, I then had to figure out what the book was. Jumping the Broom emerged after a great deal of research and work-based on the many editorial production experiences I had had up to that point.
Since that time I have been very fortunate to come up with good ideas and solid plans for executing them. Because my first book sold very well --- becoming a bestseller --- publishers were eager to give me another chance. My responsibility has been to develop ideas that are valuable to the marketplace. These days you have to come up with an idea, a marketing strategy, basically a business plan for success. And you have to be ready to do a lot of self-promotion in order to get your book noticed once it's published.
Olympia Vernon: No. It was not difficult. I was a writer from the womb; so, I could not deter myself from beginning what I already was. I could write upside down and sideways and did not want to get published, didn't care about it. I didn't know about the gift God gave me. I kept it on paper for 24 or 25 years, until a professor told me another story. About two years later, I went to a conference in New Orleans and met my now agent. I would suppose that each person has a different experience: depends on the agent, the publishing house, the editor, the effort you put into your work. It is not always the blame of the publishing world. A writer must first write the novel of his or her life. The novel that causes one to lose sleep and body and pride. The novel that comes straight from the bone. If this is done, when this is done, the doors will open. And he or she will walk through, regardless of what race he or she is.
Nikki Giovanni: I think there has been a tremendous amount of change. E. Lynn Harris; BeBe Moore Campbell, among others are on the best selling lists regularly. They have helped create demand and have opened many doors.
Jenoyne Adams: My overall feeling is that the publishing world will make room for what is in demand, and currently, black books are in demand. I think by the time I was really finished with my first book (after 5 years), it was time to sell it and the journey was fairly peaceful and satisfying.
Victor LaValle: I have to admit that I've had a pretty easy time getting published. I'm not rich, but people have wanted to put out my books and print my stories in magazines. I tend to be quite grateful to the people who knocked down most walls before me. I mean the literary authors like John Edgar Wideman and Gayl Jones as well as the more popular stuff, Terry McMillan being the most famous. They made it easier for me by disproving the assumption that black people don't read (Terry) and that black writers can't be serious (Jones and Wideman, among others). Hopefully, I'll make it better for the people who'll come along in another ten or twenty years.
Ray Shannon: I think the publishing world has a very specific idea as to the size and make-up of the audience for the work of African-American authors, and they promote our books accordingly. Which is to say, from a very shortsighted viewpoint.
Nalo Hopkinson: I don't know how supportive the publishing industry is of non-black writers. Understand, I have no basis for comparison. I've always been black. For me, it was quite easy to get published. I write science fiction and fantasy, which are genres that are hungry for new points of view. In fact, they are genres that are *about* experiencing things in ways you haven't before. So when I showed up with futuristic and fantastical stories, many of them written from a black and/or Caribbean perspective, readers --- even black and Caribbean readers ---were generally eager to read something from a perspective they hadn't been given before. That newness worked in my favour to get me started.
Stanice Anderson: No, neither time was it difficult to get my books published. But I know that is only the result of asking God, through prayer, for the perfect publisher for the works He had given me to do. I give Him all the glory
As far as if I feel that the publishing world is a welcoming and supportive of African-American author as it is of other authors my answer is it is better than it was however not as supportive as it probably could be. Perhaps, once convinced through increased sales due to a readership that includes all people, the publishers will slowly become more supportive. I've gone into many mainstream bookstores and noticed many African-Americans in lines ready to purchase books by Caucasian writers; however, very seldom do I see Caucasian readers with books written by African-Americans. My prayer is that my books, starting with I Say a Prayer for Me will be purchased, read, and enjoyed by people regardless of race, religion, or lack of religion.
Stephanie Perry Moore: No! Yes, it took me 7 years to get published. Years back in the Christian marketplace there was no African-American Christian fiction and most of the publishers thought blacks were not buying things from the Christian bookstores, and they thought blacks didn't read. Also a big problem was most of the Christian publishers did not have any one of color in the editorial department. So, when a manuscript was sent in with slang or black issues, they could not relate and thus would not publish the material. Through pray, hard work and a loving husband who told me not to give up, I was able to finally have a black secretary read my submission and get it to the right people.
Y. Blak Moore: I don't really know about the publishing world in its totality, but I must say that my editor and the Random House staff that I've dealt with have been extremely helpful and supportive. I would have to imagine that it is hard to get published though because I received a slew of rejection letters from agents and publishers alike for Triple Take. Sometimes I can't believe that it's true, but a good friend of mine by the name of David Isay of Sound Portraits in NY said it would happen and it did.
Diane McKinney-Whetstone: I think that the publishing world still views African-American writing as a monolith and therefore has a tendency to lump all "Black books" into one category. As a result publishing misses marketing opportunities by not recognizing the sophistication of African-American readers. There may also be a tendency (and I hope that I'm wrong) to support, or not support "black books" based on the performance or lack of by books by African-Americans released in prior seasons. I have to say though that my own personal publishing experience started off like a fairy tale, got an agent, then a book contract in a week.
Marcus Major: I had a smooth path to publication --- though I realize that my experience isn't commonplace. However, since it did happen for me fairly quickly, I can't discuss any challenges.
Benilde Little: My publisher has been very supportive of my work and that's all I can speak about. It took about a year for my agent to sell the novel, but we were looking for a good fit. It was probably as difficult as for most writers coming from journalism.
|
