Niche Buster
By Angela Henry
The thinking behind the black book niche is that being black gives an author a built in audience, that our books appeal solely to other black people, and that no one but black people would be interested in reading books with black characters. Okay, now let’s all laugh together. Well what happens when a black author discovers that the audience that has overwhelmingly embraced her books is outside the black book buying niche?
That’s what best-selling author L.A. Banks discovered about her Vampire Huntress series. Banks recently did an interview with editor Karen Hunter for AOL’s Black Voices.com where she discussed attending DragonCon a few years ago and meeting her fans
"We were in the heart of Atlanta, where the majority of the population is black, but at the convention center, it was about 99 percent white," said Banks, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in business and from Temple with a master's in filmmaking.”
"I had about 300 people in my room for a book signing and maybe five of them were black. I had so many white fans complaining about how hard it was to find my books and asking me why it was in the black section. I didn't have an answer. I went back and told my publisher that they had to do something. They needed to get me into the mainstream section of the stores." From L.A. Banks is Queen of the Damned by Karen Hunter, Black Voices.com.
You can click here to read the entire article to find out if Banks and her publisher succeeded in their quest to get her books moved. But the fact that her latest book in the series, The Thirteenth, is a New York Times Best-Seller should give you a clue ; ).
Later!
That’s what best-selling author L.A. Banks discovered about her Vampire Huntress series. Banks recently did an interview with editor Karen Hunter for AOL’s Black Voices.com where she discussed attending DragonCon a few years ago and meeting her fans
"We were in the heart of Atlanta, where the majority of the population is black, but at the convention center, it was about 99 percent white," said Banks, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in business and from Temple with a master's in filmmaking.”
"I had about 300 people in my room for a book signing and maybe five of them were black. I had so many white fans complaining about how hard it was to find my books and asking me why it was in the black section. I didn't have an answer. I went back and told my publisher that they had to do something. They needed to get me into the mainstream section of the stores." From L.A. Banks is Queen of the Damned by Karen Hunter, Black Voices.com.
You can click here to read the entire article to find out if Banks and her publisher succeeded in their quest to get her books moved. But the fact that her latest book in the series, The Thirteenth, is a New York Times Best-Seller should give you a clue ; ).
Later!
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