Am I becoming a
Dave Long disciple this month or what?
Anyway...He has an itch over there again. But this time it concerns us[black folk] in particular. And think its about time African American Christian Fiction authors, editors, publishers, agents, chime into the discussion. Afterall I'm not an author, yet. And I don't want to blow my chances before I get started. But if things don't change then maybe I need to become an inhouse marketing contrator (hint, hint):)
f a i t h * i n * f i c t i o n: The Other "Other": "I have no firm statistics, but I don't think it's shocking to anybody to say that our books don't reflect that diversity. This becomes a chicken-egg debate. Our readership is primarily white so that will mean the characters they most often choose to read about and identify with will also be white. Or, our writers are primarily white, so the characters they most often write about are also white, thus appealing to a white audience."
-Dave Long
Since this is my blog I'll throw in three cents on the subject and open up the floor for the rest of you guys...From watching the NYT's bestseller list this year, three books that sat on the top twenty list for months this year were written by A
frican American Authors about church life. They were ABA books with church settings.
Since I write for a few major black christian magazines and speak with many black Christian book clubs I have found that those three books were on their reading list. Why? They don't know the difference between CBA and ABA. And if you think about how blacks are supported in both markets is there a difference?
Because I have to blunt, it wouldn't be right if I wasn't--Stick a church or a man in a robe on a bookcover and black christians will buy it. Because black Christian books are in demand. Check the Gallup polls or
Burna Studies, most Blacks say they live a Christian lifestyle.
Yet, Black Christian books are rarely displayed at Lifeway or Faith. But Carl Weber's the Preacher's Son(non ABA) is in every Walmart, in the top three black mags(Ebony, Jet & Essence,) at beauty shops and barber shops.
Christian publishing houses haven't done a great job marketing Christian fiction written by African American Authors. So Christians thirsting for a good read pick those books and become dismayed. Because they begin to believe that Christian fiction is no better than secular. All the meanwhile, black Christian fiction authors still struggle with getting their books to their market. They can't compete with Carl Weber or Kimberly Roby, because their own publisher doesn't have the wherewithall or care to take them beyond midlist.
Fact: Blacks do read. And they will pay whatever for a good novel. That is why black self-published authors are the best sellers in black bookstores. Regardless of how poorly written and how high the price. Blacks will take anything at this point. (Correction[Thanks Lashaunda]: Blacks will buy christian inspired books that are available to them. If there were better books to choose from, then they would gobble them up.)
Now can I can please get back to my
WIP?
Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee
don't forget I'm booking for July's
thirdthursdays
