In gathering info for my current piece at Bookslut I learned several interesting things. Here's a bit:

1. It is not all about the publishers.

2. For every author who told me they had a publisher who asked them to remove an ethnic or GBTLQ character from their book or presented a whitewashed cover, there was another author who said their publisher was fantastic, supported their choices in the text and designed an honest accurate cover.

3. I don't know why some publishers are more honest about America's diversity than others, but clearly that's how it is.

4. Someone should start tracking what each publishers is doing so we can so who see who is lagging in the diversity department.

5. And call them out on it.

6. Covers are not the most important aspect of a book (we should of course, "never judge a book by its cover") but they are the most visible aspect.

7. Fewer Kids of Color on books reflects American society's preference for Caucasians over all other ethnic groups.

8. See the "nine dolls" on the March cover of Vanity Fair if you don't believe that.

9. Librarians are gatekeepers. Booksellers are gatekeepers. Publishers are gatekeepers and if you review books in a public forum then you too - you and you and you and you - are a gatekeeper.

10. So get some diversity in your reviewing and get it now.

11. It's not that hard to do.

12. Meanwhile, authors are in a really tight spot.

13. But having said that, it is sad that an author would tell me they were bullied into changing their text, accepting a cover they hated and removing text from their personal blog because their editor/publisher told them they had to.

14. Would you put up with this sort of control at any other job?

15. I mean that - seriously. You need to think about that. If you boss walked into work tomorrow and said they had read your blog and thought you were being too political about something, and you needed to remove those viewpoints, would you do it? (And obviously I don't mean posting rude things about your workplace, etc.)

16. If you are afraid of your publisher then you need to rethink who you are and what you are doing with your life.

17. And keep this in mind - for every author I corresponded with who said they had a difficult relationship with their publisher, there was an author who said everything was great. This means not every publisher will treat you badly or is against publishing books about KOC and GBLTQ teens or is against accurately depicting KOC on book covers.

18. So if you have convinced yourself that all publishers are like that and you just have to suck it up in order to be published, then you are wrong.

19. Having said that, any publisher who wants a KOC on a cover so it can be heavily marketed during Black History Month even when its not historical fiction is stupid.

20. And librarians who say their patrons don't like books about "those kind of people" are caving to ignorance.

21. Change is not easy, for anyone. But still, in this case change really needs to come.

22. Standing up for what you believe in isn't easy either, but you will sleep better at night if you do. Trust me on this.

23. And honestly, if the worst your publisher can do is say "no" then really, what does it hurt to ask? Several authors said they were afraid to say a word about their covers or text - while several others didn't hesitate to send an email with their concerns. Which group would you rather be in?

24. Ask yourself that question again - "Which group would I rather be in?"

25. I thought the saddest quote I received was this: "...my bestselling novel, has an ambiguous looking teen on the
cover. All the others were clearly brown characters, and some booksellers/librarians have told me off the record that this hindered their purchasing as they don't have a "community to support such books."

26. Until I received this one: "I do think the issues of covers puts authors of color in a really uncomfortable bind. On one hand, with our work, we have an opportunity--or perhaps even a responsibility--to positively portray people of color. On the other hand, a contemporary fiction book a with person of color on the cover (especially an African Americans) tends to be lumped in the "street lit" category, despite what the book is actually about. And whatever the reasons, the fact still remains that most book buyers do not want to buy books with people of color on the
covers."

27. And then this one: "As to whether the author’s race makes a difference, it seems to me it does. Quite. The only examples of whitewashed covers I know of are books by white authors about black characters. I can’t imagine this ever happening to me, though I actively fear it, and I find this aspect of the cover issue to be the most insidious. Why will a publisher whitewash a white author’s book, but not a black author’s? Clearly, they want to market the white author’s book to a “universal” (read: “white”) audience, so as not to have it pigeonholed as a “black” book. Do they not want to market a black author’s book to the same “universal” audience? Or are they content to relegate us to the African-American interest section and not try for broader appeal? Is the race of the character incidental as long as the author is white, but significant if the author is black?

Absurd though it sounds, I find it offensive that only white authors’ books are deemed worthy of the best marketing possibility, in the publisher’s eyes. They’re basically implying that a black character cover won’t sell, but the author is black so it’s okay because her viewpoint isn’t “universal” to begin with. I don’t want my book whitewashed, but I hate being made to feel like a second-class citizen twice in the same hit."

28. Consider that - as hard as it has been for authors under the spotlight of the recent whitewashing controversies, there are authors of color who have disappeared into obscurity because publishers don't think their books - or they themselves - are even worth that lie.

29. Llying on the cover is about trying to sell the maximum number of books - and apparently there is a number for Authors of Color and GBLTQ authors and it is far less than the number for Caucasian authors.

30. And that is because still, so many years later, we continue to be a country that judges by the color of your skin and by the person you love. We are still not capable of looking beyond the surface, to content of character, to skill, to ability. We are still collectively such small-minded people.

Bummer.

31. Consider this: "The publishing industry is in a phenomenal position to radically, dynamically alter social perceptions. Putting multicultural teens on more book covers would give actual youth of color something to identify with, and also make them less of the “other” in the eyes of white youth. Publishers could do that, but they won’t. The industry simply isn’t compelled to act in an ethical way."

32. We force the change to come. We change what we read. We change with what we buy. We change with what we request at the library. We change with what we review. We change with what we write about. We do this because Bella could have been brown skinned and Percy Jackson could have been brown skinned and it shouldn't have taken almost one hundred years for a Black Disney Princess. We are only being shown what those in charge of making money think we insist upon seeing. We are only being offered what they think we want to buy.

Prove them wrong. Find the way that is best for you, and prove them wrong.

"Publishers claim “the market” can’t sustain more books about people of color; they act as though markets are organic, when in reality, they’re shaped, constructed, and developed over time. Personally, I think the publishing industry works the way it’s intended to work: the intention of those in charge is NOT to produce books that reflect the diversity of this country (which will be predominantly people of color by 2050). Publishers say they have to watch their bottom line, yet they annually publish loads of books about whites and most of those books don’t sell well, either! Any book that isn’t given a big push by the marketing department is likely to have disappointing sales (even with some great reviews). But many publishers don’t bother to market our books because they wrongly assume that books by or about people of color won’t sell to the majority white population. Bestsellers like Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian prove this isn’t the case, but publishers cling to the “anecdotal evidence” (racist assumption) that whites can’t appreciate or relate to a story that doesn’t have a white lead. We see the same thing happening in film and television. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: they publish a limited number of diverse books, fail to generate a market for those books, then continue to limit their publication of such books based on poor sales. Many publishers are satisfied with producing the same old slavery and civil rights stories, which are at least guaranteed to sell to schools and libraries for Black History Month…"

[All quotes given to me by published authors - I offered anonymity.]