As a black woman who’s worked in publishing for nearly 3 decades–starting in the late 70s when there were few women not to mention black people–I’d advise M.Black to control her writing to the extent that she can and screw the rest. She doesn’t have to change her characters’ race if she doesn’t want to; she doesn’t have to approve a cover that depicts black people on the cover if she doesn’t want to; she doesn’t have to publish with NAL or any other company if she doesn’t care to. She has more control than she thinks over her own product–and I’ve worked in almost every area of publishing that you can name–from copyeditor to acquiring editor to marketing manager and even bookseller.

These days it’s all about money and how to reach the author’s “targeted readership.” If I write a book about a fat female professor who falls in love with another fat female professor, no doubt it’ll be shelved in both chick lit and lesbian lit. Smart marketing also places it in the diet &health section, where some of my readers also might hang out, as well as in women’s studies. As the author, I’m going to suggest as many markets as possible to find the readers for whom I wrote that book.

I want as much exposure as possible, ultimately. If those fat ladies were black, well, sure….

Only the dumbest, most non-progressive publishers and booksellers on the planet don’t take advantage of cross-marketing to sell books. And you, the author, must educate them if they are indeed that dense (or quick! find another publisher).

Black history month was the source of this marketing event in publishing that brings out as many black authors as possible in February. The black community fought hard for this month, given that our people and our work had been sadly ignored and/or marginalized for centuries. I still support black history month and the national celebration of the black intelligentsia during this time. But we’re no longer confined to exposure for just one month a year–it’s a bonus not the entire reward.

All that said, I must remark that white publishing people were often clueless when it came to ethnic material and black authors. I found that this cluelessness was often a direct result of their not knowing any black people and therefore feeling awkward handling their work product. Most felt that black people simply lacked writing skills and the credentials for authorship. Publishing was, after all, a gentleman’s profession.

An English major through high school, college, and graduate school, I won my master’s from NYU in 1978. During all those years, I only read 2 or 3 books by black authors: Richard Wright’s A Native Son; Jean Toomer’s Passing; and a slave narrative. But I had to read Huck Finn almost every year. And the teacher always asked me what I thought of Joe.

Gee, did any of my blackness bleed through to my prose?

Tana

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Finally, the voice of reason!