Thursday, July 12, 2007
About Me
- Name: Mat Johnson
- Location: New York, United States
The man in the picture is the author of Drop, Hunting in Harlem, The Great Negro Plot, Incognegro, and Pym. At times he has been known as The Mullah of Mulattos. He is seven feet tall, conks his facial hair with lye, and wears a belt buckle made from the skull of Iceberg Slim.
Previous Posts
- Acacia
- For all the people who have been coming by this ...
- Next Gen of Black Writing
- "I Want To Write...But!"
- Blackademics Do the Dozens
- Art I Jock
- Uncle Ralph
- Plantation Pride
- How to Write the Gordon Ramsay Way
- Moving to Texas
6 Comments:
books are more than "just products".
Man I don't know. I do think once you're a black writer—literary or commercial you do have to hustle. But if I ever come to the point where I look at books as just products I'll go back to designing reggae CD's. George Clinton once said funk is it's own reward. Funk was his art. Writing is mine.
I guess that's the thing. I actually feel for these entrepreneurs, as a black man. Yes, on the whole we have a working class community trying enmass to make it into the middle class, with all the comforts and securities that has to offer. I get that. I feel for that.
To be frank, I'm repulsed by the cult of materialism in the African diasporan community. In part this is ethos is expressed by our fixation on the symbols of wealth, our use of brands as if they were talismans. The other part of this is expressed in the commercialization of everything: storytelling, music, spirituality, even matrimony. Everything is a commodity, and there is no shame in this regard.
As for the quality of the art, obviously that suffers greatly from the shift of priorities. Most of them though are so busy trying to chase dollars that they never get knowledgeable enough to even realize that their craft is lacking. And of course, the Conspiracy of Black Mediocrity ensures that the truth will never be heard, and all those who point out the obvious shall be branded as Haters and ignored.
Oh well. Got to love those cue cards though. And of course, the Michael Jordon references, which I don't think I've heard anyone use since Jordan was stinking it up with the Wizards.
"The other part of this is expressed in the commercialization of everything: storytelling, music, spirituality, even matrimony. Everything is a commodity, and there is no shame in this regard."
I agree with you 100%. Working in Hollywood can be very depressing at times.
the reason that there is a '"cult" of materialism' is that people, especially black people, don't celebrate the journey more than the arrival.
So products become talismans, instead of one's own or another's hard work.
It's funny, you're knocking the hustler and his relationship to his product, while you're celebrating the product (cough) and the hustle itself.
Rockon
Honestly, I don't blame writers like Omar Tyree. In my neck of the woods, black commercial fiction is a rarity, unless it’s from an African-American author, of course. Stateside you have a wealth of competition in the book marketplace. The infrastructure is larger and much stronger. In Canada, this doesn't exist. It's black lit fiction that gets more attention, and although this is actually a fantastic thing, it still doesn't get half the exposure it deserves. Suddenly, being a writer and honing your skills becomes so much about survival: feeding yourself, paying off debt, and taking care of your kids. So what do you do? You become your own publicist and do everything necessary to increase your earning potential.
Once you start taking on marketing-related responsibilities for the "product", then you tend to forget about the quality of work. This is understandable, and that's why writers should stay writers and marketers should stay marketers. Wearing both hats eventually leaves you worn out and in the end, 90% of the time it's the writing that suffers, unless of course you have a hardworking publicist that commits themselves to promoting your book longer than a mere 3 months.
This is probably why I loved the idea of the now defunct OkayBooks. Here was such a great concept with plenty of potential, but it didn’t get the support it needed to keep functioning.
All this aside, when these writers do actually start making a profit, they should have no problem affording better, more quality books to read. Just because you're published, it doesn't mean the learning curve should dive. I'm guessing that because black commercial fiction has created such a strong community, these writers end up reading each others work. And you know what they say, you are what you eat.
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