“all the news that’s fit to print”
Ok, that’s the motto of The New York Times, and my latest interview is in USA Today, so that doesn’t really apply. You can find the article here, but don’t hold your breath—my forty-minute talk with the reporter (conducted two weeks ago) has been significantly reduced, and very little of what I said could be included (and for the record, I’m 37 and no longer teach at Mt Holyoke). Interviews that are not recorded can be tough, but I appreciate when *anyone* is interested in talking to me, and I thought this article would be a good chance to talk about my amazing experience with AmazonEncore. There’s been more drama lately over the actions of Amazon–after reaching an impasse in negotiations over e-book prices with publishing giant Macmillan, Amazon yanked all Macmillan titles from their global website for the weekend (Colleen directed me to Scott Westerfield’s post on the subject, which was helpful; apparently the dispute is ongoing and Macmillan titles are still not available from Amazon–you can read an update here). Not surprisingly, a lot of folks were appalled by this as titles they were looking for (or wrote) temporarily disappeared. I got a Google Alert when my name came up in a Livejournal chat room—angry readers were thinking of ways to protest, and a friend of mine piped up, asking people not to take their anger out on MY book (thanks, Shveta!). But the fact is, AmazonEncore is part of Amazon, and I can’t commend the actions of one but then stay silent about the actions of the other. I was disappointed to see Amazon throwing its weight around like that. I do find it hard to see a huge corporate publisher as a “victim,” however—particularly when huge corporate publishers have helped to create the industry that currently limits black authors to less than 3% of the children’s literature pie (anyone have stats for adult lit?). I wish the many white authors who object to corporate bullying ALSO objected to their publishing houses systematically excluding authors of color. Because THAT is why I accepted the chance to work with AmazonEncore—and that team of people has been absolutely wonderful to work with; I’ve been treated like a partner in our efforts to promote my book (and even as “the expert” at times), and of the ten Encore titles coming out this winter, three are written by people of color (I’ve only read Page from a Tennessee Journal, but it’s amazing!). Find me another big publisher with 30% of their titles by PoC. Granted, this is just the beginning, and I do think of this as an experiment—I don’t expect AmazonEncore to restore all those voices marginalized by mainstream presses, and I don’t want small presses or independent bookstores to disappear. I want readers and writers to have more options—Encore books may be purchased online, in stores (big and small), as a Kindle, and possibly at Audible.com. As a writer, I’ve published with a small press and I’ve self-published books on Lulu and Create Space (which is also owned by Amazon). I’ve often said that if AmazonEncore starts to function like a traditional press, much of its appeal for me will diminish. But for now, I’m willing to wait and see just what’s going to happen. I respect each reader’s right to do what they think is best—if you want indie bookstores to survive, you have to support them. If you’re like me, you probably use a combination of options: sometimes I get books from Amazon and sometimes from an indie, but mostly the books I read come from the library. My two goals when I self-published Wish were to get my book into libraries and local NYC public schools. And I was able to do that with the support of many open-minded librarians, educators, and bloggers. Working with AmazonEncore obviously means my book will have the chance to reach a much wider audience, and the fact that THEY came to ME counts for a lot after 5 years of having large and small presses slam the door in my face. The publishing industry is in flux right now, and I’m impressed with any publisher who’s willing to take risks and innovate—you could argue that it’s easier to be daring when you’re a rich, powerful corporation, but as I always tell my students, “Power is relative, not absolute.” We all have the power to make choices that will help to shape the publishing industry—what choices will YOU make?
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