Author Colin Channer has a tale of woe that sounds like a situation comedy. While completing work on his first novel, Channer worked at a variety of freelance editorial jobs. A client accidentally spilled coffee on a laptop that contained his manuscript. A replacement laptop was defective. As the deadline loomed closer, a third laptop broke. He eventually completed work the manuscript for Waiting in Vain in longhand. "I learned the hard way that technology is only a tool," says Channer.

Like Waiting in Vain, many books that grace various best sellers’ lists almost didn’t get published for a number of reasons. Aspiring authors would do well to heed the advice gleaned from the experiences of those who have made it.

The late Harlem Renaissance author Dorothy West wrote her first novel, The Living is Easy in 1947. After leaving New York for Martha’s Vineyard, West wrote short stories for the New York Daily News and a regular column for the Vineyard Gazette. A manuscript for an unfinished novel remained abandoned in her home for decades until the author and her work came to the attention of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A working friendship developed between West and Onassis, then an editor with Doubleday. The Wedding, West’s second novel, was released in 1995 shortly after Onassis’ death. The book is dedicated to her memory.

The Wedding was not the only best-selling work by an African-American author Onassis worked on. Author and artist Barbara Chase-Riboud first envisioned an epic poem about Thomas Jefferson’s slave, Sally Hemings and offered it to Toni Morrison, then her editor at Random House.

Chase-Riboud was told the work had a better chance as a historical novel. The author scrapped the project until the summer of 1977 when she met Onassis in Skorpios, Greece. During a conversation "about presidents, passion and power," the former first lady encouraged her to write the book about Hemings. Later, when Onassis became an editor at Viking Press, one of the first books she acquired was Barbara Chase-Riboud’s novel, Sally Hemings.

At Doubleday, Onassis also acquired Michael Jackson’s autobiography, Moonwalker.

Guy Johnson is the son of author, poet, playwright, director, producer and educator Maya Angelou. But that didn’t help him find a publisher for his novel, Standing at the Scratch Line. Agent Manie Barron was an editor at Random House when the book came to his attention.

The novel, which Barron calls "a guy’s book," covers more than three decades between 1916 and 1948. He acquired the book because "it is full of rough-and-tumble action. The main characters encounter Germans, bigoted U.S. soldiers, the mob and the Klan."

Barron says Standing in the Scratch Line is "a very long book" and the length may have caused hesitation by some publishers. "I also think others may have bought into the myth that men – particularly black men – don’t read fiction and passed on the project. This is a case where a black male book seen through the perspective of a black male editor may have made the difference because we understand the market, " he adds.

Conventional editorial wisdom is often dispensed by editors and publishers in the form of the ubiquitous rejection letter. The fear of rejection has derailed many writing careers. Most authors have received rejection letters at some point in their careers. Best-selling authors in all genres certainly have their collected their share. Reactions to them range from "just one person’s opinion" to constructive criticism to a nuisance to sour grapes. Rejection letters can be recylced in creative ways. Published authors have saved theirs as vindication or to encourage aspiring writers to keep trying.

Walter Mosely’s Devil in a Blue Dress was rejected by a publisher who wrote "We already have a black detective." Likewise, science fiction writer Octavia Butler received countless rejections for her now-critically acclaimed Kindred.

Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice Dennis Kimbro’s motivational book (with Napoleon Hill) is used in seminars and is required reading in several business courses. However, Kimbro remembers the difficulty he had getting publishers to consider his book. "I received enough rejection slips to wallpaper my room. They did not believe that African Americans would buy business books," says Kimbro.

Bebe Moore Campbell submitted a collection of short stories to Toni Morrison when she was an editor at Random House. "She sent me back a lovely, lovely letter. A rejection letter, but a lovely one," she recalls. Children’s book author Eloise Greenfield’s book, Grandpa’s Face was rejected by several houses before it was published in 1988. The book was well-received by critics and cited for excellence by a number of organizations, including the American Library Association.

But publishers are not perfect. In the 1980s, William Phillips, now senior executive editor and vice president of Little, Brown & Company, passed on a two-book deal of works by author Alice Walker. The first book was a collection of short stories. The second book was an unwritten novel that became the Pulitzer Prize winning best seller, The Color Purple. Phillips adds, "In the intervening fifteen years, the list of books I’ve turned down that became best sellers is as long as my arm . . . My only comfort is that every editor of long standing is burdened with a similar list."

Science fiction magazine editor John W. Campbell refused the rights to serialize author Samuel R. Delaney’s novel, Nova, because he did not believe readers would be interested in a story about a black character. Nova went on to become a best seller and Campbell’s successor at the magazine kept the rejection letter as a reminder that editors are not infallible.

Chicago Tribune columnist Dawn Turner Trice submitted a manuscript to publishers for consideration and received 36 rejection letters in return. In 1983, Trice took a hiatus from fiction writing. When she was ready to resume work on her book, Trice reevaluated what she had written and decided the book should not be revised, it had to be rewritten. In 1995, she sent the new manuscript to Random House. The publisher released Trice’s debut novel, Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven, under its Crown imprint.

What do best-selling authors. Iyanla Vanzant, E. Lynn Harris, Parry Brown, Evelyn Palfrey, Zane and Vickie Stringer have in common? They are among the growing number of authors who self-published their first books and sold hundreds of copies -- before major publishers embraced their work.

The most powerful advice published writers offer to aspiring writers is the same in any genre. It is uttered – and often worn on T-shirts -- at writers’ gatherings: Finish the damn book.

April Sinclair created grassroots support for her unfinished work. Passing out flyers in the San Francisco area, Sinclair included her baby picture and a message that read "Come sit a spell while I read from my funny, touching, provocative novel in progress." A hundred people showed up for the first reading. Soon, she was reading to standing room only crowds in bookstores and coffeehouses. Buoyed by audience reaction to her work, Sinclair kept writing. An agent approached her. It took three days to sell Sinclair’s story, which became Coffee Will Make You Black.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF OPRAH.

Oprah’s Book Club^TM was launched in 1996 to encourage more people to read. Every major book store chain has an "Oprah section" and selection for the list virtually assures best-seller status for a book. African-American authors whose books have been chosen include Maya Angelou, Breena Clarke, Pearl Cleage, Bill Cosby, Edwidge Danticat, Ernest Gaines, Toni Morrison, and Lalita Tademy. The book club went on hiatus in 2002 and re-emerged in June of 2003 as "Traveling with the Classics," a new book club that focuses on "classic literary works" three to five times a year.

For purposes of this article, the term "best seller" is used rather loosely. There are as many bestsellers’ lists as there are books to be ranked, but the African-American book-buying public is rarely included in these surveys. In 1991, writer Faye Childs began to compile Blackboard African-American Bestsellers with the help of African-American booksellers. Many African-American authors display the designation on their books and in their promotional materials. However, The New York Times’ best sellers’ list remains the list.

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http://books.aalbc.com/bestsellers.htm


 

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