"The Difficulties of Publishing While Black"

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RightHoJeeves

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It really bothers me that whenever the possibility of racism in publishing is discussed, someone always brings up the "well maybe they're not good enough" argument. It's condescending as hell and distracts from the conversation. Why can't we, for the sake of discussion, begin with a default of the MS being worthy and go from there?

I agree with you on this. It's an attitude that does not help.

I hear a lot of this sort of thing in Australia in relation to the First Peoples. If one was to question why XYZ Company did not have a single Aboriginal staff member (which, of course, many don't), a very common response would be "well they hardly apply for jobs so it's not our fault we don't have any staff". That may be true, but it also speaks to a wider truth that certain parts of society aren't afforded the privilege that even gets them to a point where they can apply for a job.
 

aruna

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Or some POC writers 'settling' for lower-grade publishers/agencies, for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, we have the Big Five imprints being called on their own lack of diversity, which should mean more awareness and opportunities for the best writers.

.

Well, to provide an exciting example: that's what I did: "settled" for "lower-grade", after my former HarperCollins editor ignored my query on my next book a few years ago, and every UK agent rejected it because "they couldn't sell it".

I finally went with a small upstart digital publisher and I am delighted not only with their enthusiasm but the work they are doing in promotion. They will be sending out hardcopy review copies to the mainstream British press.

And: I am turning cartwheels. (Breaking News!) Danuta, who I mentioned a few posts back, has agreed to read it! (Got the email last night!) She's not only one of the biggest names in UK mainstream journalism on literature (she writes for Mslexia and for most of the broadsheets), she is also the one who has been pushing for more diversity in publishing. AND she recently sent out a call for POC stories of difficulties getting published, to which I responded. So, she knows my whole story.

So -- if she likes my book, if she thinks it's good -- fingers crossed!
I have vowed to write a book that shatters the myth that white readers don't read books with PoC characters and "foreign" settings, and I really hope this book will do that.
 
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Roxxsmom

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But she was good, so she got the job. Choosing an orchestra member can easily be done blind. Not so choosing a ms for publication.

That was my point, though maybe I didn't make it clear enough. some people insist that there can't possibly be any racism in publishing (or that racism can't possibly be the explanation for why disproportionately fewer books are being published by black authors), because "no one puts their race in their query letter, so how can agents and editors be biased against race?"

There are many ways that this bias can come out in the absence of overt statements about one's racial background, and in the absence of maliciously intended racism as well.
 

akaria

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I'm a big fan of CUNY (City University of New York). CUNY is a network of over two dozen schools. It's got great professors and modern facilities. Tuition is about $6000 a semester for a city resident. A school doesn't need to cost eighty grand a year to produce quality graduates. If publishing could recruit interns or entry level employees from CUNY, it would go a long way in improving their diversity problem.
 

nighttimer

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Okay, I admit I didn't read the article when I posted earlier, just what had been posted in the OP. But I just read it and it doesn't seem to affect what I said earlier. I don't understand the point you're trying to make. It just reinforces my point that it's good writing, not the color of your skin, that determines how well you do.

If only that were so. But it isn't.

A recent article in The Grio discussed the hurdles that writers of color face trying to get deals from mainstream publishing’s Big Six: Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, Random House and Simon & Schuster. Best-selling writing duo Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant declared that their writing careers are on hold due to a variety of issues, including the lack of deals.

So we asked a couple of writers their opinion on the situation. “There is the lack of pipeline of people, the absence of a backbench in publishing, because there are not enough new editors from varied backgrounds entering the business. There is a generational problem in publishing; editorial committees green light most projects, but young editors are often outvoted,” notes writer and novelist Pearl Duncan, author of Water Dancing.

She says she has been affected by this directly. “Twice, I had two different young editors at two major book publishers get so excited about a query for my book about African American DNA and ancestry, from the perspective of my ancestors in colonial American and the Caribbean, in medieval Africa and Europe, they responded in 24 hours. But when they took the proposal to the editorial committee, they were overruled by more senior editors. Both were white,” she reveals. Due to the absence of diversity within the publishing firms many editors don’t understand or appreciate books that focus on the African-American experience. In fact, Duncan was once asked to change the angle of her book about her ancestors because American readers think of African-American ancestors as “victims and will not accept [a] portrayal of them as heroes.” The ancestors Duncan had written about where Maroons who rebelled against slavery on ships and on land, as well as a Scottish ancestor who was an abolitionist.

If an author cannot write authentically because of American tastes that cannot go beyond Blacks portrayed as slaves and victims, and has to dumb down their work to get published, what's the point to writing the story at all?
 

RikWriter

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I can't argue against the stats, but I do have to call into question the writer of an article that uses the politically loaded phrase "race and class privilege."
 

CassandraW

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some people insist that there can't possibly be any racism in publishing (or that racism can't possibly be the explanation for why disproportionately fewer books are being published by black authors), because "no one puts their race in their query letter, so how can agents and editors be biased against race?"

You might not put your race/ethnicity in a query letter, but even taking aside the subject matter of your book, a name might give a clue. I have a Spanish last name, and I've often wondered how and if that affects some people's perceptions of my work.

[slight derail]

I was born in the U.S. (as were my parents). I am only 25% Spanish. English is my first and only language. I was an English lit major. I'm qualified to teach high school English. I have an ivy league law degree. And yet, in my professional and personal life, I've had people assume I'm an immigrant and that English is my second language, solely on the basis of my last name. (My real first name is unusual, but not Hispanic, by the way -- though many make hilarious attempts to pronounce it in a "Spanish" way.)

Indeed, the assumption is so common I included an essay in my college and law school applications explaining why I was checking the "Caucasian" rather than the "Hispanic" box. In law school and at more than one job, I was repeated urged to join Hispanic associations and/or pressured to count myself as Hispanic, even after explaining why I didn't feel it was appropriate. Heh. A (now rather famous) law school classmate told me I was betraying Latinas by not doing so. My "but I'm not Latina" had no effect.

And alas, it is not a neutral assumption. Many who make it accessorize it with a matching assumption that I got special consideration for my name, or I wouldn't be where I am. Many of them come out and admit it, always with an assurance that they think it's great because diversity, etc. (Why, yes, I do have a chip on my shoulder about this, thank you.)

An informal survey of friends and acquaintance indicates that this does not happen to people with Italian, Polish, or French last names. However, many acquaintances with Hispanic last names have had the same experience.

[end derail]

An acquaintance advised me to take a pen name -- she said if she saw my name on a book cover, she'd probably assume the book was a translation. I don't intend to do it. I prefer to think she's an outlier. But I've sometimes wondered if (and how many) other people would make the same assumption, and whether it would matter.
 
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