Updated: Seeking reviews while black

Publisher’s Weekly was using special black reviewers for commercial black fiction (not sure if they still are). I can’t really criticize them for this practice. They were trying to be fair. It used to freak me out when romance review sites would look for special Negro reviewers to review black romance, but I have to admit that is better than unfair or biased reviews–or even the appearance of them.

I doubt if Nora Roberts or any other majority romance author considers sending books to RAWSistaz for review 

Should black authors writing black characters avoid nonblack reviewers? Maybe so.  Those black reviewers are different simply because they read a lot of books by black authors writing mostly black characters while nonblack reviewers rarely do.  Black characters aren’t going to faze them, nor will they have an unconscious assumption of inferiority. They’re familiar with the type of book, the imprint, and maybe even your body of work (the same advantages those other authors have out of the gate).   Reviews are trying enough, so going in without a starting disadvantage is often a good idea. I recommend RAWSistaz and APOOO. There are some others. There are a growing number of sites that review interracial romances with black heroines. I only wish there were more black review venues.

Majority reviewers

Or a black genre author can send their book out to majority reviewers (readers in their genre, but who seldom read black authors writing black characters).

Why?

This scenario hasn’t happened for any black romance author in the almost twenty years black romance has existed, so I suspect it isn’t possible–but if buzz builds about a romance by a black author with black characters in majority romance circles enough so that majority romance readers actually buy that romance–that would be beyond profitable for the author in terms of sales and career. Maybe the gamble is worth it. Sorta like winning the lottery.

Maybe the odds would be better in other genres, I wouldn’t know, but are a loooooong shot in romance, no matter how high the quality of your book, once it gets that AA classification. That has never stopped folks from buying lottery tickets before.

What can go wrong

When I was a raw newbie, I had no idea of how things were done and mistakenly requested a review from AAR, a place no black authors had ever dared venture at that time (1998). The review of that book stated the book and and characters are too lily-white or not black enough (yes, those exact words were written, but the text of the review–not the grade–has since been changed). Fifteen years later, I doubt if a black romance author would get any review like that nowadays. More likely, your book might not reviewed on the same basis as a type of book or author they’re more familiar–the same as a reader that usually reviews IR or black romance probably wouldn’t give Loretta Chase the same love she’s used to receiving from reviewers who like her type of books and characters.

So, what can go wrong is your review sucks.

What if that happens?

Maybe your book does suck.  If you wrote it and put it out there, you really can’t tell.  Or maybe the reviewer does have an (almost always unconscious) assumption of your books inferiority because you are black and you wrote mostly black characters.  You can’t tell that either, except by what is written in the review.

If the review isn’t going on about how it didn’t meet the reader’s racial expectations, or it was too (race) or not (race) enough, or how different it is from the exact same type of book with no specifics, or antipathy to the characters (race) drips from the review– race isn’t written into the review.  If the review is about plot, characters, and writing, as all their other reviews are and so on, it’s probably that reader’s honest evaluation and the author should suck it up.

Added: It doesn’t have to be about race.

It is much less loaded to assume it’s about reader preference.

Keep in mind some readers are quite forgiving if it’s the sort of book they want to read, especially if that sort of book isn’t widely available.   Their expectations might be different and they are happy if you meet their expectations.

Added:  An example, Dear Author reviewed an IR romance (which I haven’t read) that has solid reviews on Amazon and other venues.  They gave it a F and dogged it.

Just sayin’, if readers who read that sort of thing like the book, a reader of that sort of thing can’t usually go wrong reading the book.  Go by the reviews of readers who like that sort of book!   I think  Amazon readers were satisfied with the story DA gave an F to, because it met their expectations, which are clearly different from DAs expectations, right or wrong.

If a reviewer who rarely reviews that sort of book, and mostly reads other sorts of books…and that reviewer doesn’t like the book–readers who like what she likes should probably avoid it, because they probably won’t like it either.

Preferences are a powerful thing.  I read a couple of books by a historical romance author that the majority romance review sites squeee over and routinely give As or their highest ratings.  The book doesn’t have the sort of characters I prefer, in fact, I have a bit of disdain for those type of characters.  I’m sure I failed to get into the story the way a reader into those sort of characters would.  So, I saw all sorts of flaws never mentioned in the reviews.  It was to the point I wondered what all those majority romance reviewers were smoking.  I see this happen with authors popular with them, also. This will happen with any reviewer and any review  site, it’s human nature.

Readers who want to read certain types of books and heavily invest in them, rarely visit sites that rarely or infrequently review the books they prefer.  So if you get a bad review from a site that doesn’t often review your sort of books, you’ve only wasted your money on a losing lottery ticket.  Look at the bright side, and look for a quote you can use. Or in the worst case, can make fun of (privately).

Taboos

For chrissakes, don’t say anything about a suckish review, and don’t send your buds over there to say anything either.

Saying anything (negative), even about a review that’s written in black and white to be clearly racist (exceedingly rare nowadays), will have huge negative backlash. 1) Majority Americans usually can’t tolerate blacks speaking about racism, and doing so is almost always unwise. 2) It’s not tolerated for authors to voice their opinion about a negative review, and doing so is almost always unwise.

In sum, for a black niche author, especially in genre fiction, seeking reviews can be fraught. Should we stay safe with the fewer reviewers familiar with the sort of book you specifically write, including the race of the characters and author, where you know we’ll be judged on the content of our books (as majority authors have the privilege), or should we take our chances and gamble on that lottery ticket?

One thing is sure though, silence is golden in the case of a sucky review.

ADDED:  (Possibly coming: A post on Talking White or why grammar that isn’t standard can read authentic–if I decide I have the stomach to tackle the topic).