Plantation Pride
"The home plantation of Colonel Lloyd wore the appearance of a country village. All the mechanical operations for all the farms were performed here. The shoemaking and mending, the blacksmithing, cartwrighting, coopering, weaving, and grain-grinding, were all performed by the slaves on the home plantation. The whole place wore a business-like aspect very unlike the neighboring farms. The number of houses, too, conspired to give it advantage over the neighboring farms. It was called by the slaves the Great House Farm. Few privileges were esteemed higher, by the slaves of the out-farms, than that of being selected to do errands at the Great House Farm. It was associated in their minds with greatness. A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American Congress, than a slave on one of the out-farms would be of his election to do errands at the Great House Farm. They regarded it as evidence of great confidence reposed in them by their overseers; and it was on this account, as well as a constant desire to be out of the field from under the driver's lash, that they esteemed it a high privilege, one worth careful living for. He was called the smartest and most trusty fellow, who had this honor conferred upon him the most frequently. The competitors for this office sought as diligently to please their overseers, as the office-seekers in the political parties seek to please and deceive the people. The same traits of character might be seen in Colonel Lloyd's slaves, as are seen in the slaves of the political parties.
The slaves selected to go to the Great House Farm, for the monthly allowance for themselves and their fellow-slaves, were peculiarly enthusiastic. While on their way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along, consulting neither time nor tune. The thought that came up, came out--if not in the word, in the sound; --and as frequently in the one as in the other. They would sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone, and the most rapturous sentiment in the most pathetic tone. Into all of their songs they would manage to weave something of the Great House Farm. Especially would they do this, when leaving home. They would then sing most exultingly the following words:--
'I am going away to the Great House Farm!
O, yea! O, yea! O!'
This they would sing, as a chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which, nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves. I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do."
-From The Narrative and Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself. Boston Anti-Slavery Office, 1845
8 Comments:
The McDonalds car is the worst I've seen. I've seen a Skittles car. A Reese's Pieces car. A Tony the Tiger car.
Yes, Plymouth rock has landed on us...and it's on 24-inch rims...bought on credit.
Do you think he gets some kind of discount for driving that thing? A free fry size upgrade, perhaps?
"Up You Mighty Race!"
Hey, Mat. This is the next big thing in the publishing world. Check this out:
Back to a Delicate Subject: Race and Publishing.
Saturday, Dec 17th, 2005 @ 04:01 pm
I recently received an email from an African-American novelist who was troubled that her latest book was going to be marketed solely to the AA niche market — even though the story itself did not specify the race of its characters, and could just as easily have been marketed as mainstream fiction. When she objected, she said the response from the publisher was:
“They didn’t want to risk “missing out” on the AA market, which was booming and had far less competition. They did this despite my assertion that the characters were not black, and that the African American market also had far less consumers.”
Smart move or dumb move on the publisher’s part? Let’s think about it.
I know that the conventional publishing wisdom is that African American publishing is “booming.” Last week’s PUBLISHERS WEEKLY had this to say about it:
“Even in a flat overall market and in a black market overloaded with self-published fiction … publishers still cite continued growth in the category.”
The PW article quotes Steve Zacharius of Kensington Publishing, who says that the AA category represents “11% of our revenues, and it’s still growing,” and that AA titles were up 10% over last year.
Which sounds terrific for AA writers, doesn’t it? Look at the success of Terry McMillan and Zane — doesn’t it just prove that being marketed in the AA niche is a smart move?
It depends. And here’s my take on it. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, even though I’m Asian American, I write my books with a much wider audience in mind. Logically speaking, if your books are aimed at only 4% of the American population, your sales are screwed. To make the bestseller list requires that your sales penetration of that 4% slice of the market must be huge. You’d have to sell to every single Chinese auntie and cousin and every member of every Mah-jong club in America to even register a blip on the national lists. Sure, you might be a huge success in the Asian American market.
But unless the sales cross over to the rest of American readers, you’re still trapped in the Asian American ghetto. You’re pegged as a nice “ethnic” writer, a little exotic shot of spice in an America that devours meat-and-potatoes fiction.
I didn’t want to be a shot of spice. I wanted to sell like meat and potatoes, and be paid accordingly. Which is why I have primarily written about white characters, and why my books are marketed as mainstream fiction. Had I been marketed as an ethnic writer, maybe I might have sold very well in the Asian American niche. But hitting the New York Times bestseller list would have been far, far harder.
Part of the problem, I’ve always felt, is that many white readers seem reluctant to read ethnic fiction. It’s an echo of my observation that many men won’t read books written by women. Readers want characters they can identify with, and many can’t seem to make the leap across racial lines.
But there may be another explanation, says the writer who emailed me. She proposes another explanation for why white readers don’t buy much ethnic fiction, saying:
“I’ve spoken to several reading friends who are white and they basically say that it’s because of the marketing. It’s not essentially being “offered” to them, so the assumption is that it’s not written for them. Which makes a lot of sense. So, I don’t believe that the issue is white people not wanting to read books that happen to be about black characters (Terry McMillan is proof of that). I think it’s more a matter of the fact that the market distinction is there, from the bookseller and publisher presentation.”
So maybe the racial barrier doesn’t lie with the readers themselves, but with the MARKETING to those readers.
And booksellers don’t help bridge the divide, either. When this writer asked bookstores about possibly doing a signing, she was told, again and again, that “African American books don’t sell well in our store.” Even though this author was ready and willing to go on the road to promote her book, she was cut off at the pass by balky booksellers. When I think back to where most of my own booksignings have been held, over the years, the vast majority have been in bookstores in the suburbs where the population is overwhelmingly — yep, you guessed it — white. I can well imagine that an events coordinator at one of these stores might hesitate about scheduling an event for an author who’s being marketed exclusively to an ethnic niche.
So what’s an African American or Asian American or Martian American to do? I guess it comes down to the book you are burning to write. If you have something unique to say about your ethnic background, if you MUST write about it, then you have no choice. You simply have to write about it. Should your story strongly resonate with all readers everywhere, your book will escape the hobbling label of “ethnic fiction”. It will then be marketed — and sell to — a far wider audience. It might even make The List.
It happens.
Still, it seems to me that to start off labeling yourself as a “niche” writer whose books will be marketed to a “niche” audience, is resigning yourself to limited sales.
But let’s put it in perspective. The truth is, all writers, niche or otherwise, face enormous odds against them in this marketplace. Very few will ever hit the Times list. Very few will make a decent living in this business. Heck, very few aspiring writers will even get published at all.
Given those odds, it may be that a niche writer, surprisingly enough, has a better chance of getting a first foot in the door. As Steve Zacharius said in PW, the biggest problem in Black book publishing is “(we’re) running out of talent.”
So here’s the paradox. The number of AA titles is burgeoning. Publishers are actively seeking ethnic books. This market offers an opportunity for the first-time AA novelist to get published.
But by going this route, you may well see your sales hit a glass ceiling which few ethnic novels manage to crack through.
That's from:
http://tessgerritsen.com/blog/2005/12/17/back-to-a-delicate-subject-race-and-publishing/
This is from Millenia Black. Raises some serious questions as to what's considered "literary."
Their Eyes Were Reading Smut - Millenia's Take
Nick Chiles recently expressed his anger and frustration about the state of our industry, the racial divide in publishing, with an Op-Ed contribution in the NY Times on January 4th.
My Take?
Mr. Chiles (and others with equally faulty reasoning) should remove his head from his skin—and focus on being an AUTHOR. One who has a book(s) to sell to the book buying public. Period.
Why relegate yourself to being in competition with the “Legit Ballers” and “Chocolate Flavas” of the market? None of them are dominating the New York Times Bestsellers List week after week. Where’s the threat?
Yes, publishing is a business, and “ghetto fiction” wouldn’t be in demand if there wasn’t a market supporting it. Why knock the success of those books? That’s very shallow ground to stand on. They sell. Leave them alone. More power to their authors.
The more appropriate question is this: Why don’t you have ACCESS to the OCEAN of readers in the market who are reading more intelligent writing? Where’s the business sense in restricting yourself to the confines of a “subsection” of consumers, then criticizing them for what they choose to read? Readers have a right to read what they want. Go appeal to the ones that are reading all those NY Times Bestsellers every week—a good 85% of the book buying market. Stop competing for the scraps in the remaining 15%.
Mr. Chiles has a right to his feelings of defeat, disrespect, and to being troubled about his future in the industry, but his gripe is misaimed, at an offender that really isn't.
http://milleniablack.blogspot.com
I remember when WAITING TO EXHALE came out. I was living in DC working on the hill and every single one of my female co-workers and friends had that book. It def. crossed racial lines. I'm sure some non latinas (like myself) read THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and I was one of the many black women who read BRIDGET JONES DIARY.
What happens in book publishing seems to be the same thing we deal with in Hollywood. Who decides what is a "black movie" and what isn't. The black movie will be marketed in a very differnt way. Is it subject matter?
If a gay black author wrote a memoir, why couldn't his book be in the gay/lesbian, non-fiction and the AA sections? Is that a crazy idea?
oops, I forgot to comment on that McDs car. one question.
Why brother man, why? :)
damn the Mickey Dee car is out of control ... collectively we get laughed at around the globe and we help with the direspect... Just Dumb
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home