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Authors spread word about their booksBy Mashaun D. Simon Monitor Staff The secret to success among African-American authors is simply "word of mouth." NABJ is spreading the word this year by reviving its annual Authors' Showcase to offer some authors needed exposure at a venue that is bigger and better, said A'Lelia Bundles, the event planner. Books that make the bestseller lists of Essence, Black Issues Book Review and Blackboard are seldom found on the lists of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and other mainstream media outlets, said Emma S. Rodgers, co-owner of Black Images Book Baazar in Dallas. "Consequently, it is difficult to compare best-selling black authors with best-selling white authors," said Rodgers. "First of all, the print-run for a predicted best seller written by a black author pales compared with the print-run for a predicted best-selling white author." One of the featured authors, Yolanda Joe, who wrote “The Hatwearer's Lesson” and “Hit Time,” has been a journalist for 18 years. Joe said her background in journalism helped her book writing. Practicing the craft of non-journalistic writing and holding a 9-to-5 job as a journalist is not easy she said. NABJ member Wayne Dawkins said he had to make time to finish his latest project, “Rugged Waters.” "I wrote ‘Rugged Waters’ in a fury," said Dawkins. Bundles said book-writing events have been removed from the Job Fair floor to a single room, the Cockrell."There needed to be one place, one spot where everything associated with the idea took place," Bundles said. Five workshops on book writing have been scheduled in the Cockrell this week, and a book signing will follow them. From 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, a panel will discuss Surviving and Thriving: Our Bodies, Our Minds, Our Spirits. At 3:45 Thursday, a panel will assemble to discuss What's Love -- and Sex--Got to Do With It: Sex, Race & Gender in Fiction. At noon Friday, writers will talk about Heritage and Memory: Telling our Stories of Triumph and Tribulation. On Saturday, a panel of editors and the owner of a black bookstore will discuss How to Turn Your Big Story into a Book Deal from 9 to 10:15 a.m. Writers will talk about Independent and Self Publishing at 11 a.m. A reception and book signing are scheduled from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday in Revercheron Rooms A and B. Featured authors will include Dawkins; Joe; Judge Glenda Hatchett, Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say; Lynne Duke, Mandela, Mobutu and Me; Linda Jones, Nappyisms; and Julianne Malveaux, The Paradox of Loyalty and Unfinished Business. Bundles said she hopes the better housed, more prepared and enhanced educational showcase will make the publishing industry take notice. She added: “For those journalists who have a book itching to break its shell and jump out of them, I hope this showcase will better motivate them.” Mashaun D. Simon can be reached at mashaunnabj@hotmail.com |
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