Comments on: Non-White Covers Don't Sell

By: Cover Matters: SILVER PHOENIX | Uncreated Conscience

Cover Matters: SILVER PHOENIX | Uncreated Conscience — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:27:07 +0000

[...] as yet another example of publishing cover racefail (the first being Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR and the second being Jaclyn Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER [...]

By: Judge a Book by Its Cover | Uncreated Conscience

Judge a Book by Its Cover | Uncreated Conscience — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:57:40 +0000

[...] written before about my reaction to LIAR’s white-washed cover, as well my distaste for minority “problem novels”. My feelings are pretty clear: [...]

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:47:23 +0000

I took a most excellent anthropology course last term that dealt with race vs. racism vs. racialism. For our midterm paper, we were supposed to analyze how race handled in the media (specifically music and television/movies). Being that I’m a writer, I took on “whitewashing” in the publishing industry instead.

The cover of Marjorie Liu’s THE LAST TWILIGHT has a cover featuring a white couple, when the hero is a black Kenyan. I hear she’s excellent with the mixed-race/non-white protagonists. When HP’s PHILOSOPHER’S STONE became SORCERER’s STONE in the US, editors changed the introduction of Dean Thomas’ character to clarify that he’s black. Didn’t do it to any other characters, though. I guess they figured the other characters’ names gave it away sufficiently?

Bloomsbury’s response to LIAR’s cover disgusts me. “We regret that our original creative direction for Liar—which was intended to symbolically reflect the narrator’s complex psychological makeup—has been interpreted by some as a calculated decision to mask the character’s ethnicity.” Because a character capable of having a complex psychological makeup couldn’t possibly be black? Ugh.

Anyway, I’m really glad you brought this up. Yet another reason I love your blog!

:-)

Katie

By: Julie K

Julie K — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:16:33 +0000

The original cover is striking, and I will say from that standpoint that the new cover doesn’t work as well. BUT the new cover fits the book and character better. It’s a tough call. People pick up books because of covers and titles all the time. I’d have been more likely to pick up the original cover, not because of race, but because it’s so striking. To me, the sad part of this is that they couldn’t figure out a way to make that concept work with a person of color on the cover.

As for the “would a white person pick it up with a person of color on the cover” conundrum, it’s YA. The YA shelves are a special place. Gossip girl mingles with Hunger Games with Vampire Academy close by. YA puts all books on an equal footing.

Personally, it bothers me that there are “ethnic” sections in the bookstore. Unless those novels are strictly about race, shouldn’t they be with the rest of the novels? It’s like some weird, twisted, acceptable segregation. I don’t go to that section because I tend to read YA, paranormal, and urban fantasy. Would I read a novel of that type with a PoC as the lead? If it sounded good, of course I would. But if they’re shelved in a totally different area, I won’t find them.

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By: Folklore Fanatic

Folklore Fanatic — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:52:38 +0000

I second reading Butler. Kindred is literally the best novel I have ever read in my life. N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy writer who just came out with a new book, A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The cover art on that one, btw, is AWESOME. She is also a PoC like Butler. Karen Miller is a white author who has a fantasy series with PoC as main characters. The second one is called Empress, I believe.