About Books on The Root
2009
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Black Faces on Covers Don't Sell Books?
Looks like book publishing isn't all that post-racial, but we already knew that. A controversy has been brewing regarding the book cover for "Liar," a young adult novel by Justine Larbalestier that's set to publish at the end of September by Bloomsbury Children's Books. The cover (see right) features a young white girl whose faced is partially covered by her long straight hair. The problem? The book's main character is black. And actually, as the author, who is a white Australian, explains on her blog, "Micah is black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short." Yes, nappy. Larbalestier also provides several reasons why Bloomsbury's actions are wrong on so many levels:
Every year at every publishing house, intentionally and unintentionally, there are white-washed covers. Since I've told publishing friends how upset I am with my Liar cover, I have been hearing anecdotes from every single house about how hard it is to push through covers with people of colour on them. Editors have told me that their sales departments say black covers don't sell. Sales reps have told me that many of their accounts won't take books with black covers. Booksellers have told me that they can't give away YAs with black covers. Authors have told me that their books with black covers are frequently not shelved in the same part of the library as other YA-they're exiled to the Urban Fiction section-and many bookshops simply don't stock them at all. How welcome is a black teen going to feel in the YA section when all the covers are white? Why would she pick up Liar when it has a cover that so explicitly excludes her?
The notion that "black books" don't sell is pervasive at every level of publishing. Yet I have found few examples of books with a person of colour on the cover that have had the full weight of a publishing house behind them. Until that happens more often we can't know if it's true that white people won't buy books about people of colour. All we can say is that poorly publicised books with "black covers" don't sell. The same is usually true of poorly publicised books with "white covers."
Are the big publishing houses really only in the business of selling books to white people?
Hmm, great question. The seemingly obvious answer is, no of course not! But it's incidents like this that make you wonder. Especially when Larbalestier’s publishing company had this to say to Publishers Weekly: "The entire premise of this book is about a compulsive liar," said Melanie Cecka, publishing director of Bloomsbury Children's Books USA and Walker Books for Young Readers, who worked on Liar. "Of all the things you're going to choose to believe of her, you're going to choose to believe she was telling the truth about race?"
Even teen bloggers are sniffing through this crappy explanation. Yet I can't say I'm surprised by such ridiculous reasoning. The publishing world is in an incredible state of denial and delusion. And until it decides to come clean about its issues, including its unprogressive treatment and understanding of race, we'll continue to see white faces where ones of color need, should, and deserve to be.
Is it Hard for Black Literary Fiction to Find an Audience?
Amazingly enough, the Wall Street Journal recently ran a profile of Victor LaValle whose new book "Big Machine" drops next month. In the piece, Chris Jackson, editor extraordinaire (It’s hard to name another black male editor of his stature in book publishing) asserts the fact that it's a hard road to publish and promote literary fiction by black writers. He says, "Black writers don't have a support network that helps them publish their short stories, and the encouragement they get is often for familiar material." I agree.
I would also point to the above cover debacle to provide additional explanations. Often, publishers don't know what to do with literature that doesn't fall into a box—street lit, erotica; you get my drift—especially when it's by black and brown people. LaValle's highly imaginative pen doesn't lend itself to any of these categories. His friend and fellow author Mat Johnson described what LaValle’s does as “horror movies with literary fiction.” LaValle is surely not the only writer facing this predicament. What's the answer? I don't necessarily have it. Or perhaps an answer doesn't suffice. Perhaps finding ways to connect great literature with audiences is a movement that requires the participation of publishers, authors, writers, and readers alike.
Black Boys Read?
We've all heard it. Black boys don't read. I still hear it to this day and refuse to drink the Kool-Aid. I will reiterate and reword what I said above: we need to find creative ways to connect books with people of all ages, period. And black boys are no different in that regard.
Dr. Alfred Tatum is doing his part. The University of Illinois Chicago professor is the director of the African American Adolescent Male Summer Literacy Institute, a four-week program that allows a dozen young men to study reading and writing on the college's campus. A recent profile in the Chicago Tribune describes the initiative's impact:
Tatum's institute is equal parts writing group and book club. But it's also a support group that instructs the boys to re-imagine and redefine themselves. Here, there is no need for the macho affects the boys are too often taught on the streets. They applaud one another and sometimes are unabashedly giddy about the written word.
Tatum makes a point that should be shouted from the mountain tops:
"Black men have always written to contribute to a healthy psyche or self-definition or even a better humanity," Tatum said. "Writing provides a road map for becoming and doing."
The program seems promising. Why aren't there more like it?
Comments
While Bloomsbury deserves the blacklash they received, it is not enough to criticize them. In fact criticizing them is easy and convenient. What we need is to address why they believe black faces on covers don't sell. While whitewashing is offensive, it did not come about in a vacuum.
We need to blog brown. We need to actively read and review books by people of color online. Before the Liar I was writing about the absence of color in the book blogosphere( And when the controversary blew up, I was in it, like a pit bull with an unclenching hold). While we have some black online bookclubs, we need to do more to support and promote writers of color. We need readers and bloggers blogging brown. Book bloggers are affecting the publishing industry. Majority bloggers are weilding influence and the majority are not plastering their blogs with brown faces. I don't expect others to do for me what I'm not willing to do for myself.
I run a community, Color Online. We promote and support women writers of color. We celebrate diversity and multiculturalism. We support and mentor young women. Ari, the teen who blogs at Reading In Color, the link you provided is a CORA (Color Online Reader Advocate) girl. When you sited even teens of color were complaining, were you aware of the number of teens of color bloggers there are? Ari has only been blogging since July prior to her, a group of us were scouring the blogosphere to find young teens of color to mentor and support. We couldn't find any. Ari found me at Color Online after she discovered she couldn't find any African American YA blogs either.
There are a few blogs and other book sites that promote multicultural literature and we all need your support. We need you visting, commenting and reviewing books with poc characters. Do a search on a children's book by an author of color and tell me how many reviews you come up with.
To the mother who is looking for children books, come by Color Online and check our blogroll. We list several sites to help you find books to share with your children.
Let's do more than wag our finger at Bloomsbury. Blog brown, people.
There is outrage aimed at Bloomsbury is valid, but we as a community now need to address some issues of our own. In the Book blogging world people of color are not only absent on majority book bloggers' sites but we could be doing more to promote and support people of color writers and books.
Glad you linked to Reading In Color. When I met Ari, I was beyond ecstastic to meet her, and I quickly offered to mentor her. She told me she started her blog because she was angry that she couldn't find YA blogs promoting books by AA authors. I knew exactly how she felt. I was equally frustrated that I couldn't find any YA blogs published by teens of color. I publish Color Online, and we are committed to promoting and supporting women of Color. We're trying to address the absence of color in the book blogosphere.
If we want to affect change, then we need more brown bloggers blogging about multicultural literature. We need more parents, mentors, teachers and youth coordinators actively encouraging and promoting reading. We need poc readers actively demanding more books by poc writers.
I'm thrilled to see your article here. Took me a bit to get here because when the Liar controversy was raging I was on full blast. I will share as I shared with white bloggers: long after the controversy, I'll still be black and I'll be here do what I can to promote writers of color. I hope many .
Negroes? I applaud you for your restraint, knowing you really wanted to say the other n-word. You should really spend less time reading above your grade level and more time trying to fix your flux capacitor so you can use it to go back to the 1950's where you'll feel more at home.
While looking up Elijah of Buxton and Bud not Buddy, I also discovered the Julian book series by Ann Cameron which is exactly what I was looking for.
Negroes are only 13% of our population and how many of those 13% are avid readers. If you don't like to see white people on the cover of books, a ploy used by publishers to sell books, then continue putting Negroes on the cover and continue to watch sales plumet. I'd get Al Sharpton on the case and get him to force publishers to change things. (He certainly was a shining star in the Tawana Brawley case.) White people still won't purchase those books. I suggest stop trying so hard to make everything a racial issue.
If I were an author I wouldn't care whose picture is on the cover and what section it is shelved in. My only concern would be "Is my book selling and making me money?"
At the risk of being labeled a shameless self-promoter, here is a relevant link to a snippet from my work.
snippet
W.B. Corley
Dear Ms. Pride,
I heard you on the latest Confab (I think t'was the latest one.) and now I have read your words. I agree with you.
We are indignant, but what are the professionals, like Mr. Jackson, going to do – going to start doing, or try to rachet up? If we choose to only buy literature from those who show that they respect us and our brains – consistently, how long with that last? That boycott could be painful and in-turn very short-lived.
I find it morose that, the more that I want to think globally and outside of the chronic "racial" binaries words like your remind me of Malcolm X's, and others', righteous anger and activism.
Will Wright
WrightsWords.com
This is but the tip of the iceberg.
Black authors are seldom ever published by Random House or any of the larger publishers. They are steered into boutique publishers that are aimed at an "urban" audience.
One would've hoped that Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, and others showed the viability of Black American literature. Instead, the industry shrugged its shoulders at these success stories and continued to ignore Black talent.
It's amazing how persistent the segregation reflex remains in American culture (segregated TV shows, musical genres, movies, etc. ). Sad, too.
I don't believe Bloomsbury's explanation. I think they fear complaints like "we need our young people to see positive black role models their own age; not a cover labeled Liar."
Many black authors have complained about being shelved in a separate section away from the white books. Basically, white readers don't have much interest in black books, because they expect them to be about 'the black experience.' Which, like the black thang, is written as if whites aren't intended to understand it.
Anything by Walter Dean Myers or Christopher Paul Curtis have black protagonists. Be forewarned..Myers themes tend to lead towards the crime/redemption/salvation route (why do we always have to be bad before being good?). Curtis's Elijah of Buxton is a lot of fun as well as Bud not Buddy and the ever popular Watson's go to Birmingham has to be mentioned...