The American publishing
industry is paying more attention than ever to
African-American readers. The growing membership in black book
clubs, both on and off the Internet, shows that black
Americans are interested in fiction and non-fiction relevant
to their own experience.
The three-year-old African-American Literature Book Club
operates as a web site: www.aalbc.com. Its founder and
director Troy Johnson is a New York computer consultant and
website designer. Mr. Johnson set up the site to learn what
works and what does not in electronic business so he could
better serve his customers. Selling books seemed to be a
logical first choice. "You don't have to actually see the
book," he explains. " A book is a book, you know, if you
describe it well enough and provide some of the text, you can
kind of mimic the experience in the bookstore."
Troy Johnson was confident that there was a market for
books because some of the biggest online retailers, such as
Amazon.com, started off as booksellers. But he also knew that
he could not compete with large mainstream booksellers. So he
decided to specialize in books for African-Americans. "But as
soon as I set it up, I got a lot of e-mail from authors, from
readers, from publishers: people who wanted to promote their
books, people who wanted to learn more about books that were
available and that quickly became the compelling reason behind
me continuing and growing this site," Mr. Johnson says.
He learned directly from potential customers about their
needs and interests. Mr. Johnson says large booksellers offer
some of the same books that he does, but they have difficulty
selling them because potential customers do not know about
them. The purpose of his site is to put out information about
books and authors, advertise new books, and link his website
to those of some African-American authors.
People browsing the Internet in search of books by
African-Americans can find them much more easily on his
website. They can also search for different categories or
genres, such as health, sports, travel, poetry and prose. A
newsletter published several times a year alerts readers to
new books, authors and literary events of interest to
African-Americans.
In addition to detailed information about each book,
customers can discuss the work with other readers and maybe
even with the author himself. "We actually have an online book
club where we read a book once a month and we discuss it
online. There is a chat room where we have a live chat. Often
the author actually participates in that online chat," he
says. "There is (also) a discussion board, actually a very
popular discussion board, where people can talk about
different books that they are currently reading, give
information about the authors, ask questions, a whole host of
things."
According to Mr. Johnson, this sharing of information among
readers is one of the most important functions of his book
club. And he says this is something that mainstream
booksellers do not offer. In his opinion, the need of readers
to communicate may be the reason for a recent proliferation of
all sorts of black book clubs both on and off line across
America.
During the past year, More than 150,000 people reportedly
have joined another book club called "Black Expressions."
"Black Expressions," an offshoot of Bookspan, the largest book
club organization in North America, sells discount books only
to members. The discounts from 20 to 50 percent are
substantial, but members are obliged to buy four books every
two years.
Some book clubs do not work for profit. In Atlanta,
Georgia, for example, Carla McManus started
Sisters@brothers.com to find members for a book club that
would also meet socially. Since 1997, the book club has grown
into a 400 member organization that focuses both on the
culture and on the needs of the African-American community.
"Since we've been established, we've done about 15 different
community service projects," she says.
Carla McManus says many of their ideas come from the books
they read and discuss. About 50 active members of her
non-profit making group meet about once a month in different
venues. They often host African-American authors and go on
field trips to places of importance for black history. "As a
matter of fact, this month [February] we are going to host a
black history tour and we'll be visiting Birmingham, Alabama
on a heritage tour and we'll be going back to visit the Civil
Rights Museum and that's our black history month affair," she
says.
Black book clubs in the United States take different forms
and may have different goals. But Troy Johnson says they have
spurred the growth of African-American readership. "As a
result of this [running an African-American book club] I am a
much bigger reader."
The American publishing industry has reacted to the
proliferation of black book clubs by publishing more works for
African-American readers. Major publishers now have new
imprints devoted to books by black writers on black subjects.
Mr. Johnson says his two best sellers last year: "She," a book
of poetry by Saul Williams and "Not a Day Goes By," a novel by
E. Lynn Harris, may have never been published without the
influence of black book clubs.
