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Latino books for children
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From: Brosnan, Rosemary <rosemary.brosnan>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 15:55:50 -0500
I've been standing on a soapbox for years, ranting about the need for great Latino books for children, so if you've worked with me in the past, or you work with me now, you can stop reading, because you're probably sick and tired of hearing me talk about this.
I can sympathize completely with Lulu Delacre, who has published such fine books for children, but who struggles to keep her books in print. This is an all-too-common situation for books with Latino themes (and for other fine books, as well). I think that Ms. Delacre is correct when she says the problem is with marketing the books. I don't think that publishers can use only the usual marketing techniques to sell Latino books, but it's hard for us to know how exactly to market these books. It's extremely difficult for publishers to connect with the audience for these books. But we'd better figure out how to do it. I was part of group at Penguin some years ago that tried to do this, and then on a Children's Book Council committee that addressed these issues, so there have been efforts made in the publishing world, but we need to do much more.
In addition, I think that some bookstores--chains in particular--underestimate the Latino market and will not carry many books for this market. I think there may be an offensive, unspoken perception that "Latinos don't buy books." I am thinking in particular of a lovely picture book I published on the Fall 1999 list about Three Kings' Day--and a particular chain in New York City, of all places, chose not to carry the book, as they felt the audience was "limited." There's certainly not a
"limited" Latino population in New York, and, furthermore, are these books only for Latino children? They should be for all children, to open up worlds to children who are not Latino, as well.
It's also hard for editors to connect with the authors, as Marc Aronson has pointed out. For years, I have taken out ads in Latino journals, attended conferences, and beat the pavement looking for Latino authors. I may not know where to look. And authors may not know where to find me. That is a big problem. Nina Lindsay mentioned the untimely deaths of Lyll Becerra de Jenkins and Omar Castaneda, two authors who had very strong, passionate voices. I have not found other authors like Lyll and Omar since their deaths three years ago. And I have looked hard.
Another issue is one of language and culture. We need more Spanish-speaking people in publishing who can read submissions in Spanish and who can understand cultural context (although most submissions by Latino authors are in English, and the (numerous) books I have published by Latino authors have been written in English or have been bilingual books.) But if an editor is unfamiliar with a culture, it is difficult for the editor to evaluate a manuscript's authenticity. Too many non-Latino authors make mistakes when writing about Latino characters--I see this in manuscript submissions all the time.
If anyone has ideas about how to reach this market and publish Latino books successfully, we publishers would appreciate it. We ignore this large and growing segment of our population at our own peril!
And now I'm off the soapbox.
Thanks.
Rosemary Brosnan Executive Editor HarperCollins Children's Books
Received on Mon 13 Mar 2000 02:55:50 PM CST
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 15:55:50 -0500
I've been standing on a soapbox for years, ranting about the need for great Latino books for children, so if you've worked with me in the past, or you work with me now, you can stop reading, because you're probably sick and tired of hearing me talk about this.
I can sympathize completely with Lulu Delacre, who has published such fine books for children, but who struggles to keep her books in print. This is an all-too-common situation for books with Latino themes (and for other fine books, as well). I think that Ms. Delacre is correct when she says the problem is with marketing the books. I don't think that publishers can use only the usual marketing techniques to sell Latino books, but it's hard for us to know how exactly to market these books. It's extremely difficult for publishers to connect with the audience for these books. But we'd better figure out how to do it. I was part of group at Penguin some years ago that tried to do this, and then on a Children's Book Council committee that addressed these issues, so there have been efforts made in the publishing world, but we need to do much more.
In addition, I think that some bookstores--chains in particular--underestimate the Latino market and will not carry many books for this market. I think there may be an offensive, unspoken perception that "Latinos don't buy books." I am thinking in particular of a lovely picture book I published on the Fall 1999 list about Three Kings' Day--and a particular chain in New York City, of all places, chose not to carry the book, as they felt the audience was "limited." There's certainly not a
"limited" Latino population in New York, and, furthermore, are these books only for Latino children? They should be for all children, to open up worlds to children who are not Latino, as well.
It's also hard for editors to connect with the authors, as Marc Aronson has pointed out. For years, I have taken out ads in Latino journals, attended conferences, and beat the pavement looking for Latino authors. I may not know where to look. And authors may not know where to find me. That is a big problem. Nina Lindsay mentioned the untimely deaths of Lyll Becerra de Jenkins and Omar Castaneda, two authors who had very strong, passionate voices. I have not found other authors like Lyll and Omar since their deaths three years ago. And I have looked hard.
Another issue is one of language and culture. We need more Spanish-speaking people in publishing who can read submissions in Spanish and who can understand cultural context (although most submissions by Latino authors are in English, and the (numerous) books I have published by Latino authors have been written in English or have been bilingual books.) But if an editor is unfamiliar with a culture, it is difficult for the editor to evaluate a manuscript's authenticity. Too many non-Latino authors make mistakes when writing about Latino characters--I see this in manuscript submissions all the time.
If anyone has ideas about how to reach this market and publish Latino books successfully, we publishers would appreciate it. We ignore this large and growing segment of our population at our own peril!
And now I'm off the soapbox.
Thanks.
Rosemary Brosnan Executive Editor HarperCollins Children's Books
Received on Mon 13 Mar 2000 02:55:50 PM CST
