Race related marketing?

seun · Jul 17, 2007

A book has arrived here at work today. On the cover, the author is described as 'America's #1 best selling black author'.

I can look at this as a basic fact as in the author is black and is a best-selling author, but the problem is why is the author's race important? I wouldn't expect an author to be described as a 'best-selling white author' or any other race for that matter. So is it just a marketing angle or something else?

Bartholomew · Jul 17, 2007

It probably isn't true, either. If you listen to the radio a lot, you'll notice that every single station is #1. And they're being honest, sort of. It's a manipulation of statistics.

That said, I do not purchase the works of living racists. If someone is billing himself by his race, first and foremost, that's a huge red flag for me.

zahra · Jul 17, 2007

seun said:
A book has arrived here at work today. On the cover, the author is described as 'America's #1 best selling black author'.

I can look at this as a basic fact as in the author is black and is a best-selling author, but the problem is why is the author's race important? I wouldn't expect an author to be described as a 'best-selling white author' or any other race for that matter. So is it just a marketing angle or something else?

Marketing. Pique the interest/curiosity of those black readers who might not otherwise pick it up for that initial glance. Whether they want to buy it after that, at least they'd have considered it. Also, if it's a book set in a black community, the cover might be flagging that.

I wouldn't see anything too sinister in it.

RLSMiller · Jul 17, 2007

As others have said, it's just an interest point. In the UK, black authors, particularly males, are quite a rarity in commercial fiction. If a publisher can use this to their advantage, why not?

seun · Jul 17, 2007

Fair points but shouldn't a book sell on the story and characters rather than the author's race?

Dave.C.Robinson · Jul 17, 2007

It bugs me. I can understand how it can help sales to a particular demographic, but the only way to eliminate racism is to ignore race. Anyone who puts race forward is helping prevent the elimination of racism.

scarletpeaches · Jul 17, 2007

Can you imagine the uproar if JK Rowling was marketed as the #1 White author? Or Barbara Taylor Bradford? Or Danielle Steel?

Racism works both ways.

I wouldn't even pick up a book by an author who was marketed according to race. I don't care about the colour of your skin. I care about your talent as a writer.

Mike Gayle seems to do okay without resorting to these tactics.

The Lady · Jul 17, 2007

I agree. The author picture, if it is included, is of zero importance in choosing to buy the book or not, so I'm afraid anyone screaming about their race on the front cover has lost me before they even begin.

seun · Jul 17, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I don't care about the colour of your skin. I care about your talent as a writer.

Exactly. A writer might have certain appeal but that doesn't mean they should be marketed as simply black or any colour. They should be marketed as a writer.

Enraptured · Jul 17, 2007

It bugs me when things are marketed by race. Just like it bugs me when all the books by black authors are put into the African American section. I don't care about the author's race, I care about the book.

That said, I doubt it was the author's decision to put that on the book. So if the book looked good I wouldn't let the weird marketing stop me from buying it.

Birol · Jul 17, 2007

The marketing wouldn't be the author's decision and shouldn't be held against the book.

Denzel Washington won an Oscar -- not his first -- a few years back. Afterwards, he was backstage being interviewed by reporters and one of the reporters asked him if he looked forward to the day when the headlines and the article said an actor had won the Oscar rather whether than distinguishing a black actor had won. Denzel, in classy Denzel Washington-style, pointed out to the man that he was a reporter and he could make that happen when he went back and wrote his own article of the night's events.

It'll be nice when race truly does not matter, but someone with the power to do so must take that first step.

scarletpeaches · Jul 17, 2007

Denzel.

zahra · Jul 17, 2007

Dave.C.Robinson said:
It bugs me. I can understand how it can help sales to a particular demographic, but the only way to eliminate racism is to ignore race. Anyone who puts race forward is helping prevent the elimination of racism.

Hmm, the trouble with that is, most black people don't get up and look in the mirror and go, 'Hey! Black! Remember that today!', any more than white people get up, look in the mirror, etc...it's the reception you get in your day-to-day that tends to remind you.

That being the case, I don't think there's anything wrong with black people pointing up their ethnicity when they are in a field where they are not traditionally seen as 'comers'. Especially if they can be an inspiration to young people, whose role models can notoriously otherwise be a bit dubious.

OK, if we're going to go the 'comparison' route: JK Rowling could not have been publicized as a 'white author' - white authors are not a minority group in England. That she was a 'young-single-mother-on-benefits author', however, was quite widely discussed and gained her additional publicity, which can't have hurt sales...because women of this class are not regarded as productive members of society. Should we not talk about her (then) economic class, even if it inspires others in a similar situation and gives a black eye to people who sneer at 'welfare mothers'?

Joss Stone was widely publicized as a 'white soul singer', but no-one calls Rhianna a 'black soul singer'. Sure I don't need to spell out why.

It is a shame that black authors are still seen as something of a curiosity. They don't seem so to me - I can name three or four without even thinking hard - but there you go.

scarletpeaches · Jul 17, 2007

zahra said:
...JK Rowling could not have been publicized as a 'white author' - white authors are not a minority group in England...

Or even in Scotland, which is where she lives.

zahra · Jul 17, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
Or even in Scotland, which is where she lives.

Oops, my bad. In fact, my bloody awful, I do apologise. :flag:

Bubastes · Jul 17, 2007

Birol said:
The marketing wouldn't be the author's decision and shouldn't be held against the book.

My thoughts exactly. Has anyone asked Ray (maestrowork) for his input on this topic? I'd like to see what he thinks and what his experience has been from the Asian POV.

Celia Cyanide · Jul 17, 2007

The Lady said:
I agree. The author picture, if it is included, is of zero importance in choosing to buy the book or not, so I'm afraid anyone screaming about their race on the front cover has lost me before they even begin.

So you would refuse to read a book because you saw that was on the cover? Doesn't that contradict the whole, "a book should be judged on its content" thing?

seun · Jul 17, 2007

zahra said:
Oops, my bad. In fact, my bloody awful, I do apologise.

Don't piss Nichola off. She'll set Braveheart on you.

maestrowork · Jul 17, 2007

seun said:
A book has arrived here at work today. On the cover, the author is described as 'America's #1 best selling black author'.

I can look at this as a basic fact as in the author is black and is a best-selling author, but the problem is why is the author's race important? I wouldn't expect an author to be described as a 'best-selling white author' or any other race for that matter. So is it just a marketing angle or something else?

If they're targeting the African-American market, it can be an important attribute. It is about marketing. They want a special demo to notice the book -- in a sea of books. With Asian writers, we don't have to advertise that because usually our last names would indicate that we're Asians. I know my publisher wants to target my book to the Asian-American market, whether I think "race" shouldn't matter at all.

I would be very careful not to label this as racism. It's no more racist than saying "Hanukah is a Jewish holiday."

It's an utopia that race truly doesn't matter, but we are not living in that utopia yet. For as long as you're in the minority, you have to do something to set yourself apart. So for a black writer to survive, he needs to know his market and his publisher would target that market however they can.

zahra · Jul 17, 2007

seun said:
Don't piss Nichola off. She'll set Braveheart on you.

Excuse me, my historical hero is Saladin. He could have Braveheart as a side-dish with olives.

Celia Cyanide · Jul 17, 2007

seun said:
Fair points but shouldn't a book sell on the story and characters rather than the author's race?

If you look at the way most books are marketed, they sell for many different reasons. You would hope that all published books have a good story and characters, or they would not have been published in the first place, but it isn't necessarily why they will sell.

Look at the statement: 'America's #1 best selling black author' So you wonder, why does it matter that the author is black? Well, I also wonder, why does it matter that the author is 'American's #1 best selling...'? Am I supposed to want to buy it, just because a whole lot of people I don't know already bought it? But that is a selling point for some people.

Books are marketed for being controversial, or "based on a true story." When they make a movie based on a book, a new edition of the book is often released with the star on the cover. It's all about what gets people's attention, and has very little to do with why people really like books.

larocca · Jul 17, 2007

I'm North Carolina's #1 best selling Shakespeare-reading Eminem-quoting Spanish-speaking Chinese-speaking white redneck author in Thailand. Woo-hoo!

maestrowork · Jul 17, 2007

Celia Cyanide said:
Well, I also wonder, why does it matter that the author is 'American's #1 best selling...'? Am I supposed to want to buy it, just because a whole lot of people I don't know already bought it? But that is a selling point for some people.

Exactly. I mean, hey, if I think "triple-amputee" or "baldness" would sell more books, I would have marketed it:

"America's #1 best selling triple-amputee bald author."

It's all about selling books. We can talking about race improvement in civil right classes.

The Lady · Jul 17, 2007

Celia Cyanide said:
So you would refuse to read a book because you saw that was on the cover? Doesn't that contradict the whole, "a book should be judged on its content" thing?

I was going to add a whole load more to my comment but I didn't bother. Seems I should have. Racism has got to be resisted wherever it pops up. Commenting on your race on the cover of a book tells me something about a writer. That "something" does not make me particularly confident about their evolution as a human being and what they as a writer have to impart. It is also in my opinion something that should not be on the cover of a book. You will notice that author blurbs are not political manifestos, such as "Celia Cyanide is anti porn, pro gun and thinks cannabis should be legalized." That statement about the author is political. I dislike it a lot.

JK Rowling did not put on her-book cover that she was single mother. A reporter did that. If a reporter had made a big deal about "blah" being black or whatever, it wouldn't put me off the book at all.

Currently, I have a strong bias against authors who put in their bios that they worked in a circus. I'm not sure why, maybe it strikes me as trying too hard to sound "quirky" and "interesting". Maybe that's part of why this whole "number one black author" annoys me so much.

seun · Jul 17, 2007

maestrowork said:
I would be very careful not to label this as racism. It's no more racist than saying "Hanukah is a Jewish holiday."

Don't get the wrong idea; I'm not labelling this as racism. I just don't think it's fair to the writer or a potential reader to 'sell' the book based on the author's race. Like I say, I wouldn't expect any writer to be sold on their race.

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