Showing posts with label book publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book publishing. Show all posts

Saturday, December 30, 2017

2017 Recap





I began the year by giving my two cents on the subject of diversity in book publishing. We need to hear from a greater range of voices in literature. We need to amplify those of us who are telling stories in #OurOwnVoices. What we probably don't need to do is get angry and shout down every white author / white character. Diversity means everybody, including those who are currently over-represented.  But some more of those who are under-represented sure would be nice.







I made my very first book trailer! I think it's awesome. I don't know if many people outside of my household like it too. I have no idea if it's helped me to sell a single copy of Matters of Convenience. But I'm still prouder and more pleased by it than I have reasonable right to be. Go me!





A post shared by Roy Pickering (@roylpickering_author) on


Technically it was at the end of 2016 (a few days before Christmas) that my family acquired a dog. The one and only SHADOW!!!  He was a ceaseless source of amusement and affection throughout 2017. I don't know if everyone should have a dog, but certainly every WRITER should have a dog. As it turns out, I got the BEST one.







I wrote installments #1 and #2 in the Ava Appelsawse book series. One of my resolutions for 2018 is to get going on #3 while my wife completes illustrations for the first book. Publication date TBD.







Speaking of my wife, I saw how much she was enjoying Instagram so decided to join up too. I set up an account. I got hacked. I set up a replacement account. That one got hacked as well. I seriously considered surrendering but decided to give it one more shot. The third try has proven to be the charm. I still have plenty of exploring to do on there, but one treasure I did discover in 2017 was Bookstagram.







I partially embraced my inner nerd in 2017 and attended a Comic Con for the first time. It was a fantastic experience, definitely one to be repeated. Perhaps in 2018 I'll go full nerd and attend in high quality, budget bending costume. I think I'd make an awesome Black Panther.






I urged people to buy more books, particularly of the ink printed on paper variety. This is something I'll do every year until you guys are buying so many books (perhaps even some of mine) that I no longer feel the need. Until that magical moment happens, here's yet another reminder from me to BUY BOOKS.






Statues were toppled. I found this to be a good thing because those particular statues were testaments to bigotry and segregation and race based oppression and hatred. Surely a person can reside below the Mason Dixon line and be a proud southerner on account of something other than being on the losing side of the Civil War. The good guys won it for a righteous cause. Hanging on to confederate symbols of the battle to retain slavery is not a good look.





Mother Nature lost her mind and did a great deal of damage as hurricanes (and earthquakes and wildfires and...) followed each other in rapid succession. Among the devastated places was my beloved birthplace of St. Thomas, USVI. Also nearby Puerto Rico. Unfortunately we currently have a president who does not seem to realize that the people who live there are fellow Americans. He certainly doesn't believe that man caused climate change is a reality to be dealt with. Too much of 2017 was unfortunately spent being angered and sickened by Trump's behavior. But being furious all the time isn't good for the soul. Sometimes you gotta do whatever is required to generate a sense of calm even as the world is falling apart around you.






One of the ridiculously unfortunate aftereffects of the absurd election of Donald Trump (in addition to irritating Jemele Hill so much that she got herself suspended) was the normalization of Nazis by members of the media who have apparently lost their damn minds in pursuit of click bait. So I felt compelled to shout out to people in the back row who somehow missed why we fought World War II and seemingly have never seen an Indiana Jones movie or any of the countless other films and TV shows which clearly showcase that the Nazis are the bad guys.





As I began my year in blogging by writing about the diversity (or lack thereof) in book publishing, so I ended 2017 writing about Sensitivity Readers. It's a topic that inspires much passion on both sides of the debate. I wonder what a sensitivity reader might have said pre-publication of Patches of Grey, or in advance of the release of Matters of Convenience. Will manuscripts for The Absolutely Amazing Adventures of Ava Appelsawse pass before the eyes of a sensitivity reader before being given a thumbs up? Probably not. But that's just a guess on my part for it's in the future, something that I along with all of you know nothing with certainty about.






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Thursday, December 28, 2017

You need a book with SENSITIVITY












Becoming an editor may have ended up being very frustrating to me. I want to create my own characters/stories/worlds - not help other people do it. Yes, it's hard to find black editors & lit agents. But it's also damn hard just to find readers. And still I strive...




Of course, it's one thing to feel that the existence of sensitivity readers (which if nothing else, perhaps we can all agree is a rather terrible job title?) is an example of Political Correctness gone too far rather than seeing it as an unfortunate necessity in an excessively lily white industry.  It's another to go as far as Tucker Carlson did. Not that his snide point is entirely without merit.










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Saturday, July 18, 2015

To Kill a Mockingbird - And Revitalize a Brand



My original review of To Kill a Mockingbird

Updated review: It was all a dream, Atticus NEVER read Word Up Magazine.

 So in case you haven't heard, and of course you have, Harper Lee has a "new" book out.  It reads as a sequel to her classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird', showing us an adult Scout and a very much changed Atticus. The lawyer with a heart of gold who championed the cause of justice in a racist society is now a bitter, garden variety bigot. You probably also already know that Go Set a Watchman was not written as a sequel to Mockingbird, but is actually its first draft.  At editorial suggestion Harper Lee focused on a flashback to Scout's childhood, and from that piece of advice the book we all read in school was born.

 Harper Lee famously said that she did not want to publish another book. So why at age 89 would she decide to let Mockingbird's first draft be published as a book in its own right after the missing manuscript was supposedly discovered by her lawyer?  Your guess is as good as mine.  The purpose of this post is not conjecture about whether Harper Lee had a late in life change of heart or is being taken advantage of by a publishing giant.  Let others shout "Liar Liar - pants on fire" if they wish.  I'll buy this version of the story until/unless someone proves it to be false: From Mockingbird to Watchman

 And perhaps there is more to come, for here is A New Account of ‘Watchman’s’ Origin and Hints of a Third Book



Some readers are conflicted:




But perhaps we should simply read Watchman and judge it on its own merits. Doing so without comparison to Mockingbird is of course pretty much impossible. Harper Lee's 'Watchman' Is A Mess That Makes Us Reconsider A Masterpiece

Not that this is preventing it from selling like hotcakes. Go Set a Watchman Breaks Book Selling Records

The release of Watchman has people re-examining Mockingbird with new eyes. In the #BlackLivesMatter era does Atticus Finch still come across as a civil rights hero?












It's also tough to think about Mockingbird the book without comparing it to Mockingbird the movie.











A search for more hidden gems may now be underway as result of the discovery of Watchman:






LOL













Chapter One of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

My review of Go Set a Watchman:

Go Set a Watchman (To Kill a Mockingbird, #2)Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"I looked up to you, Atticus, like I never looked up to anybody in my life and never will again. If you had only given me some hint, if you had only broken your word with me a couple of times, if you had been bad-tempered or impatient with me---if you had been a lesser man, maybe I could have taken what I saw you doing. If once or twice you'd let me catch you doing something vile, then I would have understood yesterday. Then I'd have said that's just His Way, that's My Old Man, because I'd have been prepared for it somewhere along the line."

The words above are spoken to Atticus by his daughter Scout towards the end of Go Set a Watchman. They basically sum up the entire book. As you may already know, or in case you didn't until landing upon this review, Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird quite a few years later. Jean Louise (aka Scout) is now a grown woman contemplating marriage to Henry, whom she has known since childhood. Henry has remained in their hometown of Maycomb, Alabama and followed the footsteps of Atticus into the law profession. If Scout wishes to marry a father figure, she's all set. Yet apparently she wants more out of life than Maycomb has to offer, because she now lives in New York City, which is about as different from the small southern town she grew up in as a planet in another galaxy. Maycomb holds many ties on her though. The narrative of Go Set a Watchman takes place during a visit to the place where her identity was formed in the earliest of her 26 years.

Much has changed in America from the years Mockingbird are set in to the 1950's. A considerable amount of the change has to do with race relations. People who were once blatant bigots continue to be so. Some things never change. But those who were closet bigots with enough good manners not to let it show in polite society now feel free to express hostility openly. Turns out they were only able to give the appearance of open minded respect for their fellow man when scales of opportunity were tilted heavily in their favor. As the scales became more balanced, the truth beneath southern hospitality was revealed. Count Henry and even our hero Atticus among those in Maycomb more willing to hear out the KKK than the NAACP. Changing times to them means time to put up a more aggressive fight against progress.

Amazingly Scout has been clueless about her father's true social/political views until he is about 70 years old. Once she is finally in the know, of course she feels betrayed. Her father was a lie. Her childhood was a lie. Her life has been a giant deception and she must get through the devastation and figure out how to come to terms with this.

I did not like Go Set a Watchman much. Not enough happening in the plot (no cool subplot like the one Boo Radley presented in Mockingbird). Too many long speeches that did not ring true to how people speak off the page of a novel. A domestic violence scene (I realize this was a far different time than 2016 but still) that was jarring and felt unnecessary and plain weird to me. Last but not least, I just didn't buy that it would take an intelligent woman so long to obtain an inkling of how the people closest to her feel about topics of such importance to her. It's not as if anybody was trying to hide anything from her. But somehow she only saw nobility in her father without catching a whiff of the stench of the rotten core that lay beneath his principles. Those of us who read To Kill a Mockingbird and/or saw the movie adaptation were also duped. This isn't the Atticus we thought we knew. How had that guy actually been this guy all along? Did we not read the book closely enough, all subtext going over our head? Or was Atticus given a complete personality transplant, which means not only did Atticus betray Scout, but Harper Lee betrayed us?

I could choose to contemplate Watchman in a vacuum, pretending I have no awareness of Mockingbird, that I'm meeting these characters and examining their motives for the very first time. If I do, I don't think it changes my opinions much. I still see the same flaws regarding lack of an attention holding plot, too many wandering speeches, etc. Sense of betrayal would be lessened, but I would still find it odd that it took Scout so long to finally wander into a room and learn what type of people she has been surrounded by her entire life.

Maybe that last part is unfair of me. After all, I know a thing or two about racist views remaining undetectable for a long period of time until the right situation brings them out from hiding. I've known parents who showed no overt sign of bigotry until their child became romantically involved with someone of another race. Prior to then, from their words and deeds and even choice of friends, few if any clues of intolerance were given.

There are things we don't know about those who are closest to us. There are things we don't yet know about ourselves because the circumstances to unearth them still lay in the future. There are cowards who believe they are brave, timid people who don't realize their potential to be adventurers, and friends who do not yet know that they consider you to be their enemy.

Unintentional deception is an intriguing premise for a novel. I don't feel that Go Set a Watchman examined it particularly well, but merely brushed up against the surface. I suppose that's why Lee's editor advised her to put Watchman aside and craft a new book based on an incident referenced in what turned out to be a first draft several decades before emerging as a sequel. That sound piece of advice (or so the legend goes) led to the creation of the vastly superior To Kill a Mockingbird.

Then again, perhaps the beloved Atticus Finch of the time tested Mockingbird is simply too good to be true. Maybe Atticus of Watchman is the more realistic depiction of a flesh and blood man, because the fact that he is a hypocrite is made plain. The shattering of illusions we depended on always goes down hard.

View all my reviews


p.s. Turns out there are way more than #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Case Against Book Segregation





















I realize that in large part it’s nothing personal. It’s the nature of business to categorize. Had I used the word “segregate” a negative connotation probably would have come to mind, but it’s basically interchangeable with the benign “categorize”. There is a reason why the various arts are broken down into sections or genres wherever you go to buy units. It makes things easier, easier for the merchants and easier for the buying public. Imagine a large supermarket that did not have signs above each aisle giving a general rundown of what is to be found. I don’t go to Pathmark because I’m fond of scavenger hunts. My goal is to be quickly in and out, which means I have no interest in playing guessing games to figure out where the eggs are and where the bread is and where they store the meat. The easier it has been made for us to find what we want, the better, right?


Should the arts be treated like produce and other items to stick in the pantry or fridge? Business is business, shopping is shopping, so I suppose the answer to a certain degree must be yes. But this leads us to ask - where should the categorization and classification end? At what point does a store decide that they have been adequately clear about what can be found where, no more sub-division necessary?


I’d say that record stores manage reasonably well. It doesn’t matter whether I venture into Tower Records or f.y.e. or an independent shop. In either of those situations if I’m looking for a Miles Davis CD I know to head to the jazz section. I don’t need to find the Black Jazz section or else settle for Dave Brubeck. There is no such thing as the White Jazz section, or the White anything else shelf for that matter. When I want to pick up an Eminem CD, heading to the Rap/Hip Hop area is all I need to do because there is no “Category Where Being White is the Exception Rather than the Rule” section. Those looking for Charley Pride will find him on the Country music shelf next to his mostly white colleagues. Somehow it works out fine and music shoppers find what they're looking for.


But at many non-specialty bookstores, rather than employing a similar system to that of the record store, whiteness is assumed to be the standard. Black authors therefore become defined as Exceptions. The decision has been made to lump most titles by African American authors (Black authors really, since Black European, Black African and Black West Indian authors will be treated no differently from each other) together. If you’re a science fiction fan you’ll find a sign indicating where the Sci-Fi titles are. But if you’re a Black Sci-Fi fan, turn left and walk another five feet. What the heck is that all about? Why is the bookstore the lone remaining place where Jim Crow is still in effect? Black people marched and fought to eat in the same restaurants, go to the same public restrooms, take the same front row seats on the bus, attend the same schools, vote in the same elections. But when it comes to the bookstore suddenly we’re back to separate and unequal treatment. Why? And why are more people not complaining about and trying to change this state of affairs?


Well, if you strictly enjoy reading fiction by Black authors that feature black characters, the separation of such books certainly makes for easy shopping. Heaven forbid such a reader should be forced to linger awhile and wade through titles by multi-ethnic authors to find what they’re looking for. If this was the case, readers in exclusive search for “Black books” possibly would end up also grabbing a novel by a White or Latin or Asian author that caught their interest. The opposite scenario would become equally plausible. A fan of Mystery could end up grabbing one by a White author and one by a Black author because the cover copy on both books was equally intriguing. Everyone wants to find precisely what it is that they’re looking for, but there is also undeniable joy in finding what you didn’t know you were looking for until coming across it. Life is chock full of pleasant surprises to be unearthed, except for some reason at the bookstore.

I’ve heard it argued that there are authors in favor of book segregation. If one writes with an extremely narrow audience in mind then I suppose they want what they’ve written to appear where it is most likely to most quickly be found. The author of a Black Western may not want his book next to Louis L’Amour because he believes, perhaps correctly, that more sales will be made due to placement on the No Tanning Bed Necessary shelf. If my perspective was one of pure selfishness perhaps I could relate to such a stance, but I’m holding on to the quaint notion that legitimate authors of all races write books that they hope everybody will read. And “everybody” will not bother to peruse the Black Only shelf, especially because publishers have been somewhat narrow minded about the subject matter of fiction geared to African Americans that they’ve elected to put out. I won’t cast full blame on the publishing houses though because their main concern is making a profit. They print what they believe will sell based on what has been proven in the past. Readers are the true decision makers, deciding what will be published by deciding what they'll buy.


If 8 out of 10 books on the "Black Shelf" are about gangstas and hoochie mamas in the ‘hood, few who are not interested in this topic will go out of their way to discover the other two titles that may be of broader interest. In order to read a book people must be able to find it, both on purpose and by fortunate accident. There are independent bookstores that are the equivalent of a large Black Only shelf for those writing and shopping by skin tone, just as there are schools, churches, nightclubs, even whole neighborhoods to be found that primarily cater to black folk. There’s also a month designated to paying attention to historic achievements by black people, inferring that it’s okay to ignore them the other eleven months. Better one month than none, I guess. I’m fine with places (and calendar designations) that opt to specialize, but I believe the existence of locations that generalize is also critical. I feel this way for social reasons, political reasons, moral reasons, and literary reasons.

Returning to the grocery analogy for a moment, when food shopping I aim to buy gluten free when feasible. If a store doesn't stock it in isolation from other foods then I have to do a fair amount of label reading. I’ve accepted that I need to shop at a slower pace to do ingredients scanning. If acceptable in a grocery store then certainly I shouldn’t mind doing a little reading in a bookstore. After all, love of reading is why I’m there in the first place. I go to a bookstore in search of stories. Not black stories, not white stories, just stories. Make that, just good stories. If by chance I do happen to be in a particular mood for "good black stories", I don't mind wading through some non-Black books to find them.


Let me reiterate that I'm not against book categorization in general. There are even cases where I wouldn't mind additional subdivisions to those already in existence. For example, I’d have no problem whatsoever if all awful books were placed together so I wouldn’t need to brush past them in my search for quality literature. However, although it’s becoming increasingly common to find food labeled GF for Gluten Free, no bookstore or library as of yet has been bold enough to label novels GF for Good Fiction. The meaning of “Good” is too subjective, and even it was defined by some panel American Idol style, many would ignore the labels because they only care about what is good to them personally. They might strictly be interested in vampires, or in chick lit, or in horror, or in espionage, or in erotica. But is it really necessary for each of these categories to be further carved up into White version and Black version? If you feel it should be necessary because you’re pressed for time, don’t worry, book mixing won’t mean you’ll have to do a bunch of unnecessary reading while choosing something to read. Just look at the picture on the cover. Chances are if you find Fabio (or whoever the contemporary edition of Fabio may be) flexing his chest on the front, you are not in possession of a Black Romance title.


Rock and Roll did not become ROCK AND ROLL until it left the Black Only shelf and was made prominent to a general audience. Same thing for Hip Hop. Where you end up is supposed to be on a grander scale than where you started out if ambition is present. With the exception of a small handful of crossover stars, most residents of the Black Shelf will never gain broad recognition if they don’t make it to the center aisle where the majority of the population does their browsing. In the 21st century black authors should not have to stage sit-ins and marches for the right to equal shelving.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~




Sadly noteworthy news of the day: Borders has filed for bankruptcy




"It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending, our ongoing discussions with publishers and other vendor related parties, and the company's lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor and which are essential for it to move forward with its business strategy to reposition itself successfully for the long term." – Mike Edwards, President of Borders






As an author I’m personally not affected by the plight of Borders at this time as they do not carry my novel Patches of Grey. I decided to go with Amazon and Barnes & Noble along with both brick & mortar and online independent booksellers when choosing homes for it. As a book buyer however I’m saddened by the closing of any store, especially such a major player as Borders. I truly hope bookstores big & small are not going the way of the dinosaur because rather than frequenting them, people instead are finding coffee shops in which to read off the screens of their electronic reading device of choice. But perhaps such a fate is inevitable. If so, we’ll adapt as always. The most important thing is that no matter how we end up reading them, great stories continue to be written and distributed.
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