| WRITER'S RESOURCES & TIPS | |
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Self-Publishing House Guides Black Authors
Clayton Brown published his first novel in 2002 through an Internet company. But when it came time for his second, "Show a Little Love," which he wrote with five other authors, he sought a different kind of publisher. He turned to Conquering Books, an editing and self-publishing house/bookstore in Charlotte geared toward helping African American authors navigate the book industry.
The first 100 copies of "Show a Little Love" were dispersed quickly to the authors' families and friends, said Brown, who is a writer by day, computer operator by night. Now they have ordered 1,000 more copies. Conquering Books will take care of that, too. "Not only is it a bookstore, but it's an avenue to help guide people along in the publishing process," Brown said. "Here, you have that one-on-one personal service."
Industry experts say self-publishing houses are growing nationally as authors realize they can put out books that look like they rolled off a big-name publisher's presses without going through the rigors of landing a contract with a publisher and struggling through the editing process.
Co-founders Judy Carter and H.K. Khalifah started Conquering Books in 2001, after Carter lost her computer job during the economic slump. "It's a tough market for anyone, but definitely for blacks," Carter said of publishing. "Whites often have access to a lot more resources than blacks do, with computers, the Internet, with the literary agents. We get a lot of blacks who have brought in handwritten manuscripts. ... They feel a little more comfortable with us."
Carter had written a book a few years earlier, and Khalifah, who then owned his own self-publishing company in Hampton, Va., had published it. So when she lost her job she persuaded Khalifah, who was ready to close his company, to help start hers. He did. With help from about four other workers, including Carter's daughter, graphic designer Janelle Young, Conquering Books has published more than 150 titles, ranging from poetry to self-help to novels. Nearly all are on sale at the company off North Tryon Street. About 95 percent of Conquering Books' authors are black, but there are a few white authors represented, Carter said.
Conquering Books has yet to conquer its cash flow. Carter went back to a computer job a couple of months ago because the company was losing money. Khalifah and Young staff the business during the day. Carter reads manuscripts at night.
She expects to see a profit in 2005, and her dreams are many: expand the bookstore; become nationally known by black authors; dive into the traditional publishing house role of underwriting the cost of a book or two each year for writers who show promise. Conquering Books is different from traditional publishers because it charges authors a fee for editing and publishing, instead of paying them advances and making money from book sales.Nobody knows exactly how many self-publishing companies operate nationally, but leaders in the field say demand is growing.
"People are no longer willing to sit and wait for someone to tell them they can put their work out there," said Rosie Milligan, founder of Milligan Books, a self-publishing company in Los Angeles. "There are editors, there are graphic designers, their book doesn't have to look like it came out of a kitchen." Milligan says companies like hers turn a good profit, "so long as you do your contracts where the authors make money and you make money."
Authors pay Conquering Books from $900 to $2,000 for editing and publication of 100 copies of a 100-page book, Young said. African Americans spend $303 million annually on books, according to The Buying Power of Black America 2003 by Chicago-based Target Market News.Major publishing houses are noticing. Many, including HarperCollins, Random House and Ballantine, have specialty divisions for black authors. Often, big publishers take note of which self-published black authors are selling well in bookstores and offer them contracts, said Emma Rodgers of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, Texas, one of the oldest black-owned bookstores in the country.
"The publishers are looking for that, and it's a quick and dirty way to find new talent," Rodgers said. Self-publishing spans color lines, with authors ranging from Nikki Giovanni to John Grisham getting their start that way, she said. Ahmad Daniels, a motivational speaker and former Mecklenburg County minority affairs director, hired Conquering Books to publish his 80-page self-help book "To Your Journey: Forty Clues to Self Actualization for African-American Men." He said he decided to go the self-publishing route after receiving about 30 rejection letters from publishers. He had 1,000 books printed and said he has only about 40 left after selling them during his travels around the world. So he's ordered 100 more copies. With Conquering Books, he won't get rich. But because he's self-publishing, he gets to say what he wants without editors meddling with his message."This place is great for people who don't want to compromise what they're publishing."
Want to Know More? Conquering Books is at 210 E. Arrowhead Drive, Suite No. 1, just off
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