Lying on the Cover
When we were in the brainstorming stage for the cover of Shine, Coconut Moon, my editor said she wanted the image of a “modern-looking, young Indian woman’s face.” (We can debate what “modern-looking” means in another post, but yayy for my editor!). Her idea was poo-pooed because, apparently, another publisher had released a novel with a “young, Indian woman’s face” on the cover in the same year. Obviously, we couldn’t have TWO Indian women’s faces on the covers of books in ONE year.
In contrast, I urge you to take a stroll through your local bookstore—any one—and count how many books have covers with white faces on them. If you are too lazy to walk to your local bookstore, simply go onto any debut authors’ site and take a gander at the book covers. Here are few to start you off: Classof2k9.com, classof2k8.com, and feastofawesome.com. What you’ll see is a small slice of the books released in any given year—and *gasp!* there are more than one with a white face on the cover. I doubt anyone’s editor ever said, “No, no. We simply cannot have a young, white woman’s face on the cover of this book. Another publisher already did that this year.”
Likewise, in the comments threads of blog posts about the LIAR cover, some commenters are asking if the publisher would have done the same, had the book been about a white protagonist who was a compulsive liar. Would the publisher have put a black face on the cover, in keeping with the “lying” theme?
It’s disheartening, to say the least, that this cover issue might not have inspired the mass media frenzy it has, if the author weren’t Ms. Larbalestier. Her book will sell well regardless of how this cover issue plays out. Her publisher has put a lot of money behind it, and will undoubtedly do their best to guarantee success.
How many authors of color could claim the same support? The prevailing belief in the industry seems to be that books with characters of color and, specifically, protagonists of color, don’t sell. In other words, “There’s no money in it.” So, putting a brown face on the cover would be like shooting yourself in your Sales foot.
The problem is that it becomes a never-ending cycle. Kids of color never see themselves reflected (anywhere—not on television, in film, magazines, and book covers), and as a result don’t ever have that possibility of imagining themselves in a variety of roles. A luxury young white people enjoy, often without ever recognizing it as a privilege.
The way I see it, part of our job as children’s book and YA authors, is to plant seeds of creativity through our writing. For ALL children and young adults. If our publishers/editors/agents/booksellers are not on board with our vision, it is also our job to do our darndest to challenge their decisions, as ardently as we can. That is the only way we will see true, lasting change.
Ms. Larbalesteir is doing that. Speaking up against a publisher’s decision is not an easy thing to do for any author. Our livelihood depends on being agreeable and not being cast as a “difficult” author. We sometimes have to fight for every word that eventually makes it to print. We face having to make compromises on all levels of the process and we agonize over those compromises. What we initially write is, a lot of times, not anywhere close to what the public buys.
It’s tougher still, for authors of color and those of us writing about the “other” experience. Because for us, there is “what sells” and what our story is. And what sells is determined by editors, publishers, booksellers, marketing folk, and other gatekeepers—most of whom, in overwhelming numbers, are white, heterosexual, economically well-off, and are forced to worry perpetually about the bottom line.
The argument is usually that it is supply and demand—as in, “We sell what the public wants.” But the public can’t buy what is not available. And if black and brown faces are constantly erased from book covers for children and young adults, children of color will reference whiteness as the standard for what is beautiful, what is valuable, and what is possible.
That is a tragedy on so many levels. For all of us.
*After I wrote this post, I went to read the latest comments on Justine’s blog. A commenter, Christine @198 asked point-blank if this had been a ploy all along on the part of Bloomsbury, and possibly, Justine. Fair question, I guess, given the different reactions Justine had to her cover as reported by Mediabistro. Justine’s response to the commenter was this:
200. Justine Says:
Christine @198: No. I never wanted this. I fought tooth and nail against that cover. But even so I keep wishing I could go back in time and fight harder, find the exact argument that would persuade them. I never wanted this disaster.
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