Random Book Biz Thoughts

If you haven't had a chance to attend the Harlem Book Fair C-Span is a great alternative. Naturally it's not as rich as being there, but since I always have some reason why I can't go C-Span serves up tasty highlights. For example this book panel Forty Years of Black Publishing. Check it out for interesting comments about the publishing business in general as well as black publishing, urban fiction and marketing.

Recently a bestselling author published his "I quit!" manifesto explaining why he won't be writing anymore urban fiction. Okay, I'm cool with it. My only quibble is he seems to think he invented the genre. Um, nope. Included in his comments are the names of godfathers of street fiction, authors who penned street fiction fifty or more years ago. In the interest of sticking up for female authors he left out Ann Petry. I just discovered her when I stumbled onto an article about her bestselling 1946 novel The Street. I have ordered it. Anyway, I'm not trying to start an argument with anybody. I'm just saying, ahem, Omar Tyree did not invent modern urban fiction.

I love genre fiction. Early on I was reading horror, romance, mysteries, fantasy and science fiction. So I truly don't understand why a lot of people look down their noses on these books. I read literary fiction, too. Yeah, I'm a book-a-holic. I've noticed that a lot of major black book venues like the Harlem Book Fair seems to sneer at us genre authors. They praise "important non-fiction" and literary fiction. Rarely do they honor genre authors. I don't get it. Some damn fine writing is found in those books. And I'm not just talking about plotting, I mean the use of words to open up another world in a way that makes the reader live it. Guess I'll be forever scratching my head over that one.

The question of marketing came up during that panel discussion at the Harlem Book Fair. See I don't think it's just a matter of spending big bucks. Huge marketing campaigns have ended with dismal or so-so sales. You have to have marketing in the right places. With people who can influence masses who might not otherwise pick up a book. Which is why so many black authors chased poor Oprah back when that bestseller machine was operating. Black authors face a huge barrier. Most of the white reading public just assumes our books are not for them. One glance at the cover with black folks on it and they keep walking. We have to reach a critical mass of the combination of marketing power and wider acceptance that we're all just people. A mystery, romance or whatever doesn't have some weird "difference" just because it's by or about black people. Yeah, I know plenty of white readers will say this doesn't apply to them. But it does apply to a huge number of white book buyers. Just a fact. Even the major publishers have discovered this. Which is why they stick with niche marketing; translation- they market black books to black people because for the most part they will buy the books. White readers won't in any numbers. That's not reality. That's actuality (TruTV slogan in the interest of giving credit where credit is due).

If you have time cruise over to read my July 21st post on Blogging In Black.