Is there enough support within the African American Literary Community?

Whenever I speak in front of an audience about the art of writing, I often begin by asking a simple question.  The question is this: “By a show of hands, how many of you have a story inside of you that you would like to tell?”  Most of the audience will raise their hands even if they hesitate for a second or two to see if they are the only ones.  The second question that I ask is: “How many of you know how to tell it?”  Some hands go down, but a few still remain in the air.  I then ask them the final question: “If you have a story to tell, and you know how to tell it, what’s stopping you?”  Most of the responses are plausible.  I don’t have the time.  I don’t have the money.  I don’t have the patience.  I have a job.  I have kids.  I’m just too busy.  I don’t know how to get started.

Many people write for different reasons.  Some write because they have a story that they feel is so important that they must tell the world.  Some want to write in the hopes of striking that million dollar deal and having the ability to be able to quit their traditional job and just pen novels for the rest of their lives.  And some people simply love to write…and those are the people that I love to meet and talk to.  Those are the people that possess passion for the craft, and I can identify with that.

There are millions of African American authors in the United States and abroad, with thousands more releasing books every month.  With the rapid changes in the literary industry, it is not surprising that these numbers will, in all probable likelihood, double as the years roll by…and each one of these new authors believe that their work is very best of the best.  There isn’t an author out there who thinks that their work is just “okay”.  After all, what kind of author would that make them?

But if we have so many authors, and if the work that they are producing is really that good, why aren’t there more mainstream African American authors making stellar amounts of money and enjoying the good life that they long for?  To answer that question, you have to ask another one.  What means of support do these new authors have?  Most of them do not have the backing of a large publishing house that will take care of things for them like properly promoting and distributing their work.  We all know that you can have the best written manuscript out there, but it doesn’t mean anything if no one knows who you are.

At my last book signing, I sold one book.  I played to a party of one.  I had set up my books, cards, tee-shirts and waited for a few people to wander in.  I wasn’t brazen enough to think that a crowd of people would come to see me.  But a woman came in, sat down in front of me, picked up my book and for the next 30 minutes, we had the best conversation.  At the end of the conversation, she purchased my book.  I walked away feeling good about myself.  Not only did I want to go back to the library, I decided that I wanted to do something special for their clientele…in particular, the children and young adults that want to read and write.  I decided to conduct a free symposium and talk about my love of writing and share the tips that have brought me to where I am.

You see, we as authors don’t give enough.  We don’t support one another like we should.  With all of the African American authors and African American readers that are present, we should all be making a little bit of money.  But we sometimes forget about the big picture.  We go for the dollar bill when we should be going for the hundred.  And one of the main reasons for that is because of the competitive nature of the industry.  We all want people to buy our books so that we can get paid.  We don’t stop to hone our skill set. We may not take the time to properly edit our work or if we do, we pay the wrong person to do it and wind up with a lackluster product.  We don’t pay homage to the authors that are just as good if not better than we are because to do so would mean that we don’t believe in ourselves when all it really means is that we are humble.  And the last time I checked, there is nothing wrong with humility.
We are so busy hustling our products that we forget that to survive in this industry requires thinking outside of the box.  It requires allowing people to know who you are.  And let’s face it; people don’t really want to know someone whose only topic of conversation is about themselves or their work.  Not that there is anything wrong with that in and of itself, but if that is the only thing that you can think of to talk about then people will lose interest in you very quickly.

Since the industry is changing, maybe it really wouldn’t be such a bad thing to think of the much bigger picture.  Maybe in addition to promoting your work, you take a moment to figure out how to give of yourself to help someone else get to where you are trying to get to.  Maybe it’s time that we build a community instead of a lot of collective parts struggling to survive. A smart entrepreneur will think of both.  They know the importance of not only portraying a positive image, but they realize that part of that image entails giving back to a community that needs them.  Sometimes, it really isn’t so much about the dollar as it is about the love of literature.

There are organizations slowly cropping up across the country that is trying to do this very thing.  They host literary and networking events all in the hopes of creating a strong community that will foster and encourage young minds and nurture the creative talents of our youth.

I am not telling you to cease in your promotion efforts.  I’m telling you that you are part of a bigger picture.  I’m telling you that in the course of you discovering who you are as an author, you may inadvertently help someone else discover who they are as well.  And that is part of the beginning of building a solid literary community.

J.L. Whitehead