My Two Cents Monday
What do you think are the best-selling trends in African American literature both fiction and nonfiction, especially, but not limited to, those with Christian themes? Then, what are the best ways for publishers to market those titles to African Americans? What publishers are doing it well?
-Jevon Bolden Embrace the Possibility
Today I’m answering a blog post question from my friend Jevon Bolden, Developmental Editor at Strang Books.
What do you think are the best-selling trends in African American literature both fiction and nonfiction, especially, but not limited to, those with Christian themes?
There are two sub genres affiliated with Christian fiction written for Af-Am Christian readers:
- Af-Am Christian Fiction
- Church Drama
The latter outsells. This fact also makes marketing to Af-Am Christian book buyers unique, because the buyer doesn’t know the difference, yet expects AACF to read like Church Drama. Moreover, Church Drama authors market to this audience, while adamantly stating that they do not write for Christian audiences. This confusion, in my opinion, has hurt Af-Am Christian Imprints and the acquisition of AACF Lit.
A new subgenre that will also affect Af-Am Christian Fiction sells will be fantasy romances like L.A. Banks Surrender the Dark, a novel about angel mythology.
I’ll answer the other two questions respectively this week.
Your two cents?
