Jade MappAs history repeats itself, the decisions made on how to protect the arts must be examined to
prevent losing the integrity of works created by people of color. Especially in the world of
literature, books created by Black authors are in purgatory relating to their requests to maintain
representation for readers and fulfilling the superficial needs of white-owned publishers’ diversity
facade.
The building of literary institutions and libraries was established to actually gatekeep reading
access for Black people; and those same institutions have only displaced their bureaucracy and
prejudices within the publishing industry. The recent prevalence of Black authorship rose in
response to the George Floyd protests during the height of the pandemic, when more media
outlets yearned for discourse on race relations. This created a swift and collective rebrand of
major corporations who needed to lean on literature to corroborate their solidarity. While it supported the efforts of Black books to become prioritized, it simultaneously imprinted a tokenization of Black authors.
Data pulled from the Inclusion Solution states that 5.9% of well-doing published authors are
Black. An overtly competitive industry of publishing has left writers of color to deliberate the
presence of their work as it connects to their passions of storytelling and the reality of their own
survival in the market. Traditional publishing route includes countless rejections from querying
and enduring correspondence or, lack thereof, from agents. When most Black authors finally are
met with publishing deals, they are faced with the invasive inevitability of their work being
altered. Biased editorial criticism, changing of characters and even adjusting book cover art are
just a few instances to name.
Black authors make a median of $2,500 of their book sales in comparison to their white
counterparts, who make an average of $13,000. Trusting the intentions of publishing companies
is limited by the biases faced by authors of color. Major publishing companies known as “The
Big Five” (Simon & Schuster, Hatchette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and
Macmillan) had barely exercised their DEI muscles until they realized they could increase their
revenue from the demand of Black voices. All five companies control roughly 80% of the
publishing market across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Their reach
of adding more Black stories to their catalog tantalized many writers of color seeking contracts
in order to get their work in circulation on bestseller lists…until they recognized one outlying
factor.
The majority of the books recently distributed to promote the importance of race theory mostly
highlighted stories of Black pain. These major publishers and companies pandered to the
masses by interchanging labels of Blackness as one genre. When more Black writers noticed
this, they began to divest from mainstream publishing stages, seeking ways to self-publish and
find independent presses. According to the African American Literature Book Club, there are
now over 3,000 imprints identifying Black-owned publishing companies. In addition to self-
publishing, more Black-owned bookstores have emerged in order to keep the literary interests
uplifted and safe in Black spaces, especially since the fading of allyship once the Floyd protests
subsided. These solutions allow for Black writers to broaden their own collections and create
community impact from their platforms, with some Black-owned bookshops hosting advocacy
activities within their storefront.
From a marketing standpoint, self-publishing has been revolutionary for Black authors because
of the community-building practices that come with their promotion. Especially for those who are
writing books that address diverse topics and genres, bookselling methods have leveraged the
usage of social media to create campaigns that align with the themes of their work. Community-
based organizations, libraries and special non-profits have incorporated author panels, book
talks, and meet and greets with authors who reflect their mission within the books. This restores
the values of in-person interaction that showcases the background of the author while building
their network of supporters to share their work, much like the entrepreneurial candor familiarized in communities of color that have used platforms such as barbershops, hair salons and family-
owned businesses to spread awareness of their craft.
The convenience of Amazon and its Kindle Direct Publishing services allows for authors to
execute all of their operations virtually and add to their own shop that directly converts sales
from online customers. This has helped many writers find their footing with the self-publishing
process and compete in massive ecommerce opportunities that can be supported by
advertisement funnels and brand recognition as an Amazon vendor. However, many Black
authors have recently chosen to divest from the Amazon marketplace in response to its
corporate controversies. With the Trump administration emphasizing the fragility of public
resources, community libraries experiencing budget cuts are challenged with remaining
consistent about meaningful access to diverse book collections. Keeping literature in the hands
of Black creatives and shelves of Black bookstores is the remedy to make our history, stories
and activism unbothered, uninterfered with and undefeated by markets that want to profit from
our suffering. In spite of the comparison to largely recognized book retailers, overcoming the
Blues of bookselling invites us to interact with our own marketing methods that amplify the
books created as a product of our humanity.
