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Mediocrity and marketing
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From: Jane Kurtz <jkurtz>
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 15:48:58 -0500
You know, Maia, I'm glad that you tackle a # of really important issues in your post, and my thoughts are flying everywhere as I think about some of these really tough things. I don't actually believe the implication is that books by native Americans would be mediocre, but rather that books written to fulfill a certain need or agenda tend to often slip into a subtle (or not so subtle) didacticism or be mediocre in other ways, published because this or that idea is important rather than because the book, as you say, is powerful, authentic, lyrical, captivating.
I so often work with writers--some of whom have struggled with the pain and hardship of getting published for some time--who suggest to me that if the author is well-intentioned, the writing is good, and the message is right, that ought to be enough to get a book published. But as you point out, it's NOT enough in a business (like all businesses, I suppose) that involves marketing, politics, money...and is just plain more competitive (as I point out to my suffering listeners) than probably any other arena they've ever been involved in. To be fair, I have to also say that in this tough, competitive arena where the vast number of writers fail in their dreams to have a manuscript accepted, I believe that for the past 10 years or so, the door has opened just a tiny, tiny bit more easily (not less easily) for a talented writer who is telling a story from within a culture not often heard from. When I began to tell the stories of my Ethiopian childhood, for instance, I found a fascination and receptivity from editors that I had never found before, and I'd been sending things to editors for about 10 years.
Let me also say that I was captivated by your phrase about making a market for certain books. I think perhaps you meant that phrase in relation to getting those books published, though I'd have to look back at the post to be sure. So often people do think that's the task: to get the book accepted and published. As someone who has published 8 books, now, I see things a bit differently. With a certain amount of pain, I see that it really does little good for publishers to bring books out if the market is not there on the other end, and with the death of the independent bookstores, it feels like it's getting harder and harder to get multicultural books into the hands of readers. Look at my (probably) most commercially successful book, FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, as an example. It was my first major book and the first ever book of E.B. Lewis, then a brand-new but way-talented African American illustrator. It got a starred review in SLJ, was an alternate Book of the Month Club selection, was a finalist for the PEN West Literary Award for Children's Literature for that year, was nominated for several state lists, etc etc...all of my books should have such a good reception. Yet it's OP in hardcover after, what, three years? And that's the BEST. I've seen for myself that publishers can publish what they think are great multicultural books, reviewers can do all they can to bring such books to attention, teachers committed to multicultural literature can love and praise and use a book...and it can still slip rapidly into oblivion because so few people are buying it. Look at Bowman's Store.
What I'm saying is that I think those of us who are committed to hearing voices out of the mainstream need to be thinking creatively about finding ways to get those books bought by readers, not just published...because MASSES of people are buying the books that are soundly criticized in forums like this one. Whoever it was who said she bought copies of BIRCHBARK HOUSE to give as gifts has the right idea, I think. Or I'm requiring it for the literature class I'm teaching next semester, so that teachers will know and be comfortable with it as they go out into the world to teach...because no matter how many "shoulds" we toss around, teachers aren't going to use literature that feels unfamiliar and scary to them. (I know, for instance, that many teachers won't touch the study of a place like Ethiopia because they simply feel too inept and it feels too foreign and far-away.)
Just don't forget that READERS make the market for all kinds of book-trash.
Jane Kurtz www.norshore.net/~JaneKurtz/
Received on Thu 28 Oct 1999 03:48:58 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 15:48:58 -0500
You know, Maia, I'm glad that you tackle a # of really important issues in your post, and my thoughts are flying everywhere as I think about some of these really tough things. I don't actually believe the implication is that books by native Americans would be mediocre, but rather that books written to fulfill a certain need or agenda tend to often slip into a subtle (or not so subtle) didacticism or be mediocre in other ways, published because this or that idea is important rather than because the book, as you say, is powerful, authentic, lyrical, captivating.
I so often work with writers--some of whom have struggled with the pain and hardship of getting published for some time--who suggest to me that if the author is well-intentioned, the writing is good, and the message is right, that ought to be enough to get a book published. But as you point out, it's NOT enough in a business (like all businesses, I suppose) that involves marketing, politics, money...and is just plain more competitive (as I point out to my suffering listeners) than probably any other arena they've ever been involved in. To be fair, I have to also say that in this tough, competitive arena where the vast number of writers fail in their dreams to have a manuscript accepted, I believe that for the past 10 years or so, the door has opened just a tiny, tiny bit more easily (not less easily) for a talented writer who is telling a story from within a culture not often heard from. When I began to tell the stories of my Ethiopian childhood, for instance, I found a fascination and receptivity from editors that I had never found before, and I'd been sending things to editors for about 10 years.
Let me also say that I was captivated by your phrase about making a market for certain books. I think perhaps you meant that phrase in relation to getting those books published, though I'd have to look back at the post to be sure. So often people do think that's the task: to get the book accepted and published. As someone who has published 8 books, now, I see things a bit differently. With a certain amount of pain, I see that it really does little good for publishers to bring books out if the market is not there on the other end, and with the death of the independent bookstores, it feels like it's getting harder and harder to get multicultural books into the hands of readers. Look at my (probably) most commercially successful book, FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, as an example. It was my first major book and the first ever book of E.B. Lewis, then a brand-new but way-talented African American illustrator. It got a starred review in SLJ, was an alternate Book of the Month Club selection, was a finalist for the PEN West Literary Award for Children's Literature for that year, was nominated for several state lists, etc etc...all of my books should have such a good reception. Yet it's OP in hardcover after, what, three years? And that's the BEST. I've seen for myself that publishers can publish what they think are great multicultural books, reviewers can do all they can to bring such books to attention, teachers committed to multicultural literature can love and praise and use a book...and it can still slip rapidly into oblivion because so few people are buying it. Look at Bowman's Store.
What I'm saying is that I think those of us who are committed to hearing voices out of the mainstream need to be thinking creatively about finding ways to get those books bought by readers, not just published...because MASSES of people are buying the books that are soundly criticized in forums like this one. Whoever it was who said she bought copies of BIRCHBARK HOUSE to give as gifts has the right idea, I think. Or I'm requiring it for the literature class I'm teaching next semester, so that teachers will know and be comfortable with it as they go out into the world to teach...because no matter how many "shoulds" we toss around, teachers aren't going to use literature that feels unfamiliar and scary to them. (I know, for instance, that many teachers won't touch the study of a place like Ethiopia because they simply feel too inept and it feels too foreign and far-away.)
Just don't forget that READERS make the market for all kinds of book-trash.
Jane Kurtz www.norshore.net/~JaneKurtz/
Received on Thu 28 Oct 1999 03:48:58 PM CDT
