I'm on the subscriber list of Black Books Promo (am still not sure how I got there, but I'm not complaining) and received an e-mail from them about a suspense book by a white author, Lisa Jackson. I'm rather pleased that this author recognizes that African-Americans buy a lot of books and is reaching out to the buying public in a colorblind manner. I wish her success . . . or, since it says right on her book cover that she is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, additional success.
I also noticed that her book cover does not show characters, but a rather murky depiction of what looks like a casket underwater, and this made me wonder about marketing. Most books penned by black authors show black faces (or, keeping with the recent trend, black arms, legs, ankles and feet.) I did a little research and noticed some recently or soon-to-be-released books and find that they have no identifiable racial identity on their covers. Do the bookstores have a list of author names that should go in the so-called African-American section? Or do they go strictly by what they see on the covers? Or do they peek at the author photo to make this determination?
Hmmmmm.
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9 comments:
Bettye,
Thanks for showcasing my cover (AFTER THE DANCE) on your blog. I must admit, I'm very pleased with it. Kensington took my concept and added a bit of zing to it.
While I'd prefer not to see actual faces on a cover (don't most readers prefer to use their own imaginations?), I'm not opposed to a cover owning a "racially identifiable" aspect, if you will (smile). I think most folks can readily discern that the characters on my cover are indeed, African Americans. I mean, really, there's no way you can look at that man's head and NOT tell he's a brother (LOL).
What I would like to see authors/publishers/marketing folks/artists move away from are all of the body shots--sweating chests, muscular backs, rippling abs . . . bulging groins (smile).
Of course, there's nothing wrong with a little beefcake. I run out and get my Tyson Beckford calendar every year--first chance I get (LOL). But you know, not only are a lot of the covers starting to look alike, but IMHO they feed, inadvertently, perhaps, into some of those long-held and unfortunate stereotypes having to do with the physical and sexual nature of black and brown-skinned bodies.
It would be interesting to see if books by Black authors with no black folk on the cover did better with cross-over buyers...
Gwyneth
I agree. Gwyneth's experiment would be interesting. Because almost all of the recent books I have by Black authors have faces depicted on the cover.
I don't like them because they're drawn rather than models, like on the white covers, and because the specifics (complexion, eye color, etc.) often doesn't match the description in the book.
Lori, I feel ya. I don't object to having visibly black characters on book covers, but since many books with white characters go with different depictions it's nice to see our people doing it, too!
I think that the reason for all those body parts might be deliberate on the parts of publishers, to allow readers to picture the faces in their imaginations. But it does, as you point out, make for a lot of similar-looking covers.
Thanks for posting, and much success with your novel. I read the excerpt, and it looks like a winner. Not enough black authors have written chick lit.
Gwyneth and Patricia, I guess time will tell the story about crossover marketing. I know I'll be looking at where these novels are shelved in Borders and Waldenbooks.
Now I'm off to take a closer look at the man's head on Lori's cover . . . .
Great blog. Thanks for using the cover of my latest release "A Lover's Regret".
This has been a soap box issue of mine for a while. I don't care for
characters on the covers primarily because the characters on the cover rarely match the author's written description. In my opinion, I think the readers produce far better versions of the characters when they simply have the author's written descriptions to go on. As a reader, my mental image of the character always looks better than what's on the cover....
Well that's my two cents. This was a very thought provoking article.
Again, thanks for including my cover.
Be Blessed
AlTonya Washington :-)
I think that a lot has to do with who is publishing the book. If the line happens to be an African-American imprint and the bookstore buyer knows this, I think they will shelve it in the AA section regardless of what's on the cover. The exception might be those who are bestselling authors such as Waler Mosely or Alice Walker.
It might also have to do with genre, as some authors get to stay within their genre such as horror.
Or maybe not. It's all subjective - and annoying. I guess being judged by content rather than by cover (to paraphrase Dr. King) is still a long way off in the publishing industry/bookstore marketing.
You're welcome, AlTonya!
Good analogy, Donna! I like your paraphrasing.
It would be interesting to find out if the books would still be shelved the way they are now. I would love to talk to someone who works at a bookstore who could answer the question about classification.
Good post...something to think about.
Shelia,
I think that Donna has a valid point: If they see that Kimani or Dafina label, it's going in the black section, even if there is no skin showing on the cover!
Thanks for posting.
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