The Publishing Game June 2024

by Jay Hartman

Happy Pride Month! June is a month of celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community and all of its accomplishments, community, and contributions to all aspects of society.

“But Jay,” I hear some of you saying, “it’s 2024. Marriage equality is here. Public acceptance is more positive than ever. Is there really a need for a month just for one community?”

Yep. The same reason there’s still a need for Black History Month, Indigenous Heritage Month, or AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Month). The reason? Contrary to what you might read, things still aren’t so good for these communities. I won’t get into a political discussion in this column, but I want to address this from a publisher’s perspective.

In 1993

I graduated from Florida State with a degree in Literature with an emphasis on minority literature. Back then, minority literature comprised Black (not specifically American), Native American, and Asian literature.

Shortly thereafter, I worked as a store manager at Waldenbooks in Brunswick, Georgia. From day one on the job, I could tell this store catered to a straight, white crowd. Not a minority title in sight, Playboy and Penthouse behind the counter and all that.

To Waldenbooks’ credit, the Powers That Be gave store managers a lot of leeway to allocate inventory to cater to their store’s demographic. I first introduced a shelf of gay/lesbian literature and a shelf of Native American literature in one section of the store. I allocated a shelf up front to African American titles. I brought in Playgirl and Advocate Men for behind the counter and added The Advocate and Out to our regular magazine lineup. Then I sat back and waited.

Do you want to guess which sections showed the most growth in a one-year period? If you guessed any of the sections I added, you’d be 100% correct. The number of copies of Playgirl we had to carry tripled because both gay men and women bought it. I had to double The Advocate and Out copies. African-American spread to two shelves, then three, and became one of the biggest, most popular sections.

Walk into a Barnes and Noble today and you won’t find any of those. There might be an African-American and an LGBTQIA+ subsection in the Social Studies area, but you’ll rarely find fiction. Minority lit tends to only show up on a featured table or endcap when celebrated. Then, the titles are relegated back to their former sections.

If you’re a closeted gay man who wants to discover literature with characters who resemble you, you shouldn’t have to walk up to a store employee and ask for a recommendation. If you’re straight, how many LGBTQIA authors can you name? If you’re white, how many Black authors can you name—besides Toni Morrison or Maya Angelou? Any idea who Beverly Jenkins is? Tanzania Glover? You may know Amy Tan, but do you know Jesse Q. Sutanto, the author of one of the funniest damn books I’ve read in ages, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers?

Yes, the goal is, eventually, all communities will be as widely accepted as possible. Integrating these authors and titles in the overall genres is a terrific idea. Discoverability is everything, but most bookstores and libraries do nothing to highlight minority authors unless it’s their month or they’re on a banned books list. For people searching for books written by and featuring characters who look like them, it’s a challenge. There isn’t enough being done to bring these authors out of the shadows and into the light. The New York Times Bestseller list and the front tables at most bookstores feature the same white male authors. Unless a publisher serves a particular niche, such as Akashic Books or City Lights Publishers, money is being spent to feature the same writers over…and over…and over again.

Until discoverability improves, it will be necessary for these minority groups to have their months when they get attention to their authors and titles. This isn’t a case of giving a specific group more rights or saying they’re more important than any other group. It’s about equal representation at the table and on the shelves.

When you lift all voices, everyone becomes a winner in The Publishing Game.

References:

• Reedsy’s 34 Best African American Book Publishing Companies
• Independent Book Review’s 7 LGBTQ+ Publishers You Should Be Paying Attention To
• An Absolutely Essential Resource: Asian American Writers Workshop
• City University of Seattle Library Indigenous Resources and Publishers

Join the discussion! Send your questions to jhartman@mistimedia.com with TPG in your subject line.

WPN Vice President Jay A. Hartman has worked in the publishing industry for more than 30 years. For 13 years he served as the creator and editor-in-chief of Untreed Reads Publishing before the company was acquired in 2022. In 2023 he created Misti Media, a company dedicated to book publishing and author education.