by Sonya Kimble-Ellis
With the advent of the Kindle and other digital alternatives to the book, the publishing industry is having its share of struggles. Major bookstores are closing locations, while publishers are cutting back the number of releases and reducing author advances. As early as 2006, bookstore sales had begun to fall and have yet to rebound.
Despite these factors, a number of major publishers report that Black books are doing well. Black Expressions Book Club, which is owned by Bookspan, has over 460,000 members. That’s 100,000 more than the number taking part in the company’s popular Book of the Month Club. Markus Wilhelm, the parent company’s CEO, expects that Black Expressions will have double-digit growth in members and sales over the next several years.
The Association of American Publishers recently reported that U.S. publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion dollars in 2009. It’s estimated that African-Americans contribute more than $300 million a year to this number.
Despite strong sales, Black literature still has some challenges with which to contend. Among them are judgments made about content, unequal compensation, and segregated sections in bookstores.
Author William Fredrick Cooper credits some of the inequality in publishing to a lack of quality writing. “Waiting to Exhale, the book that started all this, not only told a story that needed to be told, but it was good writing,” said Cooper, who penned There’s Always a Reason and Six Days in January. “We’re not taking the time to do that, so how can we expect to be taken seriously by publishers or the public? People are churning out lots of books, but are they well written?”
Author Carleen Brice offers another take. “It seems with all the other entertainment options, books aren’t selling the way they used to,” said Brice. “I know of several authors who are former NY Times best-selling writers whose books are no longer selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Now they’re selling more like dozens of thousands. Where did those readers go?”
Brice said that the change could possibly be a result of readers having more authors to choose from. “If so,” Brice added, “that could be a good thing. Diversity of voices is a good thing.” Brice had her first book, Orange, Mint and Honey, turned into the Lifetime movie, Sins of the Mother. Her second novel, Children of the Waters, is on stands now.
Show Them the Money
The book publishing industry has always had huge disparities in the advances that companies give to authors. Contributing factors range from genre and number of books printed to an author’s track record and (dare we say it) possibly the racial makeup of the author and her audience.
In a New York Times essay published last April, author Michael Meyer said most publishers pay an average of $30,000 for mainstream books. There are, however, exceptions to that rule. Some authors earn as much as $60-$80,000. In rare cases, advances have gone into the millions. Last year, Scribner paid $5 million to author Audrey Niffenegger for her second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry.
Author and blogger Brenda Hiatt has been compiling research on book advances. A romance writer by trade, she notes that many Harlequin imprints pay an average of $4,000 to authors for their first book and $5,000 for subsequent novels.
Kensington, which publishes a number of Black titles, reportedly offers $3,000 for first books and an average of $3,800 for subsequent books, though some authors have received as much as $60,000.
St. Martin’s Press, which has published many books by Black authors, offers an average of $7,000 – $25,000 for a first book and between $45,000 and $200,000 for follow-ups.
Currently, chick lit and urban drama are dominating the African-American book market. The advances for many of these books fall between $4,000 and $5,000, with most companies offering a royalty percentage once the advance has been recouped.
Several well-known authors such as McMillan and Toni Morrison have gotten advances that most Black authors have only dreamed of. But will the financial playing field ever be balanced? And if so, how can it happen?
“We’re always going to have to fight harder,” said Cooper. “We have to prove ourselves in terms of the numbers.”
“I really don’t know,” said Brice. “I think all mid-list authors struggle in this market and I suspect that Black mid-list authors struggle even more. I think the issue for Black novelists becomes, if you’re not writing street lit or Christian fiction, then who is your audience? I think publishers believe that that’s what Black readers want and that White readers won’t read Black authors unless they are literary and well known,” Brice continued. “So if you fall into that category, like I do, then yes, you do have a struggle on your hands.”
“In order to pack a punch, financial or audience-wise, you have to write stuff that’s popular,” said Cooper. “That’s what the publishers are interested in. So it’s a double-edged sword. Publishers will unfortunately tell you [to add] ‘a little more sex or a little more violence’.”
Another challenge, Brice contends, is getting readers to read books because they’re interested in the subject matter, without regard for the author’s or characters’ race.
“Some days, I’m optimistic that there’s a wider market for Black books than only Black readers. Other days, I’m not so sure,” said Brice. Addressing this issue she created the blog, www.welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com, a light-hearted call to white readers to give Black authors, and their works, a try.
Doing It for Themselves
In a break from tradition, a number of Black authors decided to find publishing success on their own. Such was the case with E. Lynn Harris, who, after being unable to secure a publisher for his first book Invisible Life, decided to publish it himself. He sold thousands of copies from the trunk of his car before being signed by Doubleday. Prior to his death last summer, his nine books had sold more than 3 million copies.
Former legal secretary Teri Woods found success after self-publishing her novel True to the Game and other titles. Vickie Stringer self-published her novel, Let That be the Reason and eventually launched her own successful company, Triple Crown Publications. Best-selling author Zane broke ground in Black erotica. After self-publishing her first three titles and selling over 250,000 copies, she eventually signed a deal with Simon & Schuster. She’s presently the publisher of Strebor Books (under the umbrella of Simon & Schuster) and has over twenty authors on her roster.
Many other authors are following the self-publishing route. “One of the things that Margaret Johnson Hodge and Gloria Mallette have done is establish their credibility with publishing houses, and when the houses wouldn’t do new contracts, they took their following and self-published,” said Cooper. “Because they have those followings people are going to read their stuff.”
To Segregate or Not
Black authors and the book-buying public also have to contend with the issue of African-American book sections. While it may be off-putting to readers of other races, there are many Black authors and readers who have come to embrace the section. Brice suggested that, although it can often feel like segregation, that if it were not for those sections, major book stores might not buy as many African-American titles. Some, however, feel it’s time to do away with isolating Black books and place them on the same shelves as White writers.
The success of film versions of Waiting to Exhale (grossed $67 million its first year) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back have shown that Black books can generate success on the big screen. The turning of Sapphire’s novel Push into the film Precious, generated $47 million dollars at the box office. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, written by Alexander McCall Smith, generated big numbers for HBO.
Ernessa T. Carter’s 32 Candles was recently purchased by Miramax. TV producer Shonda Rhimes bought the rights to Itchbay is the New Black, a memoir by Helena Andrews.
“I think we probably owe Tyler Perry for getting Hollywood to realize there’s a Black audience,” said Brice. “Now, if we can get [studios] and publishing houses to understand that the Black audience isn’t monolithic, maybe we can get a better variety of books and movies.”
