Yes, my latest is about a Buffalo Soldier returning from Europe after World War II to the deep south.

I wish I could offer some advice - but I haven't yet figured out a good promotion strategy for this novel either.

With few sales though, the novel often appears in the top 100 of the African-American historical literature category.  The lesson is that there is not a lot of competition in the category - but also not a lot of sales.

 

The top seems to be reserved for gritty urban melodramas, romance or a combination of the two -- none of which appeal to me.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. The two books in my sig fall into that category. I wrote them specifically to try to appeal to that market since that market is gold--though I'd like to believe they're different! I'm actually going to move them to my erotica pen name with new titles and covers.

I don't write in the category of the authors you mentioned though. My plan is to release books with black protags in the thriller and Superhero categories under this name (my real one). There aren't many of those out there.

I wish I knew of a resource or site that specifically dealt with this topic, but truthfully I haven't looked very hard since this forum has been very helpful overall. I'd definitely be interested though.

 

Your covers alone are a far cry from what I've seen on Amazon. I remember seeing those style of books in the mid 2000's thinking they were knocking off Cash Money records-type imagery. Who knew they'd still be around 10+ years later?

 

I write African-American mysteries. My protagonist is very middle class, first generation college. My books float in and out of the top 100 African-American mysteries, the highest I've gotten was 15 during a 99 cent promo. I'm still working on the best promotional plan to consistently rank in the top 20 but haven't figured it out yet.

Abby L. Vandiver is doing very well. Her books are not only 1, 3 and 4 on the African-American mysteries chart but she's also 775 in the entire Kindle store. She's a really good writer.

I think the key is patience and perseverance. I have two books out now. By the end of the year I plan to have five. Although I haven't lit the world on fire, each month I've done a little better than the month before. I'm in this for the long haul, so a slow build is perfectly OK with me. What genre are you writing in?

 

Your covers alone are a far cry from what I've seen on Amazon. I remember seeing those style of books in the mid 2000's thinking they were knocking off Cash Money records-type imagery. Who knew they'd still be around 10+ years later?

Those covers sell though... I know this because I've watched some of them and the people who read Street Lit seem to gravitate to that style.

As far as your original question, I have one book in my catalog that has an AA lead and floats somewhere in the middle of Crime/Thriller and Street Lit. It has a cover that isn't typical of the latter's genre so it sits unnoticed. I will be swapping out the eBook cover for something more typical of the genre to see what happens but I tell you, it's a real struggle to bring myself to do it.

 

I will be swapping out the eBook cover for something more typical of the genre to see what happens but I tell you, it's a real struggle to bring myself to do it.

I hear you. That's why I'm moving mine to my pen name when I change the titles and covers! I still laugh and cringe at titles like "Closed Legs Don't Get Fed". (!!!)

 

Yes, my latest is about a Buffalo Soldier returning from Europe after World War II to the deep south.

I wish I could offer some advice - but I haven't yet figured out a good promotion strategy for this novel either.

With few sales though, the novel often appears in the top 100 of the African-American historical literature category. The lesson is that there is not a lot of competition in the category - but also not a lot of sales.

Possibly. But -- if you allow my consumer insight -- you don't seem to be keyworded or listed as "Romance" (only "History") anywhere but your blurb says it is. That should give it a boost. But if it is Romance (and not straight history) then you need to show something typical of genre on the cover like the love interest.
It's a beautiful, evocative cover but looks like it's about military equestrians.

I write African-American mysteries. My protagonist is very middle class, first generation college. My books float in and out of the top 100 African-American mysteries, the highest I've gotten was 15 during a 99 cent promo. I'm still working on the best promotional plan to consistently rank in the top 20 but haven't figured it out yet.

Abby L. Vandiver is doing very well. Her books are not only 1, 3 and 4 on the African-American mysteries chart but she's also 775 in the entire Kindle store. She's a really good writer.

I think the key is patience and perseverance. I have two books out now. By the end of the year I plan to have five. Although I haven't lit the world on fire, each month I've done a little better than the month before. I'm in this for the long haul, so a slow build is perfectly OK with me. What genre are you writing in?

Good for you! I think mystery is one of those genre's that most people will read across color lines. I may be wrong but your protagonist sounds awesome. I've bookmarked Abby, thanks.

Those covers sell though... I know this because I've watched some of them and the people who read Street Lit seem to gravitate to that style.

As far as your original question, I have one book in my catalog that has an AA lead and floats somewhere in the middle of Crime/Thriller and Street Lit. It has a cover that isn't typical of the latter's genre so it sits unnoticed. I will be swapping out the eBook cover for something more typical of the genre to see what happens but I tell you, it's a real struggle to bring myself to do it.

Yeah, I'm sure those covers sell or else there would've been a huge shift from them. Coldest Winter Ever is classed up Street Lit and though the cover isn't to genre (I'm sure only because it predates everything) it seems to do really well still. I just cringe when I'm cover shopping and that's all I see in the premades section. Not putting down anyone but it's just not my taste.

For you and Will: changing your covers to genre, does that mean putting up a "Street Lit-esque" cover to appeal to more AA folks? What's the struggle in changing to those covers, a matter of your personal taste?
I'd be curious how your books sell if you do rebrand.

My series is NA and the protagonist is an AA teen who over the arc becomes an adult. She's a self made business woman from a family where she'd be 3rd generation college and Divine Nine (if she goes through with it). She lives in the sticks and nowhere near a city and pretty sheltered. So I'd be ridiculous to give her cover the Street Lit treatment and set expectations I can't deliver. Though, if I did, I'm wondering if it'd help or hurt.

"Closed Legs Don't Get Fed"

I spit out my water at that one!

 

Soul of the Desert has two main characters who are African American.  It's a somewhat historical novel with bits of "Western" culture (By that I mean some Old West cultural artifacts).  I don't market it specifically as African American or Hispanic (the other main characters).  I have seen some threads on GR that ask for books with "minority" characters.  You might keep an eye out for that type of thing (in other words, expand the search for all minorities, including Asian, etc).  Back when I released it, I also looked for blogs that specialize in or are on the lookout for minority/unusual characters. 

I think the most success I've had is just marketing it as a "crime" novel though.  People think of genre more than character sets and that seems to be what they plug in when searching.

 

Yes, my latest is about a Buffalo Soldier returning from Europe after World War II to the deep south.

Ooh, I want to read that book. The Buffalo Soldiers were fascinating.

With few sales though, the novel often appears in the top 100 of the African-American historical literature category. The lesson is that there is not a lot of competition in the category - but also not a lot of sales.

It doesn't take much to break into the bottom ranks of the Top 100 in any historical fiction subcat, but it does take a lot of sales to get up to the top of both African (as in, set on the continent) and African American (cultural) historical fiction. So there is quite a bit of competition and tons of sales to be had in both. They're popular subcats of historical fiction and the sales and stickiness can be fantastic if you get up into the higher ranks.

Historical Fiction in general is a large audience that will read across all kinds of cultural lines, so if your book is set 50+ years in the past, get it into a HF subcat.

 

I'm not sure if my vampire trilogy qualifies as African American lit specifically, but the protagonist is African American and the majority of the cast are people of color.  The trilogy as a whole received a number of positive reviews, one of which is my all time favorite and begins with, "Holy Ororo Munroe, this book was an absolutely-freaking-amazing-roller-coaster-ride..."

That made me grin

I didn't do any specific marketing for the series, but I found that Goodreads proved a great source of reviews and interest. A couple of reading communities caught wind of the trilogy there, and I think referred the books to each other. Perhaps you could look at GR as a source of interest, and target communities there in a careful and respectful manner?

 

For you and Will: changing your covers to genre, does that mean putting up a "Street Lit-esque" cover to appeal to more AA folks? What's the struggle in changing to those covers, a matter of your personal taste?
I'd be curious how your books sell if you do rebrand.

For me its taste, I wasn't a fan of the Pen and Pixel style of graphics on those old 8Ball and MJG albums or Master P's entire catalog either, so putting up a cover that somewhat reminds me of them makes me feel like a massive hypocrite. At the same time its not for me, is it? If that's what will make readers notice then that is what I will give them. I will be running the grand experiment once I'm finished with the book I'm currently writing and will post the results (here) if there is any change in sales.

The book in question has a cover that I assume is more traditional than genre, gets a ton of love from people who have read it, but its intended audience doesn't know it exists ... (I've put ads up in Street-Lit places, queried Street-Lit groups, and even asked ex-cons to grant me a banner on their blogs... not joking) thats why I'm looking at cover and possibly blurb as my issue. In any event, all I can do is give it a test run and once I get the time one cynical evening, I will break out the squiggly font and Shop up a cover that will make Silkk The Shocker want to come back out of retirement.

I dig the premise you have for your book and I think that you can get away with a non-standard cover. A blurb based on what your book is about will hit a wide AA audience (it's positive, people love positive)... see mine, it's damned near true-crime, hyper-masculine, black mafia influenced, with nasty shenanigans and bad words, so... I am very very concerned that the right people (as in people like me that loves to read that stuff) are the ones who find it. Here's to hoping...

 

For me its taste, I wasn't a fan of the Pen and Pixel style of graphics on those old 8Ball and MJG albums or Master P's entire catalog either, so putting up a cover that somewhat reminds me of them makes me feel like a massive hypocrite. At the same time its not for me, is it? If that's what will make readers notice then that is what I will give them. I will be running the grand experiment once I'm finished with the book I'm currently writing and will post the results (here) if there is any change in sales.

...In any event, all I can do is give it a test run and once I get the time one cynical evening, I will break out the squiggly font and Shop up a cover that will make Silkk The Shocker want to come back out of retirement.

Excellent point, it's not for you. It's for your readers and that's a salient point. I hope though, that you hit up on your fanbase soon and they're supportive enough that Silkk can stay put

 

At the Romance Writers of America conference last month, there were several sessions (four, I think) on multicultural romance. The overall feeling seemed to be that authors don't want those books shelved in AA Interest--we want them shelved in Romance. If a book truly is AA Interest, that's one thing, but if it's being shelved there just because the author is a person of color--why is this industry segregating books in 2015? I think there's a mythology that says White folks won't read books by Black authors, but the fact is, White folks don't see books by Black authors. Those books aren't marketed to them. And that needs to change.

 

but if it's being shelved there just because the author is a person of color

Who has said this or inferred it? I thought that we were talking about books that have an African American protag or books that deal with the African American experience. Let's not make this into something like segregating authors because that would require a new thread that I want no part of.

 

Who has said this or inferred it? I thought that we were talking about books that have an African American protag or books that deal with the African American experience. Let's not make this into something like segregating authors because that would require a new thread that I want no part of.

I think all she meant was that you can also market the book by the genre, rather than by the character. Although it is hard to say because it could be interpreted more than one way...

But I think it's easiest to market by the genre and secondarily look for ops that might be character based ones. Marketing is just plain HARD.

 

For you and Will: changing your covers to genre, does that mean putting up a "Street Lit-esque" cover to appeal to more AA folks? What's the struggle in changing to those covers, a matter of your personal taste?
I'd be curious how your books sell if you do rebrand.

I've been thinking about it and I'm not really sure. In the end, I'll probably just go for a better cover for my first book in my sig (I made that one) and a different cover with a black female for the second. I don't think that they fit in Street Lit. More "Women's Fiction" or "New Adult" than anything.

 

I think all she meant was that you can also market the book by the genre, rather than by the character. Although it is hard to say because it could be interpreted more than one way...

But I think it's easiest to market by the genre and secondarily look for ops that might be character based ones. Marketing is just plain HARD.

I hear where she is coming from to a point. Part of me thinks publishing to the "African American" sub-cats is akin to trying to market a TV series only to BET. But there are readers there who are looking for quality entertainment with black leads and the AA categories are full of them. But, at the same time, sub-cats of that sub-cat are only looking for the hard-core street-lit types of stories where I don't belong.

My primary goal is to tell a great story that readers enjoy. My leads will probably always be black because of the same reason why white authors write white primarily white characters. At the same time, it's a good feeling to know that I'm putting out stories with positive black characters and adding more diversity to a not very diverse industry. (The lack of diversity has mostly nothing to do with racism these days. Though that wasn't the story before self-publishing came around.)

 

FWIW, the first cover in your sig line says "romance" to me.  Edited to add:  I went to read the blurb. The blurb says "erotica" to me as the most likely genre.

The second cover doesn't really give me any idea of the genre.  Next to the first, I'd guess romance too, just because of the first. 

 

Yeah, I can't think of one white person who bought The Color Purple

 

In some stores, Harlequin's Kimani line is shelved with AA Interest instead of the other Harlequin books. This is a problem in the traditional publishing world, at least in romance. I've heard authors of color say that their multicultural books are treated differently than multicultural books by White authors (for instance, objects are shown on the cover instead of people). I'm just taking their word for that.

As indie authors, we have more choices. Part of the fun of reading is immersing yourself in a book about someone whose life is nothing like yours. The fact that a book has an African American protag, or deals with the African American experience, is not in itself a reason to shelve it with African American lit. If books like yours aren't selling well there, then put it somewhere else. (Or, since Amazon allows you to put a book in two places, then put it in AA lit and also under the mainstream category for your genre.)

Sorry, I'm not trying to get political here. There's a big discussion going on right now on this topic, so that's where my head is. If you haven't already, check out the #WeNeedDiverseBooks or #WeNeedDiverseRomance hashtag on Twitter. You might be able to find some marketing advice there.

 

As indie authors, we have more choices. Part of the fun of reading is immersing yourself in a book about someone whose life is nothing like yours. The fact that a book has an African American protag, or deals with the African American experience, is not in itself a reason to shelve it with African American lit. If books like yours aren't selling well there, then put it somewhere else.

There are some great things to think about in this thread. A book like "Snow Falling on Cedars" is not really an Asian novel but a story celebrating a long-ignored facet of the American experience. America has so many diverse stories and so few of them have been told.

My knee-jerk reaction was to put my latest book in the African-American section - but you and others are absolutely right. I was thinking narrowly; it fits quite well in some broader categories.

Thanks for the Twitter tips too!

 

Your covers alone are a far cry from what I've seen on Amazon. I remember seeing those style of books in the mid 2000's thinking they were knocking off Cash Money records-type imagery. Who knew they'd still be around 10+ years later?

If I may ask - which books do you consider to have good AA street-lit covers? Can you give any examples?

 

There are some great things to think about in this thread. A book like "Snow Falling on Cedars" is not really an Asian novel but a story celebrating a long-ignored facet of the American experience. America has so many diverse stories and so few of them have been told.

My knee-jerk reaction was to put my latest book in the African-American section - but you and others are absolutely right. I was thinking narrowly; it fits quite well in some broader categories.

Thanks for the Twitter tips too!

I did put my book in African-American and also Latina/Latino for a while. I don't think changing the categories helped one direction or another. I made the "number x in" both a few times with Soul of the Desert, but that was when it first came out so I think it might have hit a category anyway. I don't think it helped sales one way or the other. BUT, that said, it might be worth listing there some of the time to see if it helps. You can change it later and see if that helps...

 

There are some great things to think about in this thread. A book like "Snow Falling on Cedars" is not really an Asian novel but a story celebrating a long-ignored facet of the American experience. America has so many diverse stories and so few of them have been told.

Exactly. There is no 'Caucasian American' category so it's just assumed that a novel featuring CA characters is fiction. I'd hesitate to put my book in African American fiction only because my character is AA but that's not something that really comes up in the first 4 novels and it's not about the 'AA experience'. However, cross listing it is something I think about for a broader audience.

You're right, at the end of the day, it's about the 'long-ignored facet of the American experience' in some novels, not necessarily race.

If I may ask - which books do you consider to have good AA street-lit covers? Can you give any examples?

Ashley Antoinette does some really tasteful ones. As well, I love the covers for the Cartel series by Ashley and JaQuavis. Hoodlum, Animal and Street Dreams by K'wan are evocative and edgy without being tacky.

I also like older street lit covers like the classic Coldest Winter Ever

 

Yes, my latest is about a Buffalo Soldier returning from Europe after World War II to the deep south.

You hooked me right there. Checked your sample, and bought your book. I liked the cover, but maybe the blurb could be a little better?

"Tragic romance with strong language, violence, and race-related themes."

This last line isn't needed and is a little bit anti-climatic:
I think that there is military involved says there will be violence--also it's in the Deep South during Jim Crow. Since it's based in the Deep South before WWII "race-related" themes is a little redundant. "Tragic romance" ... that gives it away, and as long as you don't put it in romance I think you're good.

Off this forum, I've seen other African American self-published writers get into libraries and local book shops with literary fiction; but I don't know exactly how they do it.