This Sunday’s Book Review contains the article “Writers Like Me” by novelist Martha Southgate. In it, Martha explores race and class in American publishing. If you have trouble accessing Martha’s piece using the link above, try this permalink to “Writers Like Me.”.
This is an important article, one future generations will read, an articulation of the pains and triumphs experienced by today’s Black writer. Just as students today read Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” when discussing The Harlem Renaissance and Alice Walker’s “Looking for Zora” when discussing The Black Arts Movement, years from now undergraduates will be reading “Writers Like Me,” along with writer Nick Chiles’ “Their Eyes Were Reading Smut,” when they discuss turn-of-the-21st-century literature, what Kevin Powell has called our Word Movement.
In addition to her compelling discussion of the careers of contemporary African American authors, check out her list of great Black books on the Times website and her guest blog on the site of novelist Tayari Jones.
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I loved Martha’s piece.
I took an entirely more cynical, even confrontational muse…maybe a rant…on my blog a few days ago. Sorry if I offended anyone, but hey, it’s a blog…
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Thanks for putting this up on your blog.
I have two things i want to say about this :
It really is sad to know that there aren’t that many writers of color who are able to devote all of their time to writing and still keep from starving. I guess being aware that you will (probably) have to work until you draw your last breath to take care of yourself, your family and to pay those colossal student loans turns many people away from pursuing their dreams. I can definitely relate to Martha; my family is discouraging me from becoming a full time artist of anything: visual art, music or writing. I remember my mother’s words, “Oh, so you wanna be a writer now”? Martha is absolutely correct. We all fear of losing that security, which doesn’t allow us to nurture our creative forces.
And secondly, i read Nick’s piece. I work at Barnes and Noble and lets just say that I’m thoroughly embarrassed to know that Frederick Douglass’ slave narratives are sitting adjacent to what Nick calls “crassness”. Its completely embarrassing. These “street lit” books are making homes for themselves on tables with other books that have much more to say. I really don’t think that Zora worked hard to have her works resting next to a book that does nothing but perpetuate the negative stereotypes about black people today. In my opinion these books are nothing but empty calories, and forcing other good and spiritually and emotionally satisfying books out of print. A lot of these young women read these books because “they speak to them”. Personally, being black in the 21st century does NOT include drugs, violence and illicit sex. It doesn’t speak to me. In fact, it angers me to have to tell a customer who is looking for something fulfilling that our store doesn’t have it on the shelves but to know that we have a mother load of “ghetto lit” and “street lit” propped up on our shelves.
But I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in my sentiments.
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Hi Eisa, thanks for sharing Martha’s piece. I wrote about it om ymy Blog: http://www.aalbc.com/blog and discussion board http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/1/28007.html
Now I’m going to see what Chris Chamber wrote on his blog…
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Eisa,
Thanks for sharing Martha’s piece, and for contextualizing it for us – for placing it beside other seminal works that reveal the state of black artistic being at a given moment in our history.
When you do it right, writing is a raw, risky and sometimes downright dangerous act. To think that the publishing world would not reward, nurture and develop African American writers who dared to be so brave is unbelievable to me. It reminds me yet again that our contributions have no value in and of themselves – only in relation to how much entertainment, voyeurism and economic gain they provide the dominant culture.
We who would dare to do this thing that is different need constant support and feedback from fellow risk-takers, folks who ‘get’ us. We as black lit writers and artists of all types, need to create a community of support to inure us from an indifferent, clueless society.
Your blog is one place where we can come for that community – the cyberspace version of a rambling 138th St. walk-up at Lenox Avenue during the Harlem Renaissance, where folks could come and get a meal, a pep talk, a few dollars to help with the rent…
Because at the end of the day, we’re marked for extinction, we black lit writers, and we need to join forces, procreate and above all, proliferate.
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Eisa,
Thank you for publishing Martha’s piece on your blog. While sobering, it is an important one. Indeed, writing quality and responsible literature while black can feel quite lonely and discouraging at times. Sometimes I’ve asked myself: “Does anyone care to read about black love? About healthy black relationships? About pride in oneself and one’s culture and history?”
Many of the obstacles that Martha writes about are not specific to black writers. I’ve seen young white writers meet many of the same struggles. The literary industry is a tough and competitve business all around. Every writer has to work hard to establish their voice and to tell their story in a way that hasn’t already been told. Sometimes a writer has to balance his or her soul with other motives.
You should read W.E.B Du Bois’ “Gift of Black Folk.” Though written in 1904, his themes abotu black music, art, and literarture ring true today.
Thanks again Eisa!
S.
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Here’s a sample. Feel free to read the entire post at http://mosaicbooks.blogspot.com/2007/07/looking-at-south-gate.html
She writes with heroic concern about the fact that writers such as Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison (who I don’t believe fits well into this because of his writer’s block and self doubt was so devastating) for all their greatness, published sporadically and were in their forties before true success arrived. As I enter my mid-forties with hopes of writing I did take some offense at the thought that 40 was somewhat late in life. But I’ll leave that for another post.
Martha, who I met once and seemed lovely, is doomed. Sorry, Martha. On one level there’s an assumption that being published is a right and not a privilege. She buys into the myth of the traditional publishing dynamic that’s dangled in front of her every time a White writer is published.
The old publishing world: I write, you publish. Success!
The new publishing world: I write, you, my German-owned-conglomerate publisher, find a niche that’s comfortable for you, I work that niche until there’s no hair left on it, all the while looking for traditional and new media options to help synergize and commodity my talent to help lift the marketing burden off you. Oprah, please call. Success!?…
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Hi Eisa,
I just posted on my blog about this essay and then I saw this post. Thanks for drawing attention to it. I have a slightly different take on the situation. I’ll quote from my post here:
“… while I am sympathetic to Ms. Southgate’s assertions in her essay that there aren’t “more of us at the party” the reasons are not just because “the publishing industry remains overwhelmingly white.” It is because it remains overwhelmingly in the hands of big business. Large corporations are not conducive to taking risks. They are good at buying smaller companies and squeezing out their creative energy. The end result is a lack of vision on the part of publishers who may see black writers as incapable of grabbing popular appeal. It’s creating a segregated reading public and pushing creative writers like Ms. Southgate and other “risky” writers to the margins. Like the saying goes, ‘when the rest of the country catches a cold, the black community catches pneumonia.’”
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Wow. Glad to see people are reading the piece and reacting. I’ll just jump in with some responses.
To Ron: Sheesh. Doomed?! That’s kind of harsh. I, in no way think that being published by a major publisher is a right or a privilege. Nor do I think that the hand of God should come down and sell my books for me. The intent of my piece was to point out some forces (both inside our culture/ourselves) and outside of it, that consipre to make it hard for those of us who want to write well and thoughtfully to do so and to get our voices heard.
Regarding your point about me and my ilk needing to get out there on 125 with the folks: you’re absolutely right. I do as much getting out there as I can via events like the Go On Girl convention (which I just attended) and the NBCC last year in Atlanta. But I will admit that I privilege time to write over time to market myself–and I have precious little of both. Does Relentless Aaron have kids? A partner? A job besides selling his books? I don’t’think those of us who can’t (for whatever reason, temperamental–many writers are very private people who just can’t bear to hustle themselves–or timewise) get out there on 1-2-5 should be penalized or denigrated. There are many roads to readership–we need to take them all.
Further, I’d add that we sell ourselves short by assuming that our job is only to sell to other black people. We’re Americans, our stories are part of world literature. Sure, we don’t want to disrespect or down play our brothers and sisters who love us–but why the heck shouldn’t white people, Hispanic people, whatever kind of people, read our books? We read (and enjoy and learn from and are enriched by) the best of theirs. It should absolutely go both ways.
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wow. heavy discussion.
as a writer, i also find it difficult to write because of the constant pressure of paying the bills. it is not easy. my hope is that i can find some sort of writing grant to help me focus solely on my writing. this is what a great many black writers need…financial stability.
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While authors may (understandably) not want to spend writing time hustling product, let me suggest a small(ish) investment of time that can have a big payoff.
I and many other black newspaper columnists belong to an organization called the Trotter Group (http://www.trottergroup.org/members.htm) whose members are at USA Today, the Washington Post, and a host of regional papers. We collectively reach many millions of readers every week.
I think that having one’s publisher and/or PR firm send literary ficiton and notices of readings to these folks regularly would be a wise investment of time and effort.
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Thanks Errol,
This is a great suggestion. In my previous post, I didn’t mean I won’t spend any time hustling–in fact, I do spend time hustling. But I just have to watch how much time I spend hustling. And I wante every minute spent hustling to be an effective one. The hustle is not the whole game. Your suggestion is a very wise investment of time and a group that I was totally unaware of. What’s the address?
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Martha,
Links to the 35 or so columnists in the Trotter group are at http://www.trottergroup.org/members.htm
Looking at your website, I’m very impressed at how much multi-media activity you’ve taken on. It reminds of a time, about 20 years ago, when I had a freelance project that involved writing up short blurbs of movies in order to update the catalog of the Black Filmmaker Foundation. It required watching dozens of black indy films from all around the country.
After seeing the early work of artists like Julie Dash and Charles Burnett, I often tried (in vain) to explain to friends that the newly famous Spike Lee, while talented, was not necessarily the best producer/director among his peers, but maybe the hardest-working and unquestionably the most media-savvy. Obviously, that counts for a lot.
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Hi Eisa,
Thank you for this forum. I sent Martha Southgate?s article to several people and it has been the topic of conversation in different reading and writing groups. For those of us who read and write literary fiction, this essay certainly hit a nerve. Southgate wrote a great, piece that asks some hard questions. If I may, I would like to add my two cents.
First of all, I want to say that I am happy that while voicing her concerns about the plight of Black literary fiction, she did not disparage other Black genres. When Southgate was here in Oakland when promoting Third Girl From the Left at Marcus Book Store, she did talk about the proliferation and promotion of urban/street literature and her concerns about the lack of promotion for ?ambitious literature? that delves into human issues. Not surprisingly, when I sent Writers Like Me out, I received a number of replies complaining about how the urban/street lit was getting all the attention and publishing credits. This was not unexpected but it caused me to think on a few things.
Frankly, the grievances and complaints are getting a little old. I am weary of writers lamenting that their books are being ignored in favor of those that are in demand. (See my essay on Deirdre Savoy?s blog- http://deirdresavoysays.blogspot.com/search?q=Dera+Williams
about the positive value in Black literature). For one thing, complaining and downgrading street/urban lit, drama for drama sake, and so-called erotica is not going to change anything. We all know writing is about business and business is about the bottom line. Instead of complaining, Black authors of literary fiction can take a more proactive stance.
1. Promote, promote, promote. I cannot tell you how frustrated I, who has been involved in literary circles for several years, get when I belatedly hear about a book that has been out for several months or a year or hear about a writer who has been around a for a minute. Why had I not heard about Calvin Baker (Dominion and Naming the New World) until about a year ago? I happened to catch a review in the San Francisco Chronicle of his latest book and immediately told my circle of literary fans. Word of mouth or a review is how I have discovered what has come to be some of my favorite authors. My small circle of literary readers also hear about Black literary authors through publications like Poets & Writers (that?s how I learned of Black Brit writer Andrea Levy), obscure literary journals and writing programs (one of my friends had Victor Lavalle (The Ectastic) as an instructor. But mostly, we hear about y?all through the grapevine. Just when we bemoan there isn?t any serious Black literature, somebody will send an e-mail. Have you heard about?..?
Black literary writers need, no, they must be responsible for promoting their own work. The publisher whether it is traditional giant like Simon & Schuster or a small press is not going to do it, over and beyond the budget allowed for such promotion. Not everyone gets the multimillion dollar contracts of Steven Carter (The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White) who I just saw Friday night talking about scene, characterization, setting and emotion, or Lalita Tademy (Cane River and Red River) who get the multi-city tours and Oprah acclaim. Nor does everyone get the attention of a Pulitzer Prize as Edward P. Jones (The Known World). What better promotion than that? I cannot tell you how many e-mails I get a week about ?other? literature by Black writers. Some hire publicists but a great majority of street/lit, Sistergirl/relationship, and church-themed fiction authors send out multiple press releases and announcements about their books on their own. They descend upon the Internet, spamming us right and left. And it just keeps coming and coming. This leads me to number 2.
2. Black author of literary fiction must court the ever burgeoning number of book clubs, both online and physical, especially online reader and book groups and other literary venues. Before your book is released, aside from what your publisher is doing, you need to be creating your own list of contacts that can spread the word about your book. You must insist that a number of books are set aside for review by online groups such as the one I review for, APOOO (A Place of Our Own) www.apooo.org and so many others. Do not just rely on reviews from the N.Y. Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. The APOOO Exchange reviewers post their reviews prominently on Amazon.com. There are more review sites and venues that you can shake a stick at?space does not allow mentioning all, and some are very much respected in the Black literary arena and beyond such as APOOO (founder/moderator Yasmin Coleman), RawSistaz and Book Matters. Sure, you want to be a cross-over success and cater to ALL readers but in the process, do not ignore the Black literary community who has promoted many a literary book WHEN they know about it.
3. Drop a thank you note to those who do take the time to review your books. Just a short appreciation means so much to the many reviewers, both individual reviewers and professional review teams who take the time to say thanks. Very few of these reviewers of these venues are paid monetarily. Reviewers are more inclined to review the next book because they feel their work is acknowledged and appreciated. Those ?other? genres write thank you notes all the time. Our review group gets several notes a week, surprisingly, even when the reviews are not glowing. They thank us for taking the time to read and honestly assess their books. The reviews from my review team are posted at Amazon.com, yet I can count on one hand how many times literary writers send a note of appreciation. Why that is, I?m not sure. Perhaps they don?t have time or do you think the reviews, no matter how well written are not worthy because it is not a N.Y. Times review? I was very appreciative of Eisa?s thank you note to me last fall after I reviewed Crystelle Mourning. You better believe I will read and review her next one. We review ALL genres and yes literary, some of who have been named on Southgate?s reading list, but we do not hear from them. I meet authors all the time as I am a regular customer at Marcus Book Store in Oakland as well as a member of the Marcus Book Club. An author will say upon hearing my name, ?Hey, I read your review on Amazon. Thanks.? Really, how would I know that?
Does all of the above I have laid out take time? You bet it does. And it might take a little moolah. How do you do this while teaching a full load, or working a 9- 5 in private industry and or raising a family? You just do it. The ?other? writers do who hold down full-time employment and raise their families. You are disciplined writers; carve out a couple of hours a week just to promote you, or hire a college student to do the grunt work. I?m betting you will expand your readership base and just maybe, increase sales. I heard Kim McLarin (Meeting of the Waters and Jump) say about a year ago when she was in the Bay Area, that for her, it is all about the writing; that she could not live with a work for four years of writing and not believe in it. Colin Channer (Passing Through and Satisfy My Soul) said he would write regardless. At the end of the day, most writers of literary write because of the love for the craft.
Dera Williams
July 6, 2007
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As a writer of literary/historical fiction, Martha’s essay struck a real and painful cord. All I can add is that we have to keep believing in our work, ourselves, and our peoples stories. And we MUST keep talking without attacking. Thanks Martha!
kc
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Hey, Dera–Thanks! Sorry I didn’t say that sooner.
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Yeah, “doomed” was harsh. Forgive me. My comments were more toward “martha southgate” as metaphor for most literary writers. As opposed to Martha Southgate, decent human being and super woman.
My only concern is that by recognizing both the inherent value and bias in institutions who can co-op the aesthetic we only help to strengthen and perpetuate it.
In my short time on this planet, I’ve heard these arguments time and again, lack of: compensation, recognition, equality. Yet we still seek tacit approval.
I don’t have the answer. It’s hard being an independent –I’m broke. Could Martha have written an editorial for the Times if Black Classic Press had published her book? Could Tavis Smiley have published a book with Third World Press if he didn’t have other streams of income? Maybe, maybe not. There are benefits to gain from participating in a business that has its own award system –trophies or financial– built in.
In the end I’m not mad at anyone. I just want us to consider building our own institutions.
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I am in New Orleans now and was checking on whether my essay on race came up on the PEN website when I saw Martha?s. I guess we were thinking along the same lines. I asked the children’s committee to put race on our section of the website when we first began running comments on the web. www.pen.org. Segregation is going to be an even bigger question since the Supreme Court?s recent decision.
I’m glad to see that Martha?s essay stirred up a good bit of discussion on the question in her venue. I think that publishers are not nurturing anyone these days and no matter the problem – bad economy, joblessness, etc. – it often affects blacks most because of our precarious position in American society.
I am a black literary writer still. I published my first adult book in 1987 to fine reviews. I switched to children’s lit when I had children, writing two illustrated books and one YA, again with good reviews, and some recognition from YALSA and Banks Street. While the kids were getting older, I published stories and essays in the anthologies in Breaking Ice, Steetlights, Men We Cherish, African American Literature and journals Southern Review, Callaloo, and others. I am still doing short stories and finishing a book on the Societe d’Economie in New Orleans (an historical memoir). I?ve seen both Ron and Martha at the parties lately. But I don?t get out much. I have a full time job.
Will some writers get to sit back on their accolades and have the publishers come to them? There are many factors including race, sales, friendships, and more. All of them pale to the reason many of us got into the business. We need to write.
Fatima
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This is great that this discussion is happening. I felt so alone in my store sometimes while struggling to address these issuse and trying to keep body and soul together financially. (Ron, I here ya’ brother!)
Here is an idea that I just posted on my blog but I put here to use to think about:
I think that we need to take this thing back. One idea I had is to create an alternative to the bestseller list. (I’ve never been able to create one that made any sense any way.) Let’s create a “Critics list” or “Best Reader’s list” in which writers, booksellers, and literary critics vote on the best work being produced every month, one for fiction and one for non-fiction. (This wouldn’t be a bad idea for the “greater” community of writers) After all, isn’t the bestseller lists just a self-perpetuating guide to what is being read? It is kinda crude to only use sales as a measure to what is worthy of reading. These new lists are not a complete solution to these very complicating set of issues but it could be a start. It’s a way of putting a stamp of approval on some of our more worthy books and making a clean separation from the “street lit.”
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I’d just like to say that after reading all the informative and passionate comments on Martha Southgate’s article, which I believe is a relevant concern to not only African American writers of the literary genre, but also readers who are craving to read more stories in the style, I am feel very lucky. I am a new published author and the publishing house that brought my work to print opened their literary imprint with my collection of short stories.
No, I was’t paid a large advance, but I did receive one that helped pay the entertainment attorney who oversaw my contract. And let me say that unlike with Simon and Schuster, my publisher owns my book for only a decade.
What’s been most important to me is the ability to retain my artistic creativity in creating protagonists, African American who do not fit the stereotypical box and prisons so many of the images depicting us in print and on screen do. Working with my editor has been a breeze. In fact it was so easy I became frightened. Now that my book is out, and I love my cover as do so many who have purchased it–no cartoon characters.
I’m proud to say that my publishers are not African American, not that we don’t need African Americans to go into publishing, but with what I see and hear from my fellow authors who deal with tradtional publishing and publishers who are in 99% of the cases, white, I feel extremely blessed.
I am working very, very hard, as an earlier commenter (Dera Wiliams) stated in doing MY part to self-promote. It takes just as much time as writing. And then there is the money. I’m again lucky to have a supportive husband whose seen me writing tirelessly for 15 or more years. Also my children, all daughters are supportive.
For me getting published has been a family affair through which I have experienced divine grace in so many ways.
We all need to work to get more literary works writtten by AFrican Americans out where all readers can enjoy and learn from what they have to say.
If anyone has an essay or short story they’d like to share, please visit my website and/or send it to me so that I may post it.
I do not own it and the minute a traditional publisher wants it I will remove it.
Deepak Chopra said that the best way to get what you, yourself want, is to help others get what they want.
I want to develop a devoted reader audience and continue to write and publish for a LONG time. At 47 I am one of those writers who seems to edging toward hitting my stride 10 years behind the others. But that doesn’t bother me. In fact I think it is an appropriate rite of passage for me as a woman, and a writer.
Writing takes patience and time. And for those who are willing to persevere as they wait, good things come to them.