How to support a children’s author of color...

At first glance, this may seem like a crazy statement. However, it is a real issue within the publishing industry. Writers of color had to fight for years to get book contracts from reputable publishing companies. Many have had to meet quotas for selling books which has resulted in possible only getting one work published out of the fifteen or twenty they have already written. In other words, lack of financial support for a children’s author work can equal them ending their careers before they begin.

I distinguish between supporting an author vs. financially supporting a children’s author of color since they are fundamentally two different things. For example, support a children’s author of color looks like the following:

 

You might read their work, check it out of the library, and get them to do free book readings for children at schools.

However, financially supporting a children’s author of color looks like the following:

 

You buy their work with a purpose, write a review on your purchase, and get them to do paid visits to schools.

The latter will help build the career of an author of color. The former will take away from the professionalism of the author. I have heard for years that many children’s authors of color feel that their work is not respected. The authors are asked to give their work away for free or as a service. However, mainstream authors are rarely asked to do this unless they are Indie authors.

The lack of financial support of authors of color is why there are few books in this genre to choose from in the first place. All publishing companies function as a business. If the money is not there, it is assumed the audience and buyers are not there either. Therefore, why should you invest money in what essentially becomes a money pit?

It cost three times the amount to produce an illustrated children’s book than it does to produce a novel. Therefore, the investment needs to be there in order for the publishing companies to invest. Readers that want high quality books for their children need to invest in these authors in different ways:

      1.      We need more parents to buy children’s books from bookstores and online from authors of color.

2.      We need more parents to write reviews of these books.

3.      We need librarians to buy more books from children’s authors of color.

4.      We need more parents to set up blogs that feature children of color.

5.      We need more teachers to use books by authors of color in the classroom’

6.      We need more children to read books by children’s authors of color.

7.      We need more children, parents, and teachers to allow children to study authors of color in the classroom.

All of these things are a start and they are simple to do. These small things will guarantee that children’s authors of color will have access to readers and access to professionalizing their work.

Happy reading!

 

Tiffany A. Flowers, Children’s Author