QBR: The Black Book Review — Book Biz Column
July 2003; used with permission

The Perils and Promises of "New" Literary Markets
By Milca Esdaille

Historically, book publishers have discovered and delivered creativity, information and inspiration to the masses. They still do; but today publishing looks less like a calling and more like big business. Mega-publishers intent on capturing economies of scale and protecting margins are less focused on delivering quality and developing authors. Instead, they must compete with the Internet, video games, Hollywood and the sports and music industries for customer attention span and wallet share. Fighting fire with fire, publishers have become consumed with generating bestsellers, packaging celebrity authors for the media, branding, and developing new markets. Responding to changing market demographics, they are promoting to increasingly diverse market segments, following in the path of auto dealers and consumer product companies by devising strategies to find and promote books to specific populations, while simultaneously attracting readers of all stripes to as many titles as possible.

American literature, by definition, represents a rich tapestry of genres and culturally distinct voices. The African American literary market provides a fascinating case study of how major publishers attack a developing market. Against the backdrop of a century-old body of rich literary history, a cadre of new African American voices struck a resonating chord with readers both within and outside the African American community. Writers like Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and James Baldwin firmly established themselves as best selling authors with a wide readership. And of course, over a decade ago Terry McMillan took bookstores and Hollywood by storm. Publishers have since scrambled to capture a slice of this ‘new’ market," establishing African American imprints–8 at last count–and hiring editors and publicists to find and promote books for this audience. It’s been a wise investment. As the general book market experiences slowed sales growth, African Americans continue to buy books at an accelerating pace. According to figures tracked by Target Market News, black consumer spending on books has increased a total of 20.3 percent between 1996 and 2002,

As publishers seek new markets, it’s easy to understand why the Latino segment is generating such promise. 2000 census data points to an increase of 61% in the Hispanic population over the past 10 years, and predictions are that Hispanics will become the largest minority group by 2050. We spoke with a cross-section of industry insiders, to understand how publishers are approaching this market. We compared notes with voices from the Latino, African American and even the Asian literary markets, in hopes of uncovering lessons readers, writers, and publishers might find instructive.

Get Caught With A Latino

This past January the Association of American Publishers (AAP) issued a press release declaring 2003 The Year of Publishing Latino Voices for America, "In recognition of the growing importance of the Latino community in the United States," and announcing the creation of a special task force to coordinate industry initiatives targeting publishing, marketing, distribution and sales of books by Latinos. AAP is comprised of 310 members from the publishing establishment, aligned to expand the market and promote the status of publishing here and abroad. Kathy Blough, AAP vice president and lead on the Latino task force, explains, "We’re trying to reach Latinos and let them know these books are available in English and Spanish, and make sure bookstores have them. [We also], want to reach out to non-Latinos and say, ‘hey, these wonderful titles are available and appeal to anybody.’ We want to make sure distributors, book sellers and everybody in our industry knows this is a really important segment that needs attention." Specific initiatives include a Get Caught Reading publicity campaign in Spanish, with Hispanic TV’s number one news correspondent Jorge Ramos as campaign spokesperson; a flurry of activity at the May 2003 BEA gathering in Los Angeles; a planned November 2003 seminar in New York on publishing Latino authors; and a series of regional literary events.

Blough continues; "A challenge is making sure these books are available in places besides bookstores. [We] have stories about Jorge Ramos touring K-Mart, and having mobs of people there…we can learn a great deal here from what’s already been done in the African American market, figuring out how to reach different demographics [beyond the bookstores]."

Lessons from the Frontlines

Malaika Adero, senior editor at Simon & Schuster’s Atria books, has 20 years in the industry. "To my mind, a part of the Latino market is the black market, so they overlap. The particulars of language and culture [are] unique issues to the Latino market, but what overlaps in African American and Latino markets are issues relating to education, literacy, economic development, making books more accessible to communities that are on the margin. These are areas where we could work together to address problems.

"Latino writers have made important contributions to American literature and world literature for decades. What I hope is happening is an increasing response to the work of writers like Gabriel García Márquez, Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez and Christina Garcia. We’re publishing Daniel Chacon’s And the Shadows Took Him in April 2004; he’s a brilliant Chicano writer. Tony Medina and Willie Perdomo are identified as both Latino and black writers. We have more and more people coming to the forefront with brilliant work, and supported more in the stores. African Americans have always played an important part in world literature as well. Over time the industry has come to recognize the significance of the African American market; it has always been aware of itself–its just other people now coming to appreciate it. The numbers get bigger and trade publishers see themselves being financially successful with this kind of product — they get with the program."

Adero sees valuable lessons to learn from the self-publishing segment. "New, loyal customers can be found by publishing books that emerge out of the self-published and small press movement. For example authors publishing street, life hip-hop novels are leading us to new readers. We’re learning to use radio to successfully promote books in nightclubs…the beauty shop, the barbershop, in venues where we don’t typically venture. I’m hoping we broaden the spectrum of the kinds of books we publish and promote for Latino readers, because that market is no more a monolith than the African American market."

Rene Alegria, sits on AAP’s task force, and also heads up the Rayo imprint at Harper Collins. Rayo, which publishes books by Latinos and is the only US Latino imprint, celebrates its 2^nd anniversary this fall. Alegria shares, "We [at AAP] want to represent the Latino community in the US, but we also want other groups to understand that this too is a big slice of American culture. The diversity within our community is immense; but also the creativity is immense. We have literary, commercial, narrative nonfiction and scholarly talent. It will be hard to tag one breakout author. We have so many faces–black, brown, white–and are the future of what this country will look like.

"Compared to the African American literary market, we’re just coming of age. We can learn from the grassroots marketing tactics in the African American market. The powerful way African American churches and book groups get the word out about a book, we don’t have that yet, but it’s beginning to happen. We want to capture the attention of all audiences. An example of a groundbreaking book that can do that is Alberto Fuguet’s Movies of My Life, which we will publish here this fall. Fuguet is from Chile, and this is his take on the globalization of American pop culture [delivered via movies]–how McDonalds, condos and Macintosh’s have become part of South American lives. It’s not to say we don’t have talent that has already been published, but our numbers and purchasing powers are staggering. If we don’t triple the numbers of books sold in the next two years we are doing something wrong.

"When I look at the Latino and African American communities, I would love to see more dialogue between authors, a summit where we talk about what’s happening. Ernesto Quinones and Junot Díaz captured the urban voice, transcending being Latino, being African American. These are the kinds of authors that will link us. But there is a lack of communication between the groups. We’re publishing a book in the fall, The Presumed Alliance: The Unspoken Conflict Between Blacks and Latinos and What that Means for America, by Nicolas Vaca. It’s a powerful read. We both need to start talking about what we can do to work together.

Leylha Ahuile is one of two Latino literary agents, and she sees the need for both caution and enthusiasm. Publishers, she warns, "are too quick to say, ‘if this worked in the African American market then this will work in the Latino market,’ "I am from Chile. I came to the US and learned about Mexican and Cuban food and culture. Our cultures are different. What people like in the US, may not work in England, Australia, and Canada. Yes there’s some similarities but the language is what binds us. That’s different from the African American market, where culture binds you.

Ahuile continues, "Honestly, I’ve not seen much change over the past six months in terms of access and openness by publishers to Latino writers. I hope the AAP is inviting those editors not currently publishing Latino writers, to look at what’s working for the editors who are, and perhaps become more open to taking risks. It can be a scary thing, venturing into a market no one quite understands fully. If we look at who is employed in the publishing houses, that might be a clue. Culturally, there aren’t too many who are different there, which makes it harder to publish books by different writers. They should also avoid publishing just the stereotypes; because a character is Latino, he’s got to be a machista, or if she’s Latina she’s got to be a "hoochie mama."

Dominican-born Nelly Rosario, is a newly published author that has been well received by many audiences. Her novel, Songs of the Water Saints, is a poetic tale covering three generations of Dominican women, set in both the Dominican Republic and New York City. "I don’t follow what the media is doing, I do the work. My phone rings more during women’s history month, black history month–so it affects me, but I don’t focus on that. " Raised in Brooklyn, Rosario earned an engineering degree from MIT and an MFA from Columbia, and is solidly plugged into her roots. "We don’t come from very literate communities; I don’t mean that disparagingly, but in terms of our economic status, particularly in darker-skinned, lower income communities. It’s one of the challenges of being a Latino writer. How do you reach your community through literature when its not always encouraged, especially with the competition from television?

"It’s why I’m glad when schools use my book in their curriculum. When I was young, I had to work hard to find myself in literature. My exposure to literature began with African American writers, beginning with the Autobiography of Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison. I then read Cuban, Puerto Rican and Chicano writers, but I could never find that one writer that had the Latin thing and the Afro thing going on until Piri Thomas [Down These Mean Streets]. That’s a landmark book for every Afro Latino, set in the 1940’s, in Harlem. He’s a dude, but I was still able to feel what he was feeling–that sense of belonging and not belonging at the same time, and how we manipulate those identities to suit our needs. This was in high school, which is where I lost my virginity in literature. Of course I read the classics, but I read everything, Harlequins, my mother’s Mexican pseudo-porn comic books–I read all that stuff.

"It’s interesting to see how they are so quick to refer to our work as sexy, how they do our covers–they always go for the woodcut, that Mexican fiesta font. As an author, if you can, try to own your image. Like in paperback, for Watersong, I asked them to darken the legs on the cover. You have to educate them about what is Latino. My publicist called and said, ‘would you mind doing something for Essence? I’m not sure if you identify as black.’ I said, you just got me Glamour, so why can’t I do Essence. I don’t get it, I’m blacker than I am white, so what’s the hesitation? African American experiences paved the way for most minority experiences in this country. We’ve all benefited from the doors they’ve opened up. When I do readings and events in black institutions, I see myself as part of that market. I just got back from the Calabash literary festival in Jamaica. Angie Cruz and I were the only Latinas there, but I felt part of everything. I’m black, Caribbean…I was home."

"I know there are efforts to bring Latino literature into the mainstream; I think its great. But when we’re not the flavor of the month, then what? Will that mean there is no more work for us to do? It’s too easy to wait for the media to give us the green light. Let them label me, I’d rather focus on my writing."

Asian Chic

Quang Bao is at the helm of the Asian American Writers Workshop (AAWW), and understands all too well both the promises and perils of the media’s ethnic market positioning. "It’s tricky…everybody’s always declaring a year for something. Who’s doing the declaring? I suspect it’s not Latinos. So this, for me, always kind of raises the eyebrow. I know it’s meant to be provocative, and probably because there are a lot of books by Latino writers coming out. So such things generate attention. Several years ago, there was the ‘Asian Chic’ [period]–with an incredible flurry of books by writers of South Asian decent. It came and went, and that makes it harder for a writer of South Asian decent to keep going; it makes it seem as though the readership for this work is a white audience that chooses to move around to different quarters whenever it wants. So I think there are some problems with such declarations.

"But anything that encourages people to read more is a good thing. Certainly, it might be good for the Asian American market to have such proclamations today. But there’s this tendency within publishing to feel the market and the readership can only bear so many titles from one group, and that isn’t true. Our premise at AAWW is that anybody can read anything, that people will not tire of this theme because they read the one book about what it’s like to grow up in India. Waylaid, by Ed Lin is a new book about a young boy who’s a clerk at a motel…published by Kaya, a small Asian American press. People are taking to this book. There is another book, which has gotten national attention and is beautifully written, The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (Houghton Mifflin Co., 2003), a good read for those who want to experience Asian contemporary writing.

"It’s a burden and a privilege to be a writer of color, speaking out on behalf of a community of people. Diaspora right now is important, and the world is becoming smaller, international. I hope readers, publishers, and editors realize that there’s a lot of dialogue that already goes on at that artistic level between groups. I can think of many writers who are of many descents, many different community groups. I think to stay within niches is not interesting anymore.

"There is only one Asian imprint and it’s over at Hyperion, and it’s dedicated mostly to translations of books by Asian writers. There is one imprint for Latinos at Harper Collins, and many for African Americans. There are also many African American small and independent presses. The publishing outfits you might see during a Harlem Book Fair, there’s no equivalent for that in Asian American literature. We need more presses."

Ownership & Control

Bao hits the nail on the head. Haki Madhubuti, owner of Third World Press, speaks of his vision for the 35-year -old publishing house, "The essential vision has not changed. It was always about ownership: ownership of self, ownership of community, ownership of ideas. When we started Third World Press, I was most concerned about publishing those persons who for the most part would not want to compromise their voices, and who were serious about the development of the African–or the black world–view."

There are a myriad opportunities created when industries tap into new markets. The bulk of the benefits most often accrue primarily to those guarding the gate. But there is certainly room for seizing and sharing in the wealth generated. Mainstream publishers and media may be gatekeepers, showcasing or neglecting markets that have always been there, will always be there, evolving and enriching America’s varied literary canon. But gatekeepers are not always trailblazers. Nor are they final arbiters; readers are. The choices we make, and the accountability we demand can create ample room for a chorus of voices interested in sharing dialogue, resources and ideas in ways that lead to greater ownership and control of what is published for and about us.