How Can Black Authors Level the Financial Playing Field in a Changing Book industry?
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.”
