Are "Black" Books Necessary?
I am publishing a book this spring entitled “Why Men Fear Marriage.” It is written by a very talented author, who has a bunch of successful novels. As a man, in his thirties who has been running away from the altar, he wanted to put the reasons why in a book for women—all women—to gain some insight into the mind of a man. It’s brilliant. There’s only one problem. He’s black.
I had lunch with a major publisher yesterday and we discussed the placement of this book. She suggested selling it as a "black" book because he has an audience and a track record there. But I feel it will be a disservice to him. Aren't there millions of white women who aren't married and want to know why? And would they pick up this book if it were in the black section?
So the larger question then becomes, do white people buy black books or books by black authors? We know they buy black music. But it hasn't yet been proven in book publishing.
Penguin released a very powerful money book last year entitled "Get Real, Get Rich." The cover is very generic, no author photo, and no references to any ethnicity or race. The author, Farrah Gray happens to be black, but Penguin decided to sell it as a mainstream money book.
It didn't sell well, despite being excellent. Would it have done better if it were a black book?
"The ghettoizing of books can actually help sales," said Tracy Sherrod, of the Tracy Sherrod Literary Agency, once a senior editor at Pocket Books and Henry Holt. "It makes it easier for an audience to find that author. I believe if black people knew that a black man wrote ‘Get Real, Get Rich,' it would have done much better. You find oftentimes once we put our stamp of approval on something, white people-even if it's out of curiosity-will try it. That's what happened with Terry McMillan."
I'll admit, when I go into a bookstore, I do head to the African-American section first to see what's there. But I also get a little annoyed that the section is buried somewhere in the back of the store. And I wonder what would happen if we eliminated the black section. Categories are necessary. They have Religion, Young Adult, Self-Help, Financial and a bunch of other sections. But Black or African-American, is that necessary. Or should our books be mainstreamed in according to the subject matter just the way everyone else's books are?
