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     Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 2024 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
From http://DeBerryandGrant.com In a moment of frustration Virginia wrote an open letter to Oprah, and shared it with a few writer friends who are going through the same thing we are. Now the letter is starting to go viral--getting a lot of repostings and inclusions in blogs, newsletters and on Facebook, so we decided we should share it with you, the readers who have supported us all these years. We are thankful for you and we wish you a joyful Thanksgiving! V&D November 23, 2009 Dear Oprah: We don't sing karaoke or dance with the stars, we have been contributing to the cultural landscape long before Jon & Kate, Britney,Rhianna and Chris or Stephanie Meyer and most of America, including you have probably never even heard of us. We have railed against Kanye's proud pronouncement upon the publication of his 52 page book: Thank You and You're Welcome, that "I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph." Huh? We are writers and we are in trouble. Big trouble. I would never have imagined myself writing this with the hundreds of thousands of emails and letters the show receives, I know the chances of this one actually getting through are somewhere between slim and non-existent. But one of the mantras my best friend/business partner and I lived by in the early days, was "It's only postage." Now it's not even that. So I could not find a reason not to write and hit 'send'. Like I said--we are in trouble. Everyone knows that Oprah is a champion of reading, that books are one of her favorite things and it is precisely because of that passion that I send this note. I'm sure you are aware that publishing, like so many industries today-especially those centered around the arts, is struggling to keep up and figure their way through the maze of new media. What I'm not sure you know is how that struggle is affecting, or more accurately disaffecting an entire segment of writers--black novelists. Not the few who live in the rarefied literary echelons-Toni Morrison, Stephen Carter, Edwidge Dandicat etc. are doing fine-they enjoy the support of the media and the "wider" (whiter) population. These struggling authors also don't include those who now make up the largest growing segment of Af-Am writers-urban/erotica authors whose books are acquired by publishers at little expense and sold at great profit. A quick look at the Af-Am displays in bookstores will make this trend abundantly clear. The literary marginalization that is taking place largely affects those of us in the middle-much like the economy today. There are many of us who have/had careers courtesy of Terry McMillan, we came along right after the success of Waiting to Exhale and found a warm welcome and an open door for a career we had longed for but so often found beyond our reach. Terry proved, what we had always known, that black folks read, and would buy books featuring characters they personally identify with. Not that we would stop reading all the non-black authors we supported, we would just enjoy a wider choice. Members of our 'class' include among others, Tina McElroy Ansa, Bernice McFadden and Connie Briscoe.Carleen Brice, a newcomer to writing fiction-though she has written non-fiction, last year started "December is National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Someone Not Black Month." She also created a blog and pretty funny video welcoming white people to the AA section of the book store. For the past 20 years, Donna Grant, my writing partner, and I have been writing novels,7 in total. No Pulitzer or Nobel winners, but well crafted stories that have enlightened and entertained tens of thousands of readers. Our first "big book" Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made was published in 1997, has never been out of print, is in its fifth edition and sold over 750,000 copies, without any major advertising or endorsements. But that was then. This is now. And we, along with many of our "classmates" find our careers in jeopardy. (After 20 years, and at the age of 60, I personally am on the verge of throwing in towel and looking for a "real" job.) This precarious position is not because we write bad books, but because we all fall in the came category "African American Fiction" and we just aren't selling as well as our "street-lit" sisters and brothers. What we write is women's fiction with Af-Am characters--stories of struggle and triumph, loss, coping, love, and life, learning. But we are labeled, handicapped, before we're out of the gate. Those who are expecting urban lit are disappointed, and those (white folks) who might enjoy our work because the theme might be relevant to their life (like What Doesn't Kill You, our last book about a woman who loses her job after 25 yrs), don't ever see it because it's in "that" section and they aren't going "there." We wrote a blog about this subject a few years ago and repost it every year--because, sadly, it's still relevant. (Nov 20 entry-Writing White. http://bit.ly/3isaSI) ; We do our best with our craft, but get "editorial" requests to add "more grit" or "more sex" and when we don't, can find ourselves without a publisher. This tactic has already cost us the final payment of a very lucrative contract---and a publisher. And despite exuberant praise from our editor about our new book (March 2010) "I kissed the manuscript when I finished..." we find ourselves wondering if we will get a deal for another book. We certainly know that if we were starting out in today's climate, it is unlikely we would have ever been given a chance. I am going to resist the urge to be pejorative about urban fiction, but it is well known that most of these books are "under-written and under-edited" and are viewed strictly as profit centers. I do question what it means when books about pimps, hos and thugs, are fast becoming the predominant image we have on display in bookstores-a kind of anti-Obama if you will. What will happen when our young people find their choices limited like they were only a couple of decades ago? I will not ask that Oprah select a book by one of us mid-list Afican American authors for her book club. I will not ask her to condemn the proliferation of badly written urban lit which would likely instigate another rap/hip-hop debacle. (While I do liken it to the crack epidemic in our communities in the '80's.) But I will ask for her attention. A word or two on this subject from Oprah, Champion of Things Literary, would I believe, make a world of difference in our plight. It might even mean that we keep encouraging young writers and continue to get emails like this one we received 2 weeks ago: Hi, Thanks for letting me rant, Virginia DeBerry http://deberryandgrant.com ___________________________________________ Troy's Note: Virginia DeBerry has written several novels with her co-author Donna Grant Their most recent effort What Doesn't Kill You was published in Jan '09.  | ||
| Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 880 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, I feel her struggle, but I have to say that what she did not mention is that the group of literature her(their) books belong is that same romance type books. The story is the same only the names have been changed...over and over and over and over again. I don't belive that the audience that made these books popular/profitable are gone. It's my opinion they all got tired of basically reading the same story over again told in the same voice. The problem as I see it is how to get their books introduced to the white romance audience. I know there are romance book clubs, couldn't they visit these people, do the hard sell like many of them did with the black book buying audience, i.e. visit the beauty shops, Tupperware parties, Avon conventions, etc. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 8326 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
This sounds like that "Mad Rapper" sketch on the Notorious BIG's album "Life After Death"--it sounds pitiful and desperate. Oprah or nobody else can make anybody read your sh*t if they don't want to. If you got into the game because you wanted to be on the Best seller lists then you should write stuff like what's on the best seller list. If you don't screw you. I have resigned myself to underground marginal status and am grateful for the few readers I got because they have actually read my work and they like it--not because somebody on tv told a bunch of zombies to buy it. Give it up! Like the old folks used to say, "The World Don't Owe You a Thing" I wish you could be with some of the writers, great writers, I have been with and seen their manuscripts piled up--tear stained (because nobody wants their deathless prose) piss stained (because they dispair of ever being heard. Then you would be grateful at least you are being punished rather than go and beg Oprah who probably got a good laugh out of these pitiful whinings. You go out, you get the audience you can, you deal with them. I have no love or pity for you and neither does nobody else. This is America. Git wit it, fools! | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 8327 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
If I was Oprah I'd have a special show where I'd say, "And here's some crap you when you see it you ought to hold your nose and walk to the otherside of the bookstore" and put their books on them. Ha! | ||
| Hen81 Veteran Poster Username: Hen81 Post Number: 218 Registered: 09-2007 Rating: N/A |
It is hard for me to shed many tears here, but I understand where she is coming from. This is no different than when musical tastes change and rock, R&B, funk and the like were pushed aside for hip hop and pop. Someone that had a deal that for the purity of their "work" did not make requested changes and lost money and a publisher, paid for their stance. I know that it must be frustrating to see Sarah Palin and Stephanie Myer on Oprah but it's about unit sales for the publishers. The complaint about the black book section is something to take up with retailers and publishers as to how the books are merchandised at the retail level. I know what is being said here, but the market has a mind of its own, how else do you explain Steve Harvey's sudden crowning as a relationship expert and explosive book sales. As for crossover success, that has a mind of its own or demands a concerted effort from the authors to cultivate that audience. Many authors would love to be in their position with books in print and facing the challenge of keeping the work relevant vs trying to knock the door down trying to get a publisher to sign them to an initial contract. http://DTPollard.com | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14384 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
With so many black females, it's like "writing a book" is one of the things they put on their "to-do" list, as if wanting to be an author is all it takes to label oneself a writer. Writing is not a whim, it's an art, and if you don't have a unique talent that would make you a stand-out in this profession, you are in for a rude awakening. Undeterred by rejection, self-published authors have glutted the market with their banal cookie-cutter offerings, and discriminating readers have taken a pass. Who is to blame? Oprah who prefers white pages over black print? The big publishing houses who cater to the lowest common denominator? The writers whose dreams exceed their abilities? Who can say? Anybody who writes a book with the hope of it becoming a money-making best-seller obviously should proceed with caution. A writer's dream of becoming a sensation by appearing on Oprah's show is comparable to a playground hoopster wishing they could make it to the NBA on the recommendation of Michael Jordan. The element of luck, however, does seem to play a role in achieving success because many blockbuster books have made it to the top on a fluke. So, one of the things aspiring writers and mid-list authors can do is pray to God and hope that Oprah will see fit to honor His plea on your behalf. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 8334 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
But Oprah ain't never had Zane on and she's a bestselling author. Nor has she had on Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, these kinds of people. I think it's audience. | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 2025 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
After telling Virgina I would repost this letter on my discussion board; I asked her the following question: "What would you like Oprah to do? Or is really a metaphor for the Black community as a whole?" She replied with the following:
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| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2448 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: N/A |
Troy, I hope you warned her that this would be a tough crowd. Wow, talk about taking no prisoners. One point that stands out for me is her realization that her market can not remain in the black sector. Although Thump may have made a valid point about the books being of a cookie cutter variety, I don't know, but her appeal to Oprah is justified. She simply wants to expand her audience. There's nothing wrong with that. There is a cliche that says "one man's garbage is another mans treasure". And again, there's nothing wrong with that. If one man's treasure could not be found in the "old" bin, all divorcees would never find love again. | ||
| Hen81 Veteran Poster Username: Hen81 Post Number: 219 Registered: 09-2007 Rating: N/A |
I guess that I am trying to figure out what the core issues are and I think they are many: 1. Black book stores are in distress and few 2. Book clubs "seem" to be a growing factor that paces the buying of titles to a once monthly pursuit for many readers 3. If pleasure reading is falling overall, is it more severe in the black community 4. The crossover factor- is it easier for blacks to crossover to non-black books because of historic realities that we have always consumed mainstream entertainment because of availability. Black books were once rare, now they are not. 5. Are black writers stretching with different genres, fiction, nonfiction, poetry or sticking with their comfort zone. I write fiction and nonfiction. 6. Are most black authors sticking to black only promotion and events. When I did a lot of events, most were non-black specific and my sales were about 30% black and 70 white. 7. With the slant towards erotica and urban is the black reading public getting short changed by publishers who are chasing dollars and readers can't distinguish between fiction genres. 8. There seems to no mass media platform or champion for black authors. CSPAN has BOOK TV for non-fiction. With BET and TV1 black TV networks and numerous black radio stations you would think there would be 1 show of 30-minutes that would focus on black literature, unless I missed it. 9. Reading for the titilation factor seems to be driving a lot of black book sales and drawing in new black readers. Can those readers become converted to other book genres or are they one-note readers? Somehow the solution lies outside Oprah and with us all. http://DTPollard.com |
