When I write a book, I don’t think about race anymore than your average white author goes around thinking about being white. I don’t ever describe myself, my friends, acquaintances or family members in real life as cafe au lait, caramel or pecan colored any more often than white folk describe themselves or theirs as peach, sand, fish-belly or biscuit-tinted (when have I read a white person reduced to their skin color in a novel?) But that’s a slight problem because you see, I gotta write African American books, and those books are all about skin color. I must describe my characters skin tint immediately, and their race must be pictured on the cover.
Seriously, do you white authors sit down and and think about how white you’re going to make your characters? Do you ever bat around adjectives to describe their skin tones? Do you rewrite your dialogue to ensure that it’s white enough? Do you analyze scenes to ensure that they are realistically white and believable? Something that white people would do?
Once your book is published in its white-only line, do you think about how to market to your white readers? Do you think about what your white readers will like vs what those black readers like? Do you wish and worry about how you’re going to get blacks and other races to read your books? Do you wonder if blacks can relate to your white characters? Oh no! What if your characters are too white? Do you dread book signings in black bookstores and black areas because you know they won’t/can’t relate your white characters (not that you can blame them?)
Do you think about how being white negatively affects your career than stop yourself for being negative and remind yourself that your race has nothing to do with the wondrous Christ consciousness that you really are?
Do you hold that thought while you go get some chocolate to feed your hungry Christ consciousness?
Sometimes do you just want to shoot a (privileged) nigga? But then you feel guilty about it?
Welcome to my world.
But let’s get productive. How can we solve this situation? Really? How can we get white readers (them, y’all, you’se folks, those people) to buy and read books by black authors as readily as they buy and read their own?
First, it’s not all about readers, I know. Publishers are at fault. But they are big, faceless, greedy, megalithic behemoths that are unchangable by anything than the heavy impetus of popular opinion. And that’s you, dear readers.
The bottom line is that there are shitloads of white authored books out there. Black folks books are segregated, harder to obtain and hear any buzz about. This isn’t going to change readily.
The fact is that some black authored books are good, many are meh and some are shit. Some white authored books are good, many are meh and some are shit. Face it folks, there are no inherent racial differences in quality. I’ve known people of different races intimately and believe me, we’re no better or worse, just human. This is a reality that America has yet to swallow, but believe me, it’s true. I’ve heard inferences on boards, blogs and loops that romances by black authors are inferior because they are written by blacks. Yeah, and only stupid, inferior people would infer shit like that. Leave those racists to their Connie Masons and the like.
There are more white folks than black folks, but there are plenty of black authors that deserve to be read and recognized.
So the question to brainstorm is this: How do we get the majority readers, those nonblack folks who shell out moolah book dollars to to give black books the same treatment as nonblack books despite publishing segregation practices?
Any ideas?
Anyone?
>>Do you ever bat around adjectives to describe their skin tones?
Um yeah actually I do.
>>Do you rewrite your dialogue to ensure that it’s white enough?
No but often I’ll rewrite it if it doesn’t reflect character or even sex of the character.
>>I’ve heard inferences on boards, blogs and loops that romances by black authors are inferior because they are written by blacks.
Funny enough I was watching Glory Road last night, even though I saw it when it came out in theaters, and the concensus about black players was they can’t handle the pressure, and thus were either token players or were not starters. I can definitely see the parallells between the two points and wish I had some sort of answer for you.
Okay, spill the descriptive adjectives. Almond? Butter-creme? Marzipan? (I’m a little obsessed with sweets).
We all gotta rewrite to character, but rewriting to race is ridiculous when the races are sharing the same culture and the book isn’t about the minority experiences.
I don’t know anything about Glory Road. Why wouldn’t blacks be able to handle pressure? Did white folks make that movie? I think pampered aristocratic types would be bred not to handle pressure. Isn’t that right?
Almost half of black women will never marry, most are unmarried at any one time while more white women have help in everything they do. Who handles more pressure?
We know pressure’s not a race thing, it’s a situation thing.
I think the core answer to this is simple: classification and marketing. White readers aren’t prejudice, they just aren’t being duly exposed. Just because the characters in a romance novel happen to be black doesn’t mean it should automatically be classified as a “black” or “African-American” romance. It’s a romance. Period. The skin color of the characters is irrelevant to the plot. Ditto for all other genres. If race has nothing to do with the subject matter, it should have nothing to do with the classification of the book.
Once we get over the need to stamp everything “black” just because it was produced by a black person, we can focus on (and classify according to) the universal subjects that all people relate to, hence broadening the potential audience.
Glory Road is about the first all black basketball team to win an NCAA basketball final–1967 (thus the ass-backward thinking) …it’s on DVD
WTF is Marzipan? No almond but honey and hey I’ll make note of buttercreme (my fave kind of icing LOL). I’m notorious for using creamy, which to me implies pale but not necessarily milk white. I try to use words based on what I want to convey about a character.
I’ve been divorced almost nine years, I had to sit and listen to my step-mom yesterday tell me how my poor bmw driving step sister’s 1100.00 in support is gonna get cut to 500 in november. She’s been divorced about two years. I laughed and made sure she knew I didn’t give a shit. I get 200.00 a month for two kids, other than paying support and picking up the kids to babysit every two weeks (sorry he ain’t no daddy and he and his b*tchwife are on my DIE LIST) he does nothing. Yeah, it’s more than some but a hell of a lot less than most and my family RARELY if ever helps me. And I can assure you I have less than NO desire to ever get married again.
It’s my house, that’s my name on the mortgage and I ain’t sharing.
Millenia,
Classification and marketing is controlled by publishers and they aren’t going to change a damned thing unless forced. My fear is that they WILL stop publishing popular black fiction, period, if they don’t think they can rake in money from the black reading niche. Black readers will go back to reading what we’ve always read and publishers will buy the white author over the black one probably nine times out of ten, and you know it. Black lines will be dropped, black editors laid off and popular black fiction will thin to a trickle. It’s a catch 22.
Separate but equal has been proved to be a misnomer, but is separate and existent the best we can get?
Cece, Marzipan is ground almonds! It’s yummy
Monica – separate and existent is the best you’ll get if that’s what you resign yourself to.
And you’re right, classification and marketing are controlled by publishers. Therefore, how can you expect anything to change if that doesn’t? Seems like you’d be brainstorming for naught. The commercial media takes their lead from those classifications. You could hire publicists until you were blue in the face, if it’s classified as something their audience “isn’t interested in”, you’re basically screwed. Trust me, I know.
Okay, we’re back to how to get publishers to change how they treat their black authors without them dumping the black niche, black fiction and authors entirely. I think the only thing this that will do this would be careful adverse publicity (carefully not damning the existence of the niche) as far as how they treat their black genre authors.
Shine the light.
That’s why I always thought literary sites, readers and reviewers need to be held accountable for ignoring the existence of black authors in romance and other genres. I’ve been saying that shit since 1998 and all folks can say is that I’ve been holding up the gotdarn race card? Keerhist!
The light needs to be shone on how we are treated and why. It’s not about the niche. It’s about race in America. But too many black folks don’t want to say shit. Everybody is minding their own pocketbook, watching their own ass and worried sick about the niche. We know the slightest excuse and they will decide the niggas ain’t worth the trouble or the contract. Too many white folks are either scared shitless to examine their own racism, too mired in it, or simply think it ain’t their problem. But it is. This shit has been done, and will be done in another publishing niche with another face, not necessarily a black one. What did Elie Weisel say?
Here’s a thoughtful caveat…..How on Earth have those who invented and
shared knowledge with the rest of the races become beggars, as it were?
There’s a real need for a new race dialog. I think that the white
populace will buy books of other races, just as their own, when they see
institutions such as publishing houses, cease from discriminating
against and segregating blacks.
The truth is, blacks must now turn their eyes to the hills from whence
came their help: The US courts. Lawsuits… Lawsuits! -:) Discrimination
is still illegal, and none is above the law damn it, don’t forget that.
It’s well known that most individuals don’t have the resources to individually pursue legal remedies. What about a class action suit though? Would some bright legal minds take this on? Most importantly would enough black authors join in?
A caveat. I once joined in a legal action. It fell apart because the black women involved could not pull together for a common endeavor in addition to our individual pursuits and goals. I was very unhappy with the outcome and considered it money and time wasted. Another author told me she did not join in the effort because she knew that we would not be able to stay the course and work together. She was quite right and wise in her decision.
This was just a small thing. I honestly don’t see a class action working on a large scale even though that would be a good way to go about it to get the goal accomplished. But even if we had a MLK, we couldn’t get enough authors unself-involved enough to stage a single sit-in, much less face down the firehoses and dogs. Individuals are going to have to put everything on the line, their money, their careers, their hopes, dreams, everything. It’s a lot to ask of individuals.
Do we deserve that when so few of us even speak up for ourselves?
You know, it’s like someone said to me a while back, “Some people are crusaders, and some people aren’t.”
It really is about whether or not one is really psychologically capable of speaking up for him or herself. And whether or not they’re capable of realizing why they themselves are contributing to their own ill-treatment when they don’t.
Think Rosa Parks. Susan B. Anthony. Harriett Tubman. Sojourner Truth. Did they – and others like them – not put much more than money and careers on the line? Affording us the liberties we have access to today? Suppose they had simply conformed like everyone else?
I, myself, am definitely not a likely “crusader”, but I’m not going to accept ill-treatment, at any cost. To me, racial conformity is the equivalent of agreeing to remain a slave for the guaranteed room and board. Um…I don’t think so. They can go ahead and shoot me on my way through the gates. After all, living within the clutches of disparity isn’t really living at all.
I think most don’t realize. They simply have a dread of expressing themselves freely. The fear may not even be related to something as big as civil rights, but rather other authors dissing and criticizing them for what they wrote somewhere. As you can see, some are ever ready to criticize and spread their poison if you give them the slightest reason. Or possibly they’re worried about irritating a potential reader. They figure it’s not worth it, that their goals are more important.
Whatever they’re thinking about, it’s not about being mired in slave mentality. I guess that’s how the majority of people are, dealing with their heirarchy of needs in order.
Thank goodness a few have had the vision to be different.
Monica/Millenia:
I really like what you guys are saying. I can see the big problem too, its a psychological one. Some blacks have been developed and some others are not and are lost.
Now its up to those who have intelligence and might to move into action and get the damn job done.
We all know that in most of the occasions where these kinds of changes were made throughout history, it was by a single person of vision.
Some folks are interested to plant fruit trees for themselves and others to harvest, while others just care about eating the produces, hu mm… but the bottom line is that racism must be purged from our society.
I know I’m late–just found your site and blog doing agent research…ahh.
I can tell you that as a white reader to read AA fiction, I have to walk into a section of a bookstore or library that is clearly labeled: African American. I rarely feel more conspicuous, and I’ve lived in a mostly black neighborhood for about 13 years. But can you imagine walking around a bookstore, seeing a section that says: White Fiction? Wouldn’t you be looking around to see if anyone was noticing you straying in there? That’s what I do–because I’m always wondering: do they want me to be reading this?
I do whether they want me or not–because I read fairly widely–and the books I couldn’t put down this year were written by AA authors.
And as far as writing…um. No. Except when he took off his shirt and it was obvious he didn’t get out in the sun much at all.
Then again, I didn’t do much of that with my black characters either–they’re light or dark-skinned–and I only did that because that’s the first thing I hear out of everybody’s mouth when they’re talking or asking about somebody –light skinned or dark?
Before that they were just black.
Which is, frankly, the only adjective that whites ever use: black.
Maybe that’s why we don’t figure out what to call whites–pasty or tan? What else is there? Kind of boring, but there it is.
Love all your posts Monica, and am now going out to read your books.
Assume I’ll have to skulk into the AA section and hope no one hollers at me that I best get out of there.
(And as far as my non-white characters–they’re not secondary, and they are multifaceted. And none of them die. And I’ll be quite scared when they’re published, I’m sure.)