Original Link (obsolete): http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/
Street Lit, Kindle, and The Exotic Other: Interview with ?Mosaic? Magazine Founder Ron Kavanaugh
Posted By The Editors | August 19th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment » Print This Post Print This Post
By Eisa Nefertari Ulen
In 1998, Ron Kavanaugh founded Mosaic, a literary magazine that celebrates the work of contemporary African-American and Latino writers. Ten years later, Mosaic still publishes reviews of literary work, interviews with important writers, and art that folk can dig. Recent covers include first time novelist Marlon James, Dark Room Collective Co- Founder Thomas Sayers Ellis, and author of The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Mosaic-Literary-Mag — Ron Kavanaugh is an important figure in the world of black books and the New York book publishing industry, helping to launch the careers of emerging authors, and celebrating the tradition out of which they craft their work.
Some of the greatest Black writers have appeared on the cover of Mosaic, including Gwendolyn Brooks, children?s book writer Walter Dean Myers , and Gen X writer Tayari Jones.
To help mark the 10th anniversary, Ron talked with me for a TheDefendersOnline.com interview exploring Mosaic, the Street Lit phenomenon, Kindle, and the ?exotic othering? of writers of color.
Q: Why did you start Mosaic? What in your background led you to take on this monumental task?
A: It was on the cusp of what I would call the black-medallions era, which I believe Spike Lee fermented with [his films] Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X. That era seemed to be ending and a more academic and professional period was starting. It felt like an ideal time to start a lit magazine.
The original idea was to solely create a slim brochure that would preview new books. It was supposed to be based on Barnes & Noble?s New Horizons brochure that features about twelve new books every month. I figured an entire brochure would go over well in independent bookstores. In 1995, I designed a sample, mailed it to publishers, but did not receive any interest.
I decided to do it online instead in the form of MosaicBooks.com, which I launched in 1996. Two years later I went back to the original idea of a print publication.
Q: What have been the biggest challenges you?ve faced?
A: Building capacity remains a challenge. Finding new subscribers; attracting advertisers; hosting readings; and expanding our website?s original content. These are all goals that I believe would lend to Mosaic?s success.
Q: When you started Mosaic in 1998, what was going on in the world of black books? What were the major trends, and what kind of relationship could Black writers expect to have with major publishing houses and with smaller and Black-owned presses?
A: For some reason, things seemed new, almost urgent. And it had less to do with the literature and more to do with the Internet and the access it was granting to previously marginalized communities. I was spending a lot of time at Warner Books (now Hachette) because my partner worked there (yes, I had a partner when I started the magazine), and PEN America had the Open Book committee?led by Elizabeth Nunez, which worked to get people of color into publishing. There were also a lot of young editors?Janet Hill, Melody Guy, Malaika Adero, and Chris Jackson among others?who would later lead their own imprints . It would be a stretch to say we were a clique, but we all knew each other and talked about projects. And there was the start of the Harlem Book Fair, which seemed promising at the time.
Q: There has been an ongoing debate on the emergence of Street Lit over the past several years. Folk like Nick Chiles, Terry McMillan, Martha Southgate, and Linda Villarosa have weighed in, and this month, Elle magazine has published a feature on the topic and Street Lit writer Miasha written by Bliss Broyard. Where do you fall in this debate?
A: I would like to answer this without mentioning Street lit. That?s a straight supply-demand issue and can?t be changed unless we address consumer demand.
I still believe literary writers are going to have to carve out a space where they can create, support, distribute, and monetize their work. This either means we start our own publishing, distribution network, and marketing companies, or stay with the existing publishers and take on the full responsibility of selling/marketing books.
If publishers are going to continue to spend less on marketing then they should give a larger percentage of the revenue to the writer. Major publishers are struggling and I?m sure a new model that gives the writer a smaller, or no, advance and bigger share of revenue will catch on. Publishers are also going to have to change the way they think about book production and distribution. Micro print runs will have to be the norm ?50-100 books at a time. There are far fewer bookstores to distribute to, and publishers will probably end the practice of accepting returns from bookstores, which will lead to reduced print runs.
Or, literary writers can self publish. Not as attractive; literally a full-time job. Probably on top of your existing full-time gig. I still believe literary writers will not leave the safe confines of the traditional publishers because it will opt them out of potential book reviews in high-end publications and lessen their award consideration. So smaller print runs, small advances, increased self marketing, and increased profit sharing.
Ebooks may change everything, and lesser-known literary writers will be hurt most. The Kindle currently costs $400. Who can afford this? I bet they tend to be literary readers. I?m making an assumption that the higher your income, the less likely you are to read street lit?your higher income is probably the result of college, parental income and/or guidance, and broader exposure to a variety arts and cultures. So, publishers seeing this continued trend may decide to publish books straight to Kindle. Why not? No printing or distribution costs. The savings may lead to more spent on marketing. It?s hard to do a book signing with a Kindle, but the price point is one-third of a hard cover book, and the publisher can do a micro print run to satisfy the needs of bookstores, which, in several years, may not include Borders and Barnes & Nobles.
I recently bought a Kindle and was initially psyched. There?s an initial excitement that caused me to download a bunch of books?never mind the reason you didn?t purchase them previously had to do with time and not availability in traditional form. Which leads to another issue: don?t think Amazon?s claim of 250,000 available titles includes the ones that you desire. Your best bet would be to make a list of books that you would like to read then check them for Kindle availability on Amazon. You may be shocked to find that there are still many books that have not been transferred to the ebook format.
You can?t share an ebook unless you?re willing to part with your $400 toy. It does a horrible job of rendering the internet so don?t believe the Amazon hype. You can?t take it to a book signing. Could you image someone signing their name across your Kindle screen!
Right now, I don?t think demand is there for people to download Mosaic on a Kindle but if things change I?ll explore.
The new challenge is how literary writers?with smaller print runs and ebooks?will engage the physical space: book club reading, stores (Wal-Mart, street vendors, point of purchase displays) with or without a traditional book.
Another tangent is what are literary writers doing to grow readers? I can go on about this too but I?ll leave it here for now.
Q: Have sales of books by black writers increased because of the Street Lit phenomenon? Has the interest in Street Lit created a ripple effect to increase interest in genre fiction, popular fiction, literary fiction, nonfiction, and / or poetry?
A: I think book sales are trending down across the board. Independent [bookstores] are closing, Borders and BN consistently lose money every quarter. The street lit principle is a hyper independence. All they need is a box of books and wherever they are becomes a point of sale?for better or worse. I have no way to prove this but, anecdotally, I feel that just as many black literary writers are published today as ten years ago. Street lit peeps just talk louder. My greater concern is there may be an entire generation who will not grow beyond street lit.
Also, I?m noticing more black books that do not have an overt racial marketing plan. They come out and the racial identity is somewhat ambiguous. Which raises the thorny issue of can black book sales compete in a we-are-the-world environment.
What I always find puzzling about answering your questions is that no publisher or rating service, i.e. Bookscan or Nielsen, keeps book sales records based on race. So who is actually qualified to answer this question? It?s all anecdotal, and in the end, all assumptive.
Q: Charles Johnson has fueled another debate with his essay, The End of the Black American Narrative. Is there a place for narratives that engage our slave past, or should contemporary writers be exploring new themes in their work?
A: Not sure if ?new? is the proper word. Maybe less explored themes.
Q: Michael Thomas just received the Impac Dublin prize, the richest literary prize in the world, for his debut novel, Man Gone Down. Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz was shortlisted for that same award for his second book and first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Can we expect these awards to generate interest in other writers of African descent? How do the individual successes of black writers impact the black writing community?
A: Only negative things stick to black people, specifically African Americans. When Chimamanda Adichie or Zadie Smith win awards, a conversation stirs around the expansive talents of post-colonial African (and south Asian) writers?specifically, specifically writers whose countries [of origin] won independence in the 1960s. Part of that is exotification, but the same conversations don?t seem to take place when an American of African descent wins an award. There?s no longer an exotic cool for African-American writers. Fashion models and white rappers are the new black literati.
Q: Who are some of your favorite authors? List 5 writers who have been published in the last 5 years that you would you recommend.
A: Bernice McFadden, Walter Mosley, Ravi Howard, Major Jackson, Willie Perdomo.
Q: If you were stuck on a deserted island for two months and could only take along ten books to read, which would you choose?
A: Assuming there?s already a refrigerator stocked with quarter-waters and a little camping stove for cooking freshly caught fish?I dig how no one starves to death on Lost ?I would bring Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck; Breaking Ice edited by Terry McMillian and John Wideman; Corregidora by Gayle Jones; J. California Cooper?s Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime; The Spirit of African Design (I?ll have plenty raffia to hook that hut up!); Billy by Albert French; Rice by Nikky Finney; There?s No Business like Your Own by Gladys Edmunds; Claude Brown?s Manchild in the Promise Land; Glenville Lovell?s Song of Night. I haven?t read her in a while but Charlotte Carter has the Nanette Hayes series (they?re fun books). I read a lot of fiction, which I?m told black men aren?t supposed to do.
Q: You just celebrated the anniversary of Mosaic with a big party and fund-raising effort. What?s next?
A: The next ten years will hopefully see expanded circulation in libraries, adoption as a teaching tool in high schools, and the expansion of original online content.
Other aspects of Mosaic include:
The Literary Freedom Project (LFP), a 501(c)3 tax-exempt not-for-profit arts organization, established in 2004, that supports the literary arts through education, creative thinking, and new media. LFP is the umbrella organization that publishes Mosaic Literary Magazine; develops literature-based lesson plans and workshops; and hosts the Mosaic Literary Conference & Festival, an annual literature-education conference.
Mosaic supplements its editorial content with lesson plans, based on the magazine?s content, and developed for secondary school educators to explore subjects such as history and social studies while emphasizing the importance of literature and reading.
The Mosaic Literary Conference & Festival provides a platform for literature-based creative thinking and knowledge sharing. Educators are invited to participate in literature workshops, which are also presented throughout the year. Click here for additional information.
Looking to the future, Kavanaugh shared plans to ?launch a new bi-annual professional-development workshop featuring creative ways for keeping literature and books valuable sources of knowledge and creativity in high school education,? in October, 2009. ?Our workshops help educators incorporate literature into existing curricula to further explore course work that focuses on social studies ?explorations of history, geography, economics, government, and civics,? he said.
Eisa Nefertari Ulen is the author of Crystelle Mourning and a founding member of RingShout: A Place for Black Literature. She lives with her husband and son in Brooklyn.
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