Saturday at Blogging in Black, Alvin Romer of the Romer Review discusses RWA and the role of the black author inside it. I will let Mr. Romer’s post speak for itself. He posits some very interesting questions.
My beef is with the comments to his post. I am sick of ignorant comments about what black authors should or should not be doing regarding racism in the publishing industry, and folks making pronouncements about anyone who doesn’t follow their particular agenda. Why should I–why should any author–be taken to task for how, when, where or in what manner we deem it proper to speak out on the issues that affect US? Because I have not said anything in a manner that pleases the naysayer, does that mean I have done nothing? Do I care what they think? I’m sure you can figure that answer out for yourself. It’s very easy to figure out what other people should be doing when you have absolutely nothing at stake yourself.
Getting back to what Alvin had to say, I admit I am a member of RWA. It is a professional organization. I am a professional. ‘Nuff said. Should RWA be more sensitive to issues brought forth by it’s non-white members? You betcha. Am I going to try to force my views on them? Not on your life. IMO, whoever runs RWA and at least some portion of its membership appears to want to have its head in the sand regarding any form of change. That’s not a black thang or a white thang, it’s an adaptation thang (sorry, I saw Jurassic Park 2 last night).
You know what, I belong to my teacher’s union, too. All issues get decided in favor or whatever will suit middle and high school needs. As elementary teacher’s we get screwed. What else is new? Be a grown up. Deal with it.
My concern has always been for who reads my books. They are black, white, Latino/Latina, male, female, young old etc. How do I know? Because they tell me. I always make sure to include people of varying ethnicities in my books because that is what my world is like: that’s what my family is like. I have been reviewed and interviewed by every stripe of website out there and received mostly praise for my work.
That being said, I refuse to devote any significant portion of my time decrying the racism in the publishing industry to readers. If you don’t want to read my book, whether it’s because you’re a racist who doesn’t read black romance or a non-racist who doesn’t read black romance, fine. If you don’t like my name or you don’t like mystery with your romance or the cover looks too dark or too silly or the guy is bald and in the story your man had hair, whatever. If you don’t want to read my book, for god’s sake, put the damn thing down. Find something you do like to read and enjoy it.
Like anything else in the publishing industry, where your book is placed, what cover goes on it, where it is shelved and how many get printed is decided in the publishing house. That’s the battleground. As long as publishers feel the need to segregate us, that’s how it will go. They say that readers prefer it when black books are broken out and sales go up. From my days working in publishing and marketing, I know you can get a survey to say just about anything you want to if your interest is more in getting the desired results than listening to what your customer base says. I am not accusing the industry of shady practices, only saying that I put less stock in market research than most people might.
I’ve also never been one to try to shame people into doing what I think they should do. Those who cry “foul” to the romance readership at large may get a lot of name recognition and as many hits as kudos for their efforts, but I’d rather show people what they’re missing instead of whacking them over the head and trying to shove a book under their nose, figuratively of course. Your style may vary. Do what you have to do. Just realize I’ll do the same–in my own way, natch.
