As part of our celebration of Cinco de Mayo and Latinas in publishing, The Naked Hero has Marcela Landres in the house! Marcela’s the author of the e-book How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You, publishes the award-winning e-zine Latinidad, and is an Editorial Consultant who helps writers get published by editing their work and educating them on the business side of publishing.
Back in 2000, the U.S. Census regarding the Latino population and their expected purchasing power generated excitement within the publishing industry, sparking the formation of Rayo (the Latino imprint at HarperCollins). Today, as we await the results of the 2010 U.S. Census, Rayo is defunct and enthusiasm for Latino authors within the publishing industry has dwindled. Why? Because sales for Latino authors have yet to produce significant profits, at least for the major publishers.
If you are a Latino writer, unless you have an unusually strong platform or are very lucky, know that all you can reasonably expect from your publisher is for them to simply print and distribute your book. Do not expect your publisher to invest more than the minimum of time and money in promoting your book. Do expect to spend a significant amount of your own time and money in the promotion of your book. Don’t assume your publisher or agent will actually tell you this. Most people are unwilling or unable to convey bad news; they’d rather point fingers when things go wrong. It’s just human nature.
Perhaps the results of the 2010 U.S. Census will help to change this. Perhaps not. In the meantime, here are three things Latino writers—published and unpublished–can do to convince publishers that Latino authors deserve better:
1. Buy books – Latinos have the unfortunate habit of buying one book and sharing it with ten friends. Sharing may be caring in life, but in publishing sharing books is shortsighted. Every time you lend a book, you are proving to the publishing industry that Latinos don’t buy books. Is this what you really want to do?
2. Buy new books – Buying used books is the equivalent of illegally downloading music. The publisher makes no profit, and—more importantly—the author receives no royalties. If your budget is tight (and these days, whose isn’t?), don’t fret. Only buy new books written by Latino authors. You can buy all the used books your heart desires if they are authored by non-Latinos. James Patterson doesn’t need your money, but Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez does.
3. Go to the library – If you’re truly broke, as in I’ve-got-more-month-than-money, you can still support Latino authors by going to the library. Each time someone checks out a book by a Latino author, the library’s computer captures that information. The greater the demand for Latino authors, the more likely librarians will devote a bigger part of their budgets towards buying books by Latino authors.
Your Task:
Are you a library girl?
Marcela Landres is the author of the e-book How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You, publishes the award-winning e-zine Latinidad, and is an Editorial Consultant who helps writers get published by editing their work and educating them on the business side of publishing. A member of the Women’s Media Group, she has acted as a judge for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and was formerly an editor with Simon & Schuster. For more information, visithttp://www.marcelalandres.com/.
About Misa
Hi Marcela!! We are so glad to have you here.
I’m definitely a library gal! I love going in for the atmosphere. Some reasons it really pumps up my muse ‘lucky lucy’ and gets my juices flowing. I love the smells, the kids running around, the older people browsing and young people trying to figure out how to find the book they are looking for.
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Good morning Marcela,
I enjoyed your article.
Alas – I used to be one of those who frequented used book stores until I educated myself. Now, the only time I buy used books or CDs is if the item in question is truly out of print.
I am fortunate enough to live near one of the top 10 libraries in the USA – Troy Public Library in Michigan. GAWD! I freaking love this library, and do a lot of research there. They have a killer cook book section, over 40 computers for the general public to use for free, an immensely large DVD movie/box sets of television series and a huge selection of music CDs all genres and current trends – to check out with no fees.
As for the teen crowd, LOTS of manga, graphic novels, and other things of drawing the YA’s in.
My disappointment?
Their GLBT section sucks big time (and not in a good way.)
I would also like to add their ethnic, though teaming with Middle Eastern tomes and magazines, is grossly outdated in other large, represented local cultures, such as African-American and Hispanic. This is strange, as Troy is less than 30 miles north of Detroit.
On a personal gripe, I have donated books to this library, on GLTB (fiction and non fiction, nothing erotic) and books on writing – all in excellent, if not new condition.
Yet, I have yet to see any of the donated books (which are current – they were books I received as gifts/or were won in contests that I’d already had in my personal library, or they were new writing books I purchased on a whim, wasn’t quite what I wanted, and decided I was too lazy to look for the receipt to return.
I know that last part had nothing to do with the topic. Just getting a personal beef off my chest.
Great article! Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
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Thank you for being here today, Marcela! You really enlightened me about the state of Latina fiction, and what we can do. We have the power to make a difference!!!!
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Thanks for sharing those insights, Marcela. It is a tough road in publishing today and any help from readers is great. My local librarian mentioned your last item to me recently. She said that it was great to have lots of people checking out my latest book because that demand would likely increase the number of books purchased for the author’s next book (budget allowing).
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Hi Marcela and welcome to TNH…I love Latin based books, and can’t figure out why they don’t sell better, but as you said in the Latin world, everything is shared, and nothing goes to waste. I’m guilty of that myself, I’ll buy a good book, read it, and share with my husbands Latino family, and down the line it goes. But I love the color and life in Latino books, after all it is a colorful lively lifestyle and people. Full of passion and emotion, and they are the largest growing segment in the US. Okay, I’m of topic.
I visit the library every couple of weeks, with my grandkids. When I started this habit, I hadn’t been, admittedly, in years!!! But now I check books I love to read over again, classics and audio books. I wanted them to learn the wonders and love of books. So as my grandson sits through story time, I pick up a couple of books me.
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Hi Marcela, I’m so glad you posted this information. I used to share books, but only with one other person. I can see from the writing side, how this could be problematic. Authors need sales, simple as that. I suppose I get so caught up in reading and writing, I never think about the business aspect of it.
As for the library…wow, I can honestly say I haven’t hit the library in ages! I don’t even remember where my library card is these days. When I was in high school, I lived at the library checking out 12-17 books a week (I was THAT bad). The librarians knew me by name and would special order books for me from other branches. I do miss the smell of walking into the library though. It was always comforting. Maybe I should go one of these days just to experience that feeling again.
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Thanks for the post, Marcela. For publishing, I think expectations were way higher than reality. Are Latina books selling fewer volumes than other fiction in the genres they’re in (boy, was that ungrammatical)? For instance, I buy Misa’s mysteries, but I also buy several other mystery series, because I love mysteries, especially ones with smart-ass heroines who can stand up for themselves.
It seems that publishers saw the number of Latinos in the U.S. and got dollar signs in their eyes. The readers in that huge demographic were buying books and reading before, weren’t they? I think it’s a complicated issue.
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I LOVE the Library! I think I would rather be there than anywhere these days. But I am also addicted to buying books. My TBR pile grows weekly if not daily. I don’t have a shoe habit but a book habit..
Great post Marcella!!
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In the years that I had more month than money, yes, I lived at the library. Unfortunately our town has a very, very small library. But these days, B&N knows me by name and I gobble up books. and I don’t share with anyone. LOL My bookstore doesn’t have a specific Latina section so how do I start recognizing some Latina names to buy their books?
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Great article, Marcela. It’s funny, readers, think they are complimenting you when they tell you that they bought your book and shared it with 25 sisters and friends. I sometimes jokingly tell them to let friends buy their own, but it’s hard to tell people what to do with their own books. I hope the market changes one day soon, and I also hope that “Latino Books” will one day be seen simply as good books and not be boxed into something separate.
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Hi Everybody! Great comments. I’m honored I inspired so much feedback. Jill, in answer to your question, I’d recommend you check out http://www.powerfullatinas.com/, where you can find book reviews about Latina authors. Also, http://labloga.blogspot.com/ does a great job of covering and interviewing Latino authors. Hope this is helpful!
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Marcela,
Great article. Thank you for the insights. I completely agree with you. Some of my readers have told me that they’ve let their friends or ex-boyfriends borrow my novels. That’s a few sales lost right there.
I’m appreciative that they are reading my work nonetheless.
Again, thank you for sharing.
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Hi, Marcela,
I visited with you in San Antonio and want to visit with you again. I think I have a good product this time. We’ll see.
When I was a child and saw my first library at the age of eight, I dreamed that one day I, too, would have a library with books from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall. Well, I do and besides the library in my den I have books in the bedrooms. Among my many books are books by Hispanic authors from Love in the Time of Cholera to Caramela; I wanted to possess a collection of books by Hispanic writers. One day while visiting a friend I discovered that in her library she also had a collection of books by Hispanic/Latino authors. I could have been looking at my own bookshelves. Amazing. We still have many stories to tell and we will. Thanks for your help ebr
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The sad state of affairs for Latino publishing is based on the following:
1) No new or creative Latino writers are being published. It’s usually the same folks with the same stereotypical story.
Areas of Latino literature like Science Fiction, Erotica, True History, and Poetry are ignored by Publishing houses even though there’s a growing audience for these areas.
2) Poor to no marketing for Latino writers by publishers.
3) Lack of vision by Publishing houses. Rayo was terrible and their books which I have read were boring.
4) Lack of Latino Publishing professionals in senior positions.
5) No real established publishing vehicles for emerging Latino writers and poets.
6) Latino gatekeepers and others who keep the door closed for new and exciting Latino writers.
7) New emerging media makes it easier and more profitable for Latino writers to publish and own their own works.
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Marcela, thanks for the links, I’ll check them out.
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i have to agree with most of el tiburon’s post. thank you for the article. these are things i learned the hard way, as you know, and was only able to somewhat reverse after lots of reading, writing, and hustling. great article.
you can’t imagine the heart-attack i had when i saw amazon associates selling my just-published book as “new” for a penny, when what they were selling were galleys. the worst part? their customer service’s “nothing we can do about that.” like you said, it really hurts authors.
on the other hand, as a book editor for all of 17 months now, i think the good news is that there’s a lot an educated author can do to make their book a success, assuming, of course, they’ve first made their book the best it can possibly be. the Internet is its own democracy and, coupled with perseverance, it just can’t be beat.
un abrazo a todos, anjanette delgado (the heartbreak pill)
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Marcela great article, I agree with what you are saying. I have put my book in progress, “Negreta, an American Nigress,” on the back burner and going back to writing non-fiction. There is a market for writing regional history and my publisher Arcadia Publishing has been a good partner for me. My breaking into to ficion, will have to wait. Thank you for keeping us informed, we are looking forward to your workshop in San Antonio at Gemini Ink on July 17. Adelante!
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Hi, Jill James. Marcela has recommended some good websites for learning about Latina/o writers. I’d like to add a couple more: Pluma Fronteriza.com (see this link:
http://plumafronteriza.blogspot.com) and my own website, which I’ve written since 2006, “American Latina/o Writers Today (http://www.Americanlatinowriterstoday.blogspot.com). I try to feature emerging as well as established writers, all Americans of Hispanic/Latino descent. I’m a practicing writer myself and recently published a collection of short stories called THE HEAVENS WEEP FOR US AND OTHER STORIES. So many good authors out there that you can read about on these recommended websites, Marcela’s and mine. Best wishes to you, Jill!
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Dear Marcela,
You are the first person to communicate these truths to me.
Thank you!
Pam Drapala
Yuma, AZ
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