Kelly S

Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book

Diversity & Self-Publishing (summary edition)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been digging into the particulars of diversity and how it is, or is not, or could be better represented in the publishing industry–that is, in both traditional publishing and in self-publishing. But you’re here reading this blog, which means you’re either a self-published author, or interested in self-publishing, and that means the stakes are higher in this matter, that you have an incredibly unique place in the argument. I’ve already written a little bit about how the track record for self-publishing is somewhat more diverse than it is in traditional publishing, and why. Authors and readers like you have already brought about change. You are the change.

That’s right, you are the change. (This bears repeating, I think.) Without you and your investment in bringing about a better, more diverse world of words, we would not have authors like the aforementioned CJ Lyons, Orna Ross, Lara Nance, HM Ward, Kailin Gow, Margarita Matos, Abdul Qayum Safi, Lozetta Hayden, Manuela Pentagelo, Tejas Desai, Aleysha Proctor, Mary Sisney, Liz Castro, Nadeem Aslam, Johnny Townsend, and Qasim Rashi. We would not have created a niche market that has blossomed into a fully-fledged mainstream market, and we would not have opened the doors in traditional publishing by exerting pressure from the indie sector … without you.

So how does this relate to self-promotion? Well, that’s a good question. There’s all manner of potential ways in which we could layer further exploitation and abuse on minorities and under-represented groups by trying to turn diversity into a promotional gimmick. You definitely don’t want to find yourself on the other side of the gimmick line, dear readers. No buts, howevers, or addendums allowed. The connection between diversity in self-publishing and a solid foundation for self-promotion is this: honesty. Yes, honesty. In your marketing, as in all other things related to your book(s), you should and must be honest. Are you an author of diverse heritage, or identity? Awesome. Get that out there. Are you an author who comes from outside the “diversity sector” but who wants to uphold the vision, beliefs, and self-realization of those who do? Awesome. Get that out there.

Author Beth Revis, who self-published her latest Young Adult novel (The Body Electric) writes eloquently on the role and nature of such allies in the world of words. “Representation is important,” she writes. “At its most basic level it says: I see you. And in this world of bright lights and hollow dreams, of statistics and caricatures that turn people invisible, that is important.” Read the rest of Revis’s blog, and you’ll see that there is a place for the ally–even though it is vital we recognize that saying we support something isn’t the same as actually making it possible. It’s equally vital that we not put ourselves up on pedestals as allies, when we’re often not the ones who have borne or are bearing the brunt of marginalization.

Perhaps the best thing we can do, both as self-published authors and as authors working on self-promotion, is to make room in our lives and works for the conversation about diversity. It’s really taken off on certain platforms (most notably, the social networking websites, such as Tumblr and Twitter), but it hasn’t yet reached critical mass. The more we make ourselves at home with diversity as a topic, the more footholds diversity has to make visible the invisible.

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If you’re looking for my earlier posts on diversity & self-publishing, see:

And check back next week on Wednesday as I launch a new series on the merits of merchandising for self-published authors interested in self-promotion!

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.

Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Book Promotion, Choosing a Publisher, Kelly Speaks

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 5)

On this most auspicious of post-St. Patrick’s-Days, we will answer the last two questions in a series of questions (and blog posts) on the role (past, present, and future) of diversity in publishing, and particularly in self-publishing. If you missed any of the blogs in this series, you can find them here, here, here, and here.

The first of our remaining two questions may seem deceptively simple:

Should we make diversity happen?

But I should like to protest against any intimations of straightforwardness. There are very few people in this world, I think, who would openly declare “No!” in answer to such a question, but there are a great many–perhaps even the majority of our regular authors and readers–who do unconsciously, or subconsciously, respond in the negative. How is this so? It is so because recognizing a need, then stepping out and actively contributing to positive change and forward momentum, is incredibly difficult. What is that quote we attribute to Edmund Burke? “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Anything–any inaction–that allows an unjust or under-representative system to continue is a silent, but extremely resounding, “no.” Whenever we come up against the status quo, creating change is going to take more than a little goodwill, or even a great deal of goodwill. It takes vision, energy, resources, and endurance. Perhaps the question we need to ask isn’t “Should we make diversity happen?” but rather, “Why aren’t we doing this already, and how can we make good on what we already know to be the right thing to do?”

Having determined that encouraging diversity in the world of books is a good thing, our next question necessarily follows:

How can we better foster a self-publishing community that welcomes diverse authors and readers?

I think we need to take a long and honest look at the systems we trust to install agents, editors, book buyers, illustrators, executives, and even CEOs. This holds true for other industries apart from the world of books, of course, but when talking about the life of the mind and the imagination, we need to be especially aware of the insidious influences of a stagnating infrastructure. In essence, we need to reevaluate what we’re already doing, and jettison the injustices actually built into publishing DNA. We need to be honest with ourselves and with others about who holds power over who gets published, and who gets the resources to self-publish. There are subtler, even more sinister workings behind-the-scenes that we need to reevaluate, too, such as the tendency to grandfather in unspoken assumptions and expectations when it comes to what the industry sees as risky, or the “right fit.” If we use patterns of the past to justify the future, we had better make sure those patterns include a rich texture of voices and stories and authors.

The playing field is slightly more level in the world of self-publishing because diverse authors should not, in theory, be facing the same editorial and agent-related hurdles that a traditionally published author is. But we need to be honest, here, too, since self-publishing companies are made up of people and packages that may, by dint of being human, possess biases or flaws in reasoning. Many of these companies are small in terms of staff, so they may or may not have the option of setting up an ethics and diversity committee, but it is worth every company’s while to make sure they are actively promoting diversity in both the workplace and in the products and services they offer. If you are an author seeking self-publication, it never hurts to ask if such a committee exists, or whether the company you’re working with has any strategies in place.

So, if self-publishing were a kind of building, I’ve taken a quick survey of its architecture from the top down–from its executives to its staff to its authors. But there’s another key component I haven’t mentioned yet: the market. That means you, dear reader. If you read books, you’re driving the market. Every book bought and sold shifts the flow of money toward or away from various authors and industries. If you want to see diversity in the world of books as much as I do, then there’s no better way to effectively contribute to that change than by putting your money to good work. Buy self-published books by diverse authors, and you’ll see more diverse authors publishing. It’s as simple as that. Or rather, it may not be the only avenue through which you can create change, but it’s a simple and practical one that will see important and long-term effects. That’s the kind of action I can get behind!

And that’s all the space I have for the week. I know that these ruminations of mine barely barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole. Over the next week, as I attempt to pull together a coherent summary of my responses to the questions I posed four weeks ago (and what all of this has to do with self-promotion), please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions! And of course, check back next week as we delve into still more of the self-publishing world!

Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Kelly Speaks, Publishing Trends, Self-Publishing

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 4)

Three Wednesdays ago, I launched an ongoing series of blog posts centered on some of the questions we ask, or should ask, regarding diversity in self-publishing. Two weeks ago, I explored the first two questions in detail (“What’s the track record of diversity in publishing?” and “What about within self-publishing, specifically?”), while last week I sought to address two more (“Are there differences, and why or why not?” and “Why does diverse representation in literature and the industry matter?”).

Since there’s a nice symmetry to the use of pairs, and because I’m feeling a bit rebellious against such staid notions as symmetry, I’m going to look at the following three questions today:

What could healthy diversity actually look like?
Who benefits from diverse representation, and who benefits from a lack thereof? (and)
Can we make it happen?

And so it begins. What could healthy diversity look like? In its broadest sense, diversity should mean that all people who want to see themselves represented in literature and in publishing should be equally supported in developing their voices, seizing opportunities for upward mobility and vocality, and striving to achieve their dreams. At the very minimum, it means that those groups which have historically been marginalized, whether minorities or not, should face the same barriers to representation as everyone else––and no more. And diverse representation in publishing and self-publishing also means that those in the privileged oft-heard sector must cultivate an attitude of respect, support, and inquiry without descending to patronization, pity, condescension, judgment, or other, subtler or more violent forms of negativity.

Diversity looks like a community in which individuals are respected for but not defined by their race, gender, legal or medical status, sexual orientation, religion, or other aspects of personal identity. And frankly, diversity in publishing and even self-publishing, in the long utopian term, looks a little less white, a little less male, a little less ableist, and a little less like mainstreamed convention. Diversity, done right, doesn’t look like any one thing. It looks like a farmer’s market, perhaps, or barely controlled happy chaos. It looks like a community that cares about and for its members, representing the interests of all authors, readers, marketing and publishing specialists, not to mention all the craftspeople, librarians, academics, students, and other groups that might receive trickle-down benefits––because, who benefits from diverse representation? Everyone.

No, really. Everyone benefits from diverse representation, even those who might profit from a lack thereof. Sound confusing? Consider two baskets, one which holds a single huckleberry, and one which holds a whole supermarket bin of huckleberries. Hundreds of huckleberries. Thousands of huckleberries. Uncountable millions of huckleberries, and the families and friends of those huckleberries, and the communities from which those huckleberries come from, and the communities in which those huckleberries end up, and the introverted huckleberries who maybe call home once a month. A man may prefer the basket which holds one single huckleberry, but first he must convince himself and everyone else in the grocery store who might want a huckleberry that all those other huckleberries don’t exist, or that they exist but aren’t likely to be as good, or advance as far up the huckleberry pecking order because of some inherent flaw of character, or the simple blind fury of fate. This is how a man might prefer and profit off of the single-berry basket scenario. But if he happens to open his heart and mind to the reality of the other berries out there, his taste will expand, and his world too … and all the other shoppers get what they want, and all the huckleberries end up making their glorious splash.

Have I worn you out on huckleberries yet?

Really, the most difficult question to answer of all is this: can we make it happen? Well, of course we can. All of us, together. Readers, writers, and (self-)publishing specialists alike. Marginalized and non-marginalized, mainstream and countercultural. Together. We’ve seen some progress, as I already mentioned in my first blog post of this series. This progress has convinced me that it is not only a moral imperative to carry on, but plain good sense. We’ve got the means, we’ve got the will, and we’ll find the way. Through concerted and strategic and repeated action, we can enable people of diverse origins and identities to succeed. And we will.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole. As I continue pondering how to go about touching on the other questions I posed three weeks ago, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions! And of course, check back next week as we delve into still more of the self-publishing world!

Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Alternative Marketing Methods, Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Book Reviews, Book Signings, Facebook, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Publishing Trends, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, Writing

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 3)

Week before last, I began to examine the ongoing conversation centering on diversity in self-publishing that has sprung up over the last couple of years, and only risen in importance and visibility since then. Last week, I addressed two questions:

What’s the track record of diversity in publishing? (and)
What about within self-publishing, specifically?

This week, I want to address two more questions. The first, as you’ll see, follows on immediately from number two, above:

Are there differences between the track records of traditional publishing and self-publishing in regards to diversity, and why or why not?

As MediaShift’s correspondent Miral Sattar notes in her excellent article for PBS, diversity has always had a little bit more of a foothold in the world of self-publishing than it has elsewhere. In large part, this can be traced back to the blue-collar, anti-establishmentarian streak that gave rise to the self-publishing industry in the first place. Wanting to place profits in the hand of an individual author as opposed to a company or a collective? When it comes to books, that’s a radical idea. Wanting control over the entire authorial, publishing, and marketing process? That, too, falls outside the established framework provided by traditional publishing. All of this independent thinking and hungering after self-realization has led to an environment that fosters rebels and self-starters and free-thinkers and otherwise marginalized peoples. That includes, of course, people of diverse origins, pursuits, and identities.

In her article, Sattar mentions a whole host of self-published authors, including CJ Lyons, Orna Ross, Lara Nance, HM Ward, Kailin Gow, Margarita Matos, Abdul Qayum Safi, Lozetta Hayden, Manuela Pentagelo, Tejas Desai, and Aleysha Proctor. And these are just a very few of a very great many self-published authors currently putting their books out there. There are others: Mary Sisney, Liz Castro, Nadeem Aslam, Johnny Townsend, Qasim Rashid, and so, so many more. The fact is, if you want to publish something that the mainstream publishing industry isn’t prepared to market, and which isn’t angling to be a blockbuster seller, then the generous spirit of the self-publishing world is always waiting. We live in a day and age, thankfully, when the self-published book is no longer synonymous with “I’m selling this out of the trunk of my car” (although that may still be the case), and with a whole host of resources out there, from internet forums to hybrid publishing firms, the self-publishing author can count on sending a high-quality–if radically counter-cultural–product out there into the world.

Why does diverse representation in literature and the industry matter? Why should we authors and readers and (self-)publishers care?

This fourth question is, in some ways, a much harder one to answer. As with many things in life, it might seem easy to fall back on a rote answer (you either do or you don’t), or to fall into the trap of trying to heavy-handedly preach readers into one perspective or another (because I said so!). The fact of the matter is, caring about something as radically life-changing as diversity and representation is more than just a private act, but it’s also something you can’t just tell people to do.

When someone leans in over the dinner table and asks me why they should care about diversity–as has happened fairly often this last year–I fall back on a whole retinue of explanations: the statistics about social stratification and advancement or regression, the ethical and moral ground upon which we build healthy and just societies, and the anecdotes of people I know who have found themselves on the wrong side of the line when it comes to representation. And of all of these arguments, the most effective one is, appropriately enough, one that requires a little imagination.

Imagine you are a child, any child who doesn’t look like a descendant of a hundred Caucasian family trees, who maybe doesn’t tip the scale quite to quite the same number as any of a thousand Disney Channel stars, who maybe comes from a faith background or an ethnic background that isn’t mainstream Christianity or undecided, who maybe has physical or emotional disabilities, who maybe identifies as something other than cisgendered or “straight” or is questioning their identity, who maybe comes from a dysfunctional family or society. Imagine you have any one of these attributes, or a whole heady cocktail of them, and ask yourself this question: Have you seen yourself in a popular book lately? How about on TV or in a movie–as the main character? Have you seen yourself anywhere but in the bathroom mirror and have you seen yourself compassionately rendered there?

I remember the first time I found myself in a book, the first time I encountered a character who looked and felt and acted and believed like me. It was absolutely, entirely, 100% life-changing.

Why should we care about diversity in publishing and self-publishing? Because we want our children to grow up knowing that they don’t have to live in the shadows. That they are lovable and loved. That they don’t need to bleach their skin or get rid of their accent or faith or private struggles in order to be a whole human being.

Explaining to a child who has never seen a familiar face or life story told on television or in books or in music why they’ve never seen that story is absolutely heartbreaking, not to mention difficult. One hopes that we don’t have to end that conversation with “…and it looks like it’s going to stay that way for a while.” One hopes we can end that conversation with: “But see? We’ve made progress, and here is a whole host of stories to get you started.” Others have put together powerful arguments why diversity in publishing (of any kind) is important, too, so I think there’s a lot of hope we’ll see change within our lifetimes.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole. As I continue pondering how to go about touching on the other questions I posed two weeks ago, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions! And of course, check back next week as we explore still more of this complicated tangle!

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 2)

Last week, I launched a series of questions addressing the nature and role of diversity in publishing, specifically within the self-publishing industry. Before I return to those questions, a quick proviso: there’s been a lot of mud-slinging on both (or all?) sides of this debate, which can be both wild and wonderful (and occasionally, deeply problematic for all of us involved in getting words out of our heads and dispersed into the world). But we’re not here to sling mud at anyone. We’re here to ask questions and, hopefully, to listen.

Some of the mud-slinging can be interesting to read, or in some cases, listen to: just last month, NPR and Intelligence Squared U.S. hosted a debate over Amazon’s incredibly complex role in the whole mess of traditional versus self-publishing paradigms. As I sat listening to the podcast this last week, I found myself both shocked and perfectly unsurprised at the ferocity of the debate––shocked, because we’re not used to our literary spokespeople literally shouting each other down on the debate floor, and unsurprised because, well, we’re talking about books and reading and literacy and therefore something both deeply, intensely personal, and also universal. The debates over diversity in publishing are proving equally impassioned, and rightfully so. Which brings me to last week’s first question:

What’s the track record of diversity in publishing?

It’s not a good one, particularly if we’re talking about publishing in the Western tradition, what with it being so interwoven the various other Institutions (with a capital “I”) that shape and influence society. Which is not to say I advocate treating publishing artificially as if it has been cut away from every other element of life––not at all. I do advocate paying close attention to how the social, political, and cultural institutions interact. Hashtags like #WeNeedDiverseBooks have evolved beyond mere declarations of personal unhappiness to creating safe spaces for ongoing discussion about these complexities, and the data being mined is revealing.

Take the University of Wisconsin’s article on “Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States,” which shows that of the 2,500 children’s (trade) books published in the United States in 1985, only 18 were written by African Americans. When you consider the demographics of the United States, wherein African Americans represent 13.1% of the population, that number should have been a lot higher. Closer to 325 books. Progress has been made, along all sorts of vectors, but of the 5,000 trade children’s books published in 2014, the CCBC reports that only 84 were written by African Americans and 180 were written about African Americans. The percentages of other minority groups––ethnic, religious, gender, and others––show similar levels of underrepresentation. Right now, a debate is raging over the representation of mental and physical well-being, and the current ways in which the publishing institution reinforces ableism and neuro-normativity. Young Adult (or “YA”) literature has proven to be a particularly rich medium for addressing these growing concerns.

What about within self-publishing, specifically?

I’m so glad you asked! Self-publishing (and all of its hybrid forms) has proven to be another haven for the marginalized author and all sorts of minorities––both in terms of authors and readers. Because one point of the publishing triangle has been erased––or at least drastically altered––there has always been more room for the nonconformist, the outcast, and the malcontent within the welcoming arms of the self-publishing industry than there has been elsewhere. Without fear of expulsion, ostracization, or censorship, the self-published author can write what needs to be written, and publish what needs to be heard! The welcoming legacy of self-publishing is one I’ve examined before––in fact, many of the Late Great authors I’ve written about over the last few weeks either found themselves unwelcome within, or otherwise distanced from, traditional publishing.

I don’t have any numbers for you about diversity in self-publishing. It’s practically impossible to collate the data, given the diverse forms and outlets and types of self-publication out there. Many self-published works aren’t catalogued the way traditionally published books are, and so the data set just isn’t there. But as Daniel José Older writes so beautifully in his BuzzFeed article (“Diversity is Not Enough: Race, Power, Publishing”), “it’s not just a question of characters of color, [and] it’s not a numbers game. It’s about voice, about narrative flow. […] We see diverse futures, laden with the tangled past of oppression and we re-envision models of empowerment and survival. But only a few of us make it through. There is a filter and the filter is white culture.” Suffice it to say, it seems as though the self-publishing industry has provided a platform for diverse voices to be heard, and diverse readers to be reached. There are ways to change the institution from the inside, but in the meantime, authors can count on finding at least a modicum of representation within the self-publishing industry.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole. As I ponder how to go about touching on the other questions posed in last week’s blog post, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions! And of course, check back next week as we explore still more of this complicated tangle!

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