Colleen,

I hear you. Why the pause when it comes to books? And I have the same concern about recommending books by people of color. On more than one occasion I have said to Caucasian readers, tell me what you like and I can recommend a book in the genre by a person of color. I don't randomly recommend books to girls who come into the library or my blog. You need to ask a few questions. I always find blanket requests for book recommendations odd. How do I know what you would like without knowing what you've read and what your interests are?

Ask me how many times Caucasian readers assume that I read street lit or black romance.If you want to know about those books, you'll have to ask someone who reads them.

There was one mother, Christine in the discussion at Justine's who said publishers and marketers don't get her daughters at all. AA readers are tired of being offered the same limited books by poc writers. She said her girls want more than historical fiction, oppressive stories, ghetto stories and slave narratives. She's middle class, educated with voracious readers. They like sci-fi, chick lit, adventure and fantasy, too. They read all writers who write a good story. Sometimes it'd be nice to have characters in these stories who look like them.

I'm black. I grew up in Detroit. I grew up in the hood not the ghetto (there's a difference). I had two parents. I'm educated. I don't watch Tyler Perry movies and I wasn't a teen mom.

I've had to back up because too many readers insist to reducing a myriad of issues to simplistic either/or's and one answer-fits-all solutions. And that doesn't serve any of us.

And let me close by adding that greater understanding and broadening our reading habits needs to be two-way. I spend a fair amount of time in black spaces calling for black readers and bloggers to leave their bubbles and to color up the blogsophere. POC readers and writers need to take their books on the road. Let readers know who they are and what they're writing. Without fail, every week I post my 'In My Mailbox' featuring new books I received, readers say, "I never heard of that." That's why I participate in the meme so they can learn about books they never heard of.

I agree. People need to be asked 'what do you like to read' and then give recommendations based on the category they like to read. I tried to do that on my guest post at Justine's blog, by having a sci/fi, guy and historical fiction post.
Chick lit (or books on friendship and dealing with cliques) suggestions: all of Paula Chase's books, Sheila Goss's the Lipgloss Chronicles (I haven't read it, but I think it's chick lit), Tia William's books, Deborah Gregory's books.
Colleen you are right. Some people think that books about poc only have to do with crime or the ghetto. But there are so many books out there that don't offer that.
Great post!

Susan, don't forget Christian fiction

Publishers must think half the Black teens are in church every Sunday and Bible study on Thursdays.

While the other half is living a hard knock life.

And they all meet up on Tuesday nights to talk about how good it is to be free.

Why books by POC don't translate into the mainstream like all the other artistic mediums, I never understood.

Publishers and bookstores aren't giving YA featuring poc a fair shot. Publishers don't promote it and bookstores don't carry nearly enough. If publishers don't advertise customers have no reason to seek these books out. It doesn't help that books authors of color already ever great reviewed or highlighted.

Its not fair that White people have so much control over the book industry. Especially since they don't know what it feels like to be a minority. White readers have never had to search the shelves to find themselves. Enter the bookstore and bam right on the front table.

Maybe if publishers knew that feeling of trying to find stories with people that look like them, they would be more likely to give authors of color a fair shot.

And I know publishers are worried about money but don't they realize that the U S of A isn't all White and hasn't been for ages. Don't they know Brown people have money too. Don't they know there are White readers who happily read outside of themselves everyday.

Colleen, now you got me started. This topic really gets under my skin.

Doret,

Oh, you're right about Christian fiction. I don't read that either. My personal beliefs aside, what is written in this genre doesn't appeal to me.

Do check out Neesha's guest blog at Justine's. WOW!

All this discussion has me seriously thinking about spending more time brushing up my writing skills. I can't seem to get the words out. I'm posting but I can write the messages I really want to share. Can't put together a cohesive, comprehensive post to save my life but I'm feeling very motivated to work at it because this is not the time to be tongue-twisted.

One thing I keep coming back to is that the blandness of Caucasian culture as portrayed in contemporary literature makes anything that is not bland seem very different. When you have all Caucasian characters broadly defined by color and not ethnicity, when religion is either full on Christian fiction or not present, (and it's pretty much only Christian if it's there) and when the socioeconomic setting is also fairly bland (some version of common suburbia or city that focuses less on making geographical differences known and more on making every place similar) then Caucasian readers become accustomed to sameness. And as a consequence of that, they seem to be fearful (in a literary sense of not wasting money) of difference. But none of this means the situation is acceptable.

As I said in the post, publishing is lagging behind other aspects of American culture and it needs to change.

Doret, I honestly don't think you can get what it is like to be a minority unless you are immersed in that life. As a Caucasian person I considered myself still fairly enlightened as my father always worked at military bases which are fairly mixed, race-wise. But when I actually started teaching classrooms of students that were often at least 70% minority and a wide range of minorities to boot, I realized how much I did not know. It was startling. That's why I feel so strongly about this.

I wrote so much and then deleted it because my thoughts are just thoroughly incoherent. I WILL say that YES, you're right -- for a writer who also writes YA SFF, Larbalestier apparently doesn't know any people of color who write in that field, which made me kind of sad.

To be honest, this whole thing has been incredibly depressing... and I've not said a lot about it because I cannot yet offer anything positive. It feels crazy, how we're all supposed to be in this brave new millennium, and yet...

We're all trapped.

Readers are trapped, because bookstores put out five hundred copies of the same book, with a glossy cover of a decapitated white girl... and they think that's all there is to read.

Writers are trapped, too. We're told -- by agents or publishers -- that there's no market for a lot of what we want to write. I've had books turned down and have been gently told that maybe I should confine myself to certain themes, and not write what I don't know. (This was when I had the temerity to include a Jewish character.)

The gatekeepers have been trapped by their own gates, and have locked all of us in with a paucity of human experience, with the least common denominator of life. And we're so used to being defined so narrowly that we don't know how not to color in the lines.

And we talk and talk and talk about it. And hope that someone with keys is listening.

We have to keep in mind that white America has *always* made space in the imagination for "the Other." The early settlers needed to justify their attempts to exterminate Native Americans, and so called them "savages." Same with the enslavement of Africans. Then, once Native Americans were almost gone/less visible, whites began writing stories about "the noble savage." African Americans were mocked and degraded, portrayed as idle Sambos or vicious brutes (and the women as hypersexual Jezebels). So there has always been a need/desire among the majority population to project their fantasies and taboos onto people of color. Richard Wright's Native Son reintroduced the black beast, and novels detailing "black pathology" have been bestsellers ever since. If you haven't read Percival Everett's ERASURE, get it now! He satirizes both the street lit genre, talk-show book club selections, and all-white award committees that find the "raw, gritty realism" of street lit to be "the best" black writers can hope to produce. There is an *appetite* in this country for tales of dysfunction, and Justine means well, but I'm absolutely with you on her recommendations, Colleen. Those books shouldn't be avoided, but don't LEAD with graphic tales of violence. B/c if a white reader only reads ONE book by a POC, it should be something else (in my opinion); otherwise, that ONE book won't be read IN CONTEXT...and Doret, yes, that IS the problem in publishing--the 99% white middle-class editors ALSO don't know how to put books by POC into context...and they publish so few, that readers of all races don't see the full range of our creative expression and lived experiences. Susan--thanks for the link to Neesha's post--on my way there now!

"One thing I keep coming back to is that the blandness of Caucasian culture as portrayed in contemporary literature makes anything that is not bland seem very different."

I have not forgotten this since you first brought it up, Colleen. I don't read a lot of the bland stuff. The Caucasian characters I read are usually part of other sub-groups so they're not bland.

I agree that publishing industry is lagging. I will confess there are likely stories with white characters that I'm missing but I have been conditioned: I'm not interested in the blandness I've come to expect from the highly stylized covers and similar storylines. I usually don't both to read the jacket covers. Yes, I'm confessing to pre-conceived notions.

Colleen, do you prefer Caucasian to white? When I was growing up, using Caucasian was usually meant as a slight or putting on airs. Either way, I didn't use it. White and black seem most neutral to me. Though if saying white bothers the audience here, I'd use what you prefer. I don't know if anyone has noticed but I don't, as many others don't, use the term minority. The majority of this world is brown. We aren't the minority. I'm black, a person of color, African American but I reject the connotations of minority.

June Jordan has quite a bit to say about why we need to eliminate words from our vocabulary; change our language. Connotations carry so much more weight. They reflect how we see each other.

Thank you for your thoughtful post and caring.

It's come as a heartening surprise to me how concerned members of the kidlitosphere are about these issues. (My Cynsations giveaways of "multicultural" books, even those by "name" authors, always attract a staggeringly lower number of entries).

I've likewise struggled with the question of how to approach this, and my ever-evolving strategy is essentially to "double-shelve" at least when it comes to recommendations. (Not talking about bookstores and libraries, where I agree that the books should be integrated).

When I recommend a book by and about, say, a Native person on the Native Themes bibliography, I also list it with contemporary fiction or fantasy or whatever other "hooks" may apply.

The first grouping is helpful to literature professionals (who're perhaps collection building or framing curriculum) and members of the reflected community, the second to the wider audience.

I mention this because it perhaps merits noting that for kids of some ethnic/racial groups, it would be an unfounded assumption that any store or library contains any books that reflect characters who're like them in that way.

Cynthia,

I worked with some of the professionals meaning librarians. Great group of folks. We need to enlist their help more.

I have the same experience with my giveaways. At first I told myself the low numbers are partly because both of my blogs are new and smaller readerships than the more established sites, but I also wonder if more would enter if I were offering the top mainstream books instead of multicultural lit.

Hey Susan - I started using "Caucasian" when I was teaching as we couldn't use Black for African American when so many people with Black skin in my classes were actually from Jamaica or the Canary Islands or who knows where and had no interest in being lumped in with African American. So we sought non-color words for everyone to keep it even. Plus I was trying to actively teach my white skinned students to see beyond color for themselves (Irish/Italian/Polish/etc). Honestly, white is fine with me as a descriptor and Caucasian is just a habit...although white skin can mean so much else even African American as well to a certain degree (see Flygirl).

Anyway, just my word of choice but you're right - mostly folks are brown. (Except me...so so so WHITE these days as the sun is not my friend! ha!)

Tanita, I feel for you. I thought about not even posting this as we have been all talk talk talk for awhile and this just seemed more of the same. I think we need a plan to try and change the bookshelves though - to integrate African American titles into the larger bookstore. I think a letter writing/email campaign might work and at the very least would give us a direction to move. My thought is to start there and continue to stay vocal. Part of why I don't think white people consider brown/black books is because they don't leave their section of the bookstore much. Mystery, as I said above, does just fine because they are all there together - the other genres are in a separate section though. So let's push to get rid of the section. We'd have to move way beyond the kidlitosphere for this - reaching out to the SFF folks would be good as RaceFail was such a huge big deal over there earlier this year.

We have to try. Sometimes the marketplace has to be pushed - forced to broaden its mind. Basically, people don't know what they are missing until we make them look.

Colleen,

We are doing something. I know at times our efforts don't seem that big, but think about how few spaces we have to actually have open, substantive discussions like this.

In most spaces, readers wouldn't even ask about Caucasian and African American. It depresses me at times that we normally can't ask what I think are innocuous questions, but I feel good knowing I can ask here and not being seen as a trouble maker.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about not writing more because we've been on this marathon discussion. Ah, like-minds. And Colleen, you're one of those individuals who even when you revisit issues like this one, you bring something fresh and relevant to the discussion each time.

I imagine getting your white students to see beyond their skin and consider ethnicity would be a stretch. Kids like their comfort zones as much as adults.

I love this post Colleen, like so much!!! It was kind of what I was trying to get across when I finally blogged about this. :)

I was slightly bummed by the Christian fiction slights in comments, but whatever. That's a battle I face everywhere so I'm used to it. ;)

Spoken like a good bookseller. I always, always ask people what kind of books they like when it's time to recommend something. Not because I'm concerned with passing along a stereotype, because that's kind of a ridiculous argument to me. If people don't want to read about dysfunctional families, that's fine and understandable, but to assume that a book about brown-skinned people represents all brown skin people is something I can't even begin to deal with.

Or, as some have told me that they've done, to assume that one book, which happens to be about a certain topic represents all books by authors of colors is ridiculous. And drives me crazy!

I don't assume every book by a Chinese American author is about dysfunctional mothers and daughters because I read Amy Tan.

Anyway, I recommend lots of books of different genres by black authors at my blog, www.welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com

Amy,

What exactly have you been trying to get across? A lot is covered here.

What slights? I simply said I don't read Christian fiction because it doesn't resonate with me. And while I can't speak for Doret, I took her remarks to refer more to the limited views publishers have about what we read and not a slight against the genre itself.

Please explain what offended you.

Carleen, I caught the ridiculous comment made to you about two authors on Twitter. Someone asked you if you knew the writers weren't black. Because I promote people of color writers doesn't mean I don't read white authors. I will read any good book that interests me.

I don't assume every book by a Chinese American author is about dysfunctional mothers and daughters because I read Amy Tan.

That is about the funniest thing I have read in ages. Amy Tan really had mother issues, didn't she? (Great writer though!)

Amy - re the concern over Christian fiction, I think Susan made a pretty innocuous comment - it's just not her cup of tea but I think we could all say that about some genre.

Doret's comment is more specific and I hope she chimes back in later. From what she has said here though, I think publishers seem to aim a large portion of Christian fiction at African American readers to the detriment of other genres. In other words, they think AF Amer readers gravitate towards CF and also conversely gritty urban settings. There is a lack of middle ground (general lit, chick lit, family drama, etc.) however.

Again, I hope she chimes back in but I do not believe that she would ever suggest Christian fiction is bad - this post is more about the lack of depth for minority writers/characters across the board. (For example, science fiction.)

Colleen,

Glad to hear it was clear to you. Thanks.

"AA readers are tired of being offered the same limited books by poc writers. She said her girls want more than historical fiction, oppressive stories, ghetto stories and slave narratives."

When I read that the first thing at came to mind, is Susan forgot to mention Christian Fiction.

The book industry pigeonholes Black teen readers. If a Black YA author writes a story that disagrees with their perception of us chances are the book will be

A)Not published
B)published will little support
C)not carried in bookstores.

Susan listed the genres of books Black teens are limited to and I was simply pointing out one she forgot Christian Fiction.

YA fiction is geared towards White teen girls. Yet there is more Christian fiction by Black authors carried in bookstores. In most bookstores right now (except a Christian bookstore) there is more YA Christian fiction by Black authors then by White authors. I can't think of any other genre where YA novels featuring Black characters outnumber those featuring White characters.

I don't care what the story is about. It's not right that the book industry places these limits on Black authors and all readers, this not allowing many different stories to be told hurts everyone.

I reread what I wrote the first time and don't see any signs of a slight. I don't mind clearing this up but I do take offense to who ask for clarification.

I shouldn't have to defend my point about what is being published in abundance by Black authors to someone who doesn't review or talk about Black authors on their blog.

I could say more but I won't because this is Colleen's blog so I am going to play nice.

Everyone...I misread it and for that I apologize! I thought you were saying that Christian fiction had generally one dimensional characters of color because you said they were either in the pews every Sunday or living the hard knock life...for some reason that didn't translate over to how bookstores stock the shelves for me. But now you've cleared it up and it's all good. I certainly didn't mean to offend you, but I hear this kind of thing ALL THE TIME about Christian fiction (flat characters, boring plot, etc. etc.) and am rather sensitive to it I suppose.

Anyway, I understand your point now! :)

There are just so many different perspectives here and that, to me, is part of what I think scares the crap out of publishing. I think pubs would just rather do what they've always done, publish the standard few categories they have published for minorities and not even consider anything else. We're just going to have to think about ways to push them out of that rut.

Thanks for these comments guys - I appreciate them.

Thank You, Amy. The next time I will use quotes to avoid any confusion.

Something will change when a publisher hits rock bottom, and puts the little they have left into promoting YA authors of Color.

I want to ask a quick question - I see quite a few recommendations for YA chick-lit with black characters on blogs, but I don't think I've ever seen an adult chick-lit novel (not romance, think typical contemporary chick-lit) with a black main character on blogs or in bookstores. Do such novels exist and if so what fantastic chick-lit novels am I missing out on?

Colleen,

Another incredible post. I've linked to it today, with some other titles (including a favorite nonfiction book) that might be of interest to your readers.

To change the bookshelves, we need to get more people of color into every level of publishing. I'd also like it if the bookstores carried all the adult fiction in the same area. Books are NOT easier to find if you have to go hunting through the store & all the various marketing categories.

Colleen--thanks so much for including SPR in your round-up. I have to say that when we were shopping the manuscript, we were told time and again what a niche market our story was catering to, whereas I maintained that a coming-of-age story should be rather universal regardless of the particulars.

This past week I gave a library talk in South Orange, NJ, where the vast majority of my audience was African American. Specifically, a very well-read 14 year old chimed in to say that while of course, she wasn't Jewish, she actually had read SPR and felt that most of Ari's experience was similar to her own. I found that incredibly reassuring and gratifying.

Great post yet again, and the comments have so much to offer, I don't know what I could add.

I will mention a book I just bought and am going to read. "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian," by Sherman Alexie. I had never heard of this author before but heard him speak this weekend at a conference. He was so compelling and his story of growing up in the Northwest sounds fascinating. I can't wait to read it. Has anyone else read it, and if so, what did you think?

So do you guys think that YA characters are bland across the board (all colors) or does the homogonizing just happen to the white YA characters, and when characters of color do make it into published books, are they given more depth?

Jodie - Some books to make you laugh

If you like Evanovich's Stepanie Plum series try Kyra Davis books- first one is Sex Murder Double Latte

Nappily Ever After by Trisha Thomas

The Accidental Diva by Tia Williams

Dancing on the Edge of the Roof by Sheila Williams- Loved This

The Chocolate Ship by Marrissa Monteilh

Mr. Right Now by Monica Jackson

Passport Diaries by Tamara Gregory - Loved This. Start with this one.

Alyssa,

I read and love Alexie's book. If you can't find reviews on the blogs you read, check Shelfari.com. It's a book networking site with discussion forums and you'll find plenty of reviews there.

Personally, I don't pick up a lot of what's popular on YA blogs because the synopsis and reviews sound alike. So I may have it wrong, but my perception is that enough of the characters are bland.

I read mostly realistic YA fiction by POC writers. I tend to read writers whose styles closely match what I read in adult fiction so for me, yes the characters have depth. I think it's important to remember it isn't race that renders these characters bland or fully developed, it's the writing and what the publisher opts to bring to market.

"Minority?" that word threw me off as I was reading your post (i haven't yet read responses). some African Americans, Cubans and other POC are highly educated, have PhD's and some are even billionaires thus they don't consider themselves "minorities" and don't write about "minorites." lower working class and poor POC living in a community enmeshed within their culture sometimes don't view themselves as a "minority" because in our microcosm, we are the majority. as you know, when i lived in Boston, i was the token "Cubanita," and for the first time in my life, i heard beige folks call me, a "minority" and an "ethnic" girl. that word made me feel as if they considered themselves way above me and of a different species.
i need to continue reading your post. : )

Mayra,

Why am I not surprised the Cuban chick would come in here talkin' about 'minority'? LOL

Keep reading, friend.

Ha! Susan, mi amiga, we basically expressed the same sentiment about "minorities." un abrazo! : )

Mayra - LOVE YOU! When I use "minority" I am referring strictly to the population numbers. It's nothing about socioeconomic status to me but all about how many of one ethnicity vs how many of another.

Alyssa - Oh you are in for a treat! I am a huge Alexie fan and have been for a long long time. "Part Time Indian" is one of my all time favorite books, very funny, very sad and so honest. Can't wait to read your thoughts.

As to the blandness question, I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago in that "Whitegirl" post. In many of the books I mentioned in this post there is a uniqueness to the characters (thus no blandness) due to the setting (a Jewish Day School in "So Punk Rock" or the Spokane Reservation in "Part-Time Indian") and ethnicity and/or religion plays an important part in the story. But then you have a book like Tanita's "Mare's War" where the two contemporary teens could be any girls - they are preoccupied with pretty basic teen stuff (being annoyed with parents/grandparent, boyfriend/bestfriend issues and learning to drive). She avoided blandness in this novel however with the dual plotline detailing their grandmother's life during WWII. The grandmother struggled with issues of poverty and racism and that infused the whole novel, as it was clear what she overcame for the sake of her son (the girls' father).

I do find (in my reading experience) that books by minority authors are more personal when it comes to the characters - there will be things about family or home, even little nicknames or meals - that show the family has some kind of ethnic background they take pride and joy from. In general, with Caucasian novels I rarely see that and with so many easy ways to do it, I can't help but think that authors are either purposely leaving those "clues" out, or they have become so bland themselves, they don't even realize what they are missing.

Colleen,

I understood exactly how you were using the word. That doesn't negate the connotations and how others use and perceive it, which is why people like Mayra and I reject it.

I see eliminating 'minority' analogous to the way we African Americans have changed the terms we use to self-identify. And clearly others perfectly understand that evolution. Most white people have no problem adopting African American and dropping Negro or colored. People of Color are similarly rejecting minority.

One of the ways we improve race/ethnic relations is using terms others use to self-identify. That is why I asked you about Caucasian. If it had mattered to you, I would have not continued using white. Doesn't matter if I'm okay with white it's a matter of respecting how you see yourself.

Okay Susan - I can buy that. So is the term POC for all books by non-Caucasian authors or with non-Caucasian characters? And then how do you lump in GBLTQ books/authors and also Jewish books/authors (who would be ethnically Caucasian but due to their religion are woefully underrepresented in lit in anything other than Holocaust titles).

Give me some terms! I feel like I'm going to lose my mind if I have to write "POC-GBLTQ-Jewish" and whoever else I'm missing.

And totally off topic but what's difficult if you're White is that you don't know how others self-identify. Some prefer Black, others Af American. Some like Indian, others Native American. Some like Hispanic or Latino, others prefer country specific - Cuban American, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, etc.

At this part your average white guy's eyes start to glaze over. And since many of them don't even self-identify with their own ethnicity but regionally (southern, New Englander, Pacific Northwesterner, etc) or by skin color they are totally lost.

So do you start a conversation by asking that question - which seems awkward. AAAAAHHHHH!!!! ha!

Colleen,

I hear you. I also don't have a one-size fit all answer. Personally, I listen to the speaker. I pay attention to how they self-identify. If we're interacting on a regular basis, I'll ask.

And just speaking for me, I'm not terribly upset when someone says minority. I simply opted to stop using it and when I think it's appropriate, I'll bring it up in discussion.

Frankly, I wasn't all that keen on AA. I was quite happy with black, but I also understood the shift and went with it. It'd be easier to say I was hardcore, but I'm not. I am always though interested in respecting how we each see ourselves. I get really peeved for example when others fail to refer to a transgendered woman as she. She is she and there's no debate.

I knew this was a safe, sane space to discuss it. Thanks.

Susan and Colleen, I'm so glad to hear such positive stuff about Alexie's novel. Colleen, your comment about his book being "funny, sad and honest" would describe the speech he gave at the conference. I would only add "inspirational."

We just had a family discussion at the dinner table tonight about the book and his speech. My mom and I had been at the conference and we were sharing great quotes and stories from Alexie's talk with my dad and brothers. I can't tell you how much the man impressed me.

Your comment about how it is easy to infuse ethnic culture into a character or family has inspired me (actually all of these posts and their comments about race and culture have inspired me).

The MC in my novel has an Irish cultural background (this is familiar to me because my Dad's family heritage is off-the-boat-in-Boston-in-the-1800's kind of Irish and I've heard a million stories. Current generations still live in the first house their ancestors managed to buy in Charlestown.)

Anyway, I'm going back and revising to infuse more Irish culture into her story. Another character has an Asian background and I'm trying to find ways to infuse more of his heritage into his character's experiences.

Their heritage isn't integral to the story (admittedly I'm more into the action) but all of these discussions have made me realize how I could give depth and interest to the my characters by adding cultural aspects.

Thanks to all of you for the help through your insightful views!

Whew. I feel like I've run a marathon after reading the comments, alone! So much of what's been said echo my many mixed feelings on the issue.

The issue is complex, but if it had to be broken down to the publishing industry simply put, writers of color are asking to be given a chance to write what they want. Period!

Sure, we get there's profit to be made. Hell, we want to make money too. But the insane belief that readers (whether of color or not) would not buy books by or with people of color in them unless they're christian fic, hood stories, inspirational fic or historical has got to end. There's no process for it, no 12-step new procedure to wean off it, it just needs to end!

As Colleen pointed out - other industries (music, film) have moved beyond that belief. Why hasn't publishing?

Hip hop CDs don't move millions of copies from Black folk buying it alone. Nor did Eminem become a successful artist from ONLY White folk buying it.

There's far too much evidence out there proving that when a vehicle has backing and distribution it is given the chance to succeed. Once it's given those things, fate intervenes.

But when books, movies, TV shows and film aren't given those things, they generally flop. Simple enough.

If books by or featuring people of color fare poorly with sales, I have no doubt stats would bear out that it's likely due to poor/no marketing and spotty distribution.

Based on the furor since the Liar cover, I'd say the audience is there...they simply can't find the commodity.

First - Alyssa I think we all want to come to dinner at your house! It sounds like so much fun!!!

Paula, you are dead on with everything you've written here. Honestly I think the books are there but publishers just can't see that they will sell. From my own agent I know that they want sure things now and are very unwilling to take a chance (even on a book about a bunch of guys flying in Alaska). They want confirmed names or formulas and what we are talking about is a major break from those formulas. So nothing changes and publishers convince themselves it is the market that is stagnant, and not their own failure to bring more original books the market in the first place.

Publishing has to be pushed, and that's all there is to it.

Publishing has to be pushed, and that's all there is to it.

Agreed.

For my own part in this, as a writer, I'm pushing back by not backing down from what I write, organically. I realize this means I may never publish again until I'm recognized as a guaranteed sale. But I'd rather keep my integrity in place as an author than chase trends and/or remain boxed in.

Ironically, this issue really hit home for me as I was listening to Kid Cudi's new single that features Common. Common has this one line in the song that says something to the effect of "She said you do that conscious rap and I said get on this conscious d***"

I like Common. I've always liked Common. But it hasn't escaped me that commercially Common got NO attention until he began working with Kanye West and began penning more suggestive and mildly misogynistic lyrics.

Sure, I could blame Common for "selling out." But I don't. He was a rapper who spoke his mind via "conscious" lyrics for nearly ten years but his label barely pushed the music. The radio played it sporadically. Now? He's going platinum and has a friggin' Gap ad!

*shakes head* Money truly is the root of all evil!

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