Whitewash a book cover? Not on my watch.
To be blunt–this kind of stuff really pisses me off:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2010/01/19/cover_whitewashing/index.html
or
http://bit.ly/4F8h1j
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. Black protagonist–white person on cover.
Is it pure ignorance and bigotry in the publishing world?
Is it mere pandering?
Or is it lazy cover designers?
All of the above?
In my opinion, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care if the fault lies with the publisher or the designer, it’s totally unacceptable.
The cover has since been “corrected.” But Bloomsbury provides such a lame, so-called apology:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6716006.html?talk_back_header_id=6640748#talkback
or try
Same book different cover/edition
I will be very interested to see the revised cover.
And don’t be fooled by this so-called apology. When this happened to Justine Larbalestier’s book, LIAR last year, here’s what she said:
http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/07/23/aint-that-a-shame/
The cover for LIAR has since been changed too.
Now read this article that was originally posted in Publishers Weekly and pay close attention to what the publisher’s publishing director says.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6675065.html
We have a saying where I come from…“That’s mighty white of you.” And it is said sarcastically when someone is being magnanimous without really conceding anything. They are sorry for getting caught and nothing else.
Surely, if you are going to have a person on a book cover representing the main protagonist, surely the “best interest [for] this book” is to use a representation that matches.
For the same publisher to make the same bonehead mistake in a matter of months is stupid. Stupid. STUPID. They need to look at the way they produce book covers and communicate with their artists if not their authors. And I mean this for ALL covers, not just the books featuring people of color.
As a black woman, I’m offended. If I was a white person, I would be offended, too, because these “big executives” are playing me for a fool and assuming that I’m so shallow or such a latent and/or subconscious racist that I will only purchase items with a white face.
Are you really that shallow? Readers, in general, and unless they are a collector or looking for a specific edition, do not care who publishes a book as long as they can get it. But I think if more readers knew this kind of asinine practice is regarded as standard operational procedure, they would be appalled—or at least look at covers more closely.
This kind of idiocy isn’t limited to publishing. The movie that came out last year, COUPLES RETREAT with Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman, had two black actors in it–Faizon Love and Kali Hawk.
But you wouldn’t be able to tell that by the movie poster where I live in the UK! The black actors were deliberately left off. Why? Because black folks don’t sell movies.
http://www.moviefone.co.uk/2009/11/16/couples-retreat-poster-controversy-uk/
And the funny thing is, I would not have realized this if 1) I hadn’t been living in the UK at the time and 2) If I didn’t spend hours a day commuting and seeing this movie poster plastered on busses everywhere, and 3) If I hadn’t seen the US version of the poster.
Big publishing. Hollywood. It doesn’t matter. Ignorance and the compounding of stereotypes still continue. And unless people (consumers) start to say enough is enough, it ain’t ever gonna end.
You don’t get this kind of nonsense working with an independent publisher where we work closely with the author. If you do, and it offends you, as an author you have a choice to stand up to your convictions and demand for it to be put right.
Authors of color, ask yourself: Does my multi-book deal with NYC mega publisher and my advance and royalty checks with all those zeroes worth more than the anguish and struggle my ancestors endured? If the answer is “Yes,” you are a part of the problem.
As for everyone else, if none of this bothers you, well, you’re a part of the problem too.
I am well aware that authors have little or no say in their cover art at the mega NYC publishing houses unless they have monosyllabic names like King, Rice, and Brown (no relation).
I am also well aware that the one color that appears to trump all in this matter is green.
====
Zetta Brown is editor-in-chief for LL-Publications and was the editor of the 2009 EPPIE Winner for Best Horror Novel, PIT-STOP, by Ben Larken. She holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and is the author of several short stories. In 1998 her short story, “Black Water,” was a regional first-place winner for The National Society of Arts & Letters (NSAL) Award for Short Fiction.
January 26, 2010
zettabrown
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10 responses to ““From the Editor’s Desk” – Cover Whitewashing – Racism in Book Covers”
Skyla
January 26th, 2010 at 20:30
Zetta, I agree with just about everything (and yes, as a white person, I’m offended by the idea that I’m so shallow and prejudice that I won’t pick up a book with a person of colour on it). I share your outrage, however… “Authors of color, ask yourself: Does my multi-book deal with NYC mega publisher and my advance and royalty checks with all those zeroes worth more than the anguish and struggle my ancestors endured? If the answer is “Yes,” you are a part of the problem.” I tend to disagree a bit there.
I’ve lived–and continue to live–in poverty. Literally, my income is below the poverty level, and I was $200 short this month for what I need for basic survival. I do not fault an author for going with a large publisher to better provide for her family, even if it means she has no control over her cover. Giving up all those zeroes (and even for midlist authors, their advances are NOT huge) is a luxury for an awful lot of people, and one few can afford.
I think blame can be shared around–from the marketing people assuming white is default, white acquiring editors contracting so few books featuring people of colour to populate bookshelves, the racist system and white privilege we all battle–but I can’t blame a writer for going with a publisher that pays more and helps her better provide for her family. It’s hard to be “noble” when you’re homeless (I know, as I’ve been there).
Zetta Brown
January 27th, 2010 at 00:15
Skyla, I can appreciate authors at big houses not having a say in their cover art, etc., and that their contract with said publishing house pays the bills, but at what point does it take for a person to say enough is enough?
People who take a stand never have it easy, and many never reap the benefits of what they sow. Whistleblowers, for example, go through hell. I, however, will be eternally thankful for my ancestors who endured, survived, and thrived despite all the obstacles put before them. The world still isn’t perfect, but I sit in a much better positon today because of them.
People of color are underrepresented in the media and most of the things that are “mainstream” are variations of themes, many of them based on stereotypes. How can we show the world other facets of our being if we continue to let stuff like this slide?
“You don’t miss what you never have.” If never having the ability to support myself fully with my writing and live below poverty level is the price I have to pay for saying no to this kind of bigotry, so be it. I’ve left jobs because I made a line in the sand and stood to it. I will only tolerate so much. Did I suffer financially for it? Yes. Face eviction and homelessness because of it? Yes. It’s something I don’t talk about but there was a time when my entire family was displaced.
But in the end, we came through it, and we were stronger for it.
Millions of people work in jobs or for people or corporations that they can’t stand but they can’t leave for financial or whatever reason. Millions of people also work in slave-like conditions and can’t escape. In a perfect world, everyone would do what they want and it would be ethical and legal and so on.
But the world isn’t perfect. All I’m saying is that some of us who have the ability to choose or to desire to can do it.
Skyla
January 27th, 2010 at 01:51
But for some, even a big publishing contract doesn’t mean they’ll be surviving solely on their writing income. Even the midlist authors I know still work at least one other full time job. So if the choice is for a single mum to work two additional jobs, write and publish w/ a smaller house, and spend time with her kids OR work one additional job, write and publish w/ a big house, and spend time with her kids, I don’t think she’s doing something unethical by choosing the latter. Nor do I think anyone else is obligated to jump in with mainstream publishing and fight from the inside if she would rather stay with small press (I like small press–I work there). I think everyone has to put food on the table and do what she has to in order to survive, and I’m not going to pass judgment on that.
If the two authors above–who had their covers whitewashed–hadn’t gone with larger publishers, everyone in publishing wouldn’t be having these discussions about racism in the industry right now and there would be two fewer books on store shelves featuring people of colour. And that would be a shame.
“All I’m saying is that some of us who have the ability to choose or to desire to can do it.” Absolutely. And I really do applaud anyone who stands up and speaks out.
Zetta Brown
January 27th, 2010 at 02:45
One thing I’ve learned about this issue is how it has happened to white authors who have featured people of color as their protagonist. Another author said their white character was made black on one of their covers. But regardless of the race of the author or the character, or any mistake or miscommunication in the production process, the *deliberate* act behind this practice is wrong.
I’m thinking a “No Whitewashing” badge would be cool. This may not be such an issue with indie pubs (I would hope not, anyway), but it could serve as a reminder that some of us are watching, and we do take it seriously. And if anyone asks, we’ll tell ‘em.
Hell, even if it’s just on my website(s), I’ll do it.
Skyla
January 27th, 2010 at 17:32
I remember hearing some time about about an author of colour who had white protagonists, and when the book did well, they reissued the book with a new cover making the characters black (though they were still white in the story). I’m pretty sure she sued or something and won.
And it is deliberate, which is so disgusting, just like it’s deliberate most bookstores shelve all the books–regardless of genre–with people of colour in the African American section. It’s just…the “othering” is insidious and I don’t think a character’s (or author’s) ethnicity should make a book be treated as a niche.
I’m all up for a “no whitewashing” badge. I think there really is more of an effort to have representative covers with small and e pubs already, but it wouldn’t hurt for everyone to show a united front on the issue.
Zetta Brown
January 27th, 2010 at 18:02
Yep. Either way, it’s totally wrong.
Then again, African-American authors have written white characters in order to get published. Why? Because some of the powers that be think there is “no market” for books with people of color…unless they represent forms they’re already comfortable with.
Thank heaven for indie presses!
Tiffany Alvord
April 27th, 2010 at 22:08
Maybe in this economy it’s cheaper to just print in black and white? Why does everything have to be racist?
Zetta Brown
April 28th, 2010 at 06:36
Tiffany,
I’m afraid I don’t understand your comment. The issue isn’t the color of the print but the active and purposeful misrepresentation of the race of the protagonist on the cover of a book in order to attract readers of another demographic. THAT is racist.
It’ll be like someone taking the cover of HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK and replacing the image of Stella, a black woman, with that of a white women in order to attract more white women readers to read the book.
Or changing any representation of Isabella Swan from the TWILIGHT series into a black girl in order to attract black girls to read the book. Either way you look at it, it is a cheap and insulting trick.
Jo
February 4th, 2011 at 14:09
I’m Asian, and it happens to us too. The cover of Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa features a white girl when the character has all the characteristics and mannerisms of a japanese asian girl. She even knows japanese. The author even admits to basing her characters on japanese manga. But she made the girl white and all the good characters white. The bad characters seem to have darker features. The Iron Queen seems racist to anyone who is a japanese native. Shame on the publisher and author who is asian, but seems to sell out, to making the main characters white when it is obvious to a native asian, she is supposed to be asian.
Covers and books like these should not be encouraged. Teens are reading her books and her books are encouraging racial stereotypes.
Zetta Brown
February 4th, 2011 at 17:15
Thanks for commenting, Jo. I agree. Shame on pandering by skin color to determine the “good guys” from the “bad guys.” It’s a shame that the author did it and it makes me wonder if she’s not only ashamed of her heritage but perhaps believes that people with darker skin are “bad.”