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Re: A Thought
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From: Barbara Binns <bab9660_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:11:45 -0800 (PST)
A few years ago, before I retired form a big company (I will not name them) the brass decided on a 10% across the board cut in personnel. The figure was supposed to be fair because everyone would suffer equally. Sound familiar?
In practice, big departments absorbed the cut, and for little departments the result was a catastrophe. When you have hand-picked ten people, the best of the best, being told one has to go can mean an unrecoverable loss.
Yes, the publishing industry is cutting back. Many of the same things happened to me as happened to Christine. I arrived at venues where the publisher had booked me only to find zero copies of my book (although there were copies of books from other authors in their group.) I had vendors tell me the publisher said my books were out of stock, I literally had a school come to me to intercede with the publisher to get copies of my book to use in class because the publisher was ignoring them because the order was too small and they wre busy with their bigger fish. I know this is happening to other midlist authors. But when the genre is dystopian white kid save the universe or white kid solves the mystery the adults cant, well, there are plenty of alternative books to absorb the loss. When it involves minority kid or disenfranchised youth as lead character - there are so few that the hit is once again near catastrophic.Â
We talk about lack of demand. We talk about a lack of demand. Yet for many kids and parents, a book is an impulse purchase, spawned by word of mouth or seeing a copy of the book. If they don't know the book exists they are never going to buy it. I especially think of the school that had the foresight to contact me when they got nowhere with the publisher. It took me and my agent to finally get the publisher to respond. God only knows how many other schools or groups may have wanted it but not had that kind of tenacity. Might be zero, but it might be dozens who simply shrugged and got something else instead.
The publishers are after the huge fish. Again, years ago I went to writer's conferences and panels of agents and editors proudly said they were after good books. At my mots recent conference, the panel said they were looking for the next New York Times Best Seller. I understand why, but again, the result is a disproportionate overlooking if books that do not highlight the so-called majority culture.  B. A. Binns What if you were the only one of your kind?  Find out in Minority of One coming March 2014 from AllTheColorsOfLove press2012 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012-13 Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Menwebsite - http://www.babinns.com     Â
On Friday, February 28, 2014 12:59 PM, "janeyolen_at_aol.com" <janeyolen_at_aol.com> wrote:
Christine--not to negate your negative experiences, they sound horrendous and hurtful. But the whole book-not-in catalog, the author not told when a book is going out of stock or OP and oops we have no more; going to a conference where no one has information about your book; kindling before a print run that is going well has been exhausted, etc. has become endemic in an industry that no longer values its midlist, only its frontlist and its mega bestsellers. It's not a color barrier there, for it hits us all, but I can't fault any "minority" for feeling especially slighted as it seems all of a piece with the way they've been treated before. Marketing budgets are slashed except for special books. More and more authors are taking themselves to regional conferences, ALA, IRA, NCTE, Bologna because they aren't invited, or are invited for a single day, no hotel allotted for, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.
We have to become our own best resource and force behind our books. Which, I might add, you do magnificently and I am too old, alas, to learn!
Jane
-----Original Message----- From: Christine Taylor-Butler <kansascitymom_at_earthlink.net> To: CCBC-Net Network <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Fri, Feb 28, 2014 1:31 pm Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] A Thought
I hope this explains WHY the numbers aren't often as "black and white" as we make them.
Two examples from my own publishing experience: 1. I have a book in print that has so far sold 102,000 copies. So imagine my surprise when my "large" NY publisher made it impossible to buy even on its own website - without telling me. Yes - it's still being sold through school channels but only if teachers know where to look and happen to have the right ISBN number (which is also not listed on their site). Â I discovered that when a large bookstore handling requests for an annual literary festival (out of state) wrote me to ask for help acquiring titles. "Large publisher" is now sending copies to the festival but has not yet explain why they starved off the retail conduit even as demand is growing. Instead they produced a "kindle" version to keep it "in print" even though the majority of school children don't have access to that technology. Interestingly enough, the characters in the book - and early reader - are all African American. The problem and even the setting however, has nothing to do with
their race. Many of my best sales (and requests for personal appearances) are in white suburban and rural communities.
2. I was asked to appear on a university panel to discuss diversity in New York. My publisher (a different one) sent books along and marketing materials for other authors who were not speaking or even attending the conference. The only materials for my book were the ones I printed at my own expense. Four color glossy I might add, which a bit pricey to produce since I prefer to use local printers so I can proof the press runs.
In talking to my colleagues I am not alone in my experiences. Â I have paid my own way to speak on ALA panels and noted that several of my publishers don't display books or even offer book signing opportunities even if the subject of my lecture is ABOUT those books.
So even when the opportunity is available, how does a consumer (or even an institutional buyer) obtain a title they can't get their hands on? Â I do know this is not limited to authors of color - but have seen the same trend happen for white authors with an ethnic protagonist. One glaring example was attending an ALAN conference where a colleague was invited to speak about her novel featuring an African American girl (a book I loved, by the way) but the publisher sent only copies of her book and marketing materials about a white suburban boy.
At some point you have to know what is really happening before you can conclude there is no commercial demand. Many of those children who are not counted are indeed reading and buying books or checking them out at the library. Locally, the library is filled with students who are reading on site. They just want what everyone else wants - books that seem to have captured the media's attention or that friends recommend. Â
Hence I said - less Precious and Blind Side and Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Â How about a few more Harry Potters and Hunger Games where we aren't stuck in the background and/or destined to die after saving a white heroine. Â How about books where we get to be center stage not the add on diversity for marketing purposes.Â
Before deciding there is no commercial demand, perhaps consider that publishers have done a good job over the last decade of killing it by leading people to conclude that books featuring someone of a specific race are going to be an angst based book about it.
Just saying'…………..Christine
  On Feb 28, 2014, at 11:42 AM, Charles Bayless wrote:
As has been mentioned, everything is ultimately driven by commercial demand
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Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:11:45 -0800 (PST)
A few years ago, before I retired form a big company (I will not name them) the brass decided on a 10% across the board cut in personnel. The figure was supposed to be fair because everyone would suffer equally. Sound familiar?
In practice, big departments absorbed the cut, and for little departments the result was a catastrophe. When you have hand-picked ten people, the best of the best, being told one has to go can mean an unrecoverable loss.
Yes, the publishing industry is cutting back. Many of the same things happened to me as happened to Christine. I arrived at venues where the publisher had booked me only to find zero copies of my book (although there were copies of books from other authors in their group.) I had vendors tell me the publisher said my books were out of stock, I literally had a school come to me to intercede with the publisher to get copies of my book to use in class because the publisher was ignoring them because the order was too small and they wre busy with their bigger fish. I know this is happening to other midlist authors. But when the genre is dystopian white kid save the universe or white kid solves the mystery the adults cant, well, there are plenty of alternative books to absorb the loss. When it involves minority kid or disenfranchised youth as lead character - there are so few that the hit is once again near catastrophic.Â
We talk about lack of demand. We talk about a lack of demand. Yet for many kids and parents, a book is an impulse purchase, spawned by word of mouth or seeing a copy of the book. If they don't know the book exists they are never going to buy it. I especially think of the school that had the foresight to contact me when they got nowhere with the publisher. It took me and my agent to finally get the publisher to respond. God only knows how many other schools or groups may have wanted it but not had that kind of tenacity. Might be zero, but it might be dozens who simply shrugged and got something else instead.
The publishers are after the huge fish. Again, years ago I went to writer's conferences and panels of agents and editors proudly said they were after good books. At my mots recent conference, the panel said they were looking for the next New York Times Best Seller. I understand why, but again, the result is a disproportionate overlooking if books that do not highlight the so-called majority culture.  B. A. Binns What if you were the only one of your kind?  Find out in Minority of One coming March 2014 from AllTheColorsOfLove press2012 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012-13 Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Menwebsite - http://www.babinns.com     Â
On Friday, February 28, 2014 12:59 PM, "janeyolen_at_aol.com" <janeyolen_at_aol.com> wrote:
Christine--not to negate your negative experiences, they sound horrendous and hurtful. But the whole book-not-in catalog, the author not told when a book is going out of stock or OP and oops we have no more; going to a conference where no one has information about your book; kindling before a print run that is going well has been exhausted, etc. has become endemic in an industry that no longer values its midlist, only its frontlist and its mega bestsellers. It's not a color barrier there, for it hits us all, but I can't fault any "minority" for feeling especially slighted as it seems all of a piece with the way they've been treated before. Marketing budgets are slashed except for special books. More and more authors are taking themselves to regional conferences, ALA, IRA, NCTE, Bologna because they aren't invited, or are invited for a single day, no hotel allotted for, wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.
We have to become our own best resource and force behind our books. Which, I might add, you do magnificently and I am too old, alas, to learn!
Jane
-----Original Message----- From: Christine Taylor-Butler <kansascitymom_at_earthlink.net> To: CCBC-Net Network <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Fri, Feb 28, 2014 1:31 pm Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] A Thought
I hope this explains WHY the numbers aren't often as "black and white" as we make them.
Two examples from my own publishing experience: 1. I have a book in print that has so far sold 102,000 copies. So imagine my surprise when my "large" NY publisher made it impossible to buy even on its own website - without telling me. Yes - it's still being sold through school channels but only if teachers know where to look and happen to have the right ISBN number (which is also not listed on their site). Â I discovered that when a large bookstore handling requests for an annual literary festival (out of state) wrote me to ask for help acquiring titles. "Large publisher" is now sending copies to the festival but has not yet explain why they starved off the retail conduit even as demand is growing. Instead they produced a "kindle" version to keep it "in print" even though the majority of school children don't have access to that technology. Interestingly enough, the characters in the book - and early reader - are all African American. The problem and even the setting however, has nothing to do with
their race. Many of my best sales (and requests for personal appearances) are in white suburban and rural communities.
2. I was asked to appear on a university panel to discuss diversity in New York. My publisher (a different one) sent books along and marketing materials for other authors who were not speaking or even attending the conference. The only materials for my book were the ones I printed at my own expense. Four color glossy I might add, which a bit pricey to produce since I prefer to use local printers so I can proof the press runs.
In talking to my colleagues I am not alone in my experiences. Â I have paid my own way to speak on ALA panels and noted that several of my publishers don't display books or even offer book signing opportunities even if the subject of my lecture is ABOUT those books.
So even when the opportunity is available, how does a consumer (or even an institutional buyer) obtain a title they can't get their hands on? Â I do know this is not limited to authors of color - but have seen the same trend happen for white authors with an ethnic protagonist. One glaring example was attending an ALAN conference where a colleague was invited to speak about her novel featuring an African American girl (a book I loved, by the way) but the publisher sent only copies of her book and marketing materials about a white suburban boy.
At some point you have to know what is really happening before you can conclude there is no commercial demand. Many of those children who are not counted are indeed reading and buying books or checking them out at the library. Locally, the library is filled with students who are reading on site. They just want what everyone else wants - books that seem to have captured the media's attention or that friends recommend. Â
Hence I said - less Precious and Blind Side and Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Â How about a few more Harry Potters and Hunger Games where we aren't stuck in the background and/or destined to die after saving a white heroine. Â How about books where we get to be center stage not the add on diversity for marketing purposes.Â
Before deciding there is no commercial demand, perhaps consider that publishers have done a good job over the last decade of killing it by leading people to conclude that books featuring someone of a specific race are going to be an angst based book about it.
Just saying'…………..Christine
  On Feb 28, 2014, at 11:42 AM, Charles Bayless wrote:
As has been mentioned, everything is ultimately driven by commercial demand
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Received on Fri 28 Feb 2014 07:15:19 PM CST
