If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Maya Angelou

So we are one day past that historic moment that moved many of us to tears, again. Change is the new “it” word thanks to President Obama. I’ve read a number of comments, blog posts and articles about how the country, even the world, will change now that President Obama has taken office. Of course that includes the literary community.

So what will change? Some speculate that President and First Lady Obama are the most visible emblems of the diversity within the Black community. They feel hopeful that the First Couple will help in our on-going battle against stereotypes. Others say Black authors will find a wider audience for all kinds of books. Why? Because the diversity of Obama’s support will make more readers curious to expand their reading lists and break out of their reading comfort zone like Anika.

President Obama has been called The Reader-In-Chief. He has been seen with books in his hand. The media has reported widely on his reading tastes (non-fiction and literary fiction). I think this example alone will inspire more kids and adults to pick up a book. Now will that mean more people of other ethnic backgrounds will buy and read books by Black authors with Black characters? In my mind that’s a leap, and I’ll tell you why. I read an interesting blog post by an agent that reversed the question when she was asked if President Obama’s election would change the publishing business. She in turn asked if the book buying public has changed. Deatri wrote a post a few days ago about white romance readers not buying Black romances because they assumed they couldn’t relate to the characters. Reading, and not only romances, is personal. So has this election changed readers? Hmm.

I read another post at Eavesdrop Writer Blog that perfectly illustrates why some folks aren’t open to change. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not into beating my head against brick walls. Some folks are just not going to be interested. Period. Personally I’ve worked with a lot of white folks who saw me (and my pals) as the exceptions. They continued right on thinking of Black folks in general the same way they always had. So when Black folks moved in next door to them guess what? They put their houses on the market and scurried off to the suburbs. Never mind that the new neighbors were over-achieving middle or upper-middle class folks. What they saw was “Black”. The default to stereotypes kicked in.

Still enough has changed that we can all hope when it comes to our books. This change started with the way President Obama built his campaign coalition and swept on through the election. Wow. Now that he is in office we can hope the economy is stimulated in some way that helps the publishing business. We can hope that seeing “different” first when looking at someone of another racial or ethnic heritage will be harder for those readers who say they “can’t relate”.

I have to say I’m still loving the phrase The Reader-In-Chief. Obama isn’t the first and only President with a love of reading. However, he is unique in that he is the Bestselling-Author-In-Chief. An article on the NPR website pointed out he is the author of two bestsellers. He is also articulate and eloquent- what a nice change.

Change has come, y’all. Now I’m not sure we’ll all get what we want when it comes to the book business and book sales, but change is here. Finally, some of us will need to follow Maya Angelou’s words of wisdom. Maybe the change doesn’t always need to be in “them” but in ourselves.

To end on a note that shows the best in us read this post at Eavesdrop Writer’s blog- Prayer for Barack



Related posts:

  1. Another Change is Gonna Come Today is Juneteenth. It was on this day in 1865,...
  2. Social Media: A Time for Change Change. What does it mean to you and how do...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.