Transcripts For CSPAN2 Panel Discussion On Multicultural Book Publishing 20140818

If 2014 harlem book fair panel on multicultural book publishing. My name is weighed hudson and i am president and ceo of just us books, independent Childrens Book co. My wife cheryl and i started in 1988. We established just us books to addressing the needs to reflect our societys diversity. I will moderate the discussion but before we starts i would like to pay a little homage to a great writer we lost last week. Walter myers, winner of many of the awards for children and young adult literature produced a body of work that included more than 100 books for children and young adults. He often wrote about younger africanamericans who battled troubles in the streets, in school and at home, giving them a voice. Also a leading advocate for diversity in childrens literature. We will all miss his outstanding and wonderful writer and human being. Those interested in recognizing walter by making a donation may do so by contributing 2 two of his favorite causes, the Children Defense Fund and a literacy for incarcerated youth. You can go to the web site at www. Justusbooks. Com for information about these two institutions. It was walters article titled where are the people of color, and Childrens Books which appeared in a march 16th, 2014, issue of the New York Times that brought renewed focus on an issue, lack of diversity in books with children that received the spotlight from time to time, then slide underneath the coverage again until another clarion call for change is voice. The article was followed by an Online Campaign calls we need the first books, took the internet by storm with more than 116 million impressions in just one week. A number of africanamerican books creators also undertaking initiatives to address the problem. The lack of diversity issue seems would not go gently into that good night. Harvesting of the wealth in multicultural publishing will examine the issue of diversity in childrens literature but we will do so recognizing complexities involved. Does this represent a crosssection of people and organizations that must and do play roles in finding solutions. Brown king is director of the Public Library in new york. He is also former editor of School Library journal, raise your hand. Ted cummings is an Award Winning author and illustrator whose career spans decades. Publisher of vision works publishing, independent book publisher made him and rolled into the educational market. This e o of the literary media publishers consultant, founders of the africanamerican Childrens Book project and she is seated next to brian. And we have the director of marketing, one of the nations leading independent publishers of books for young people and veronica creech, director of markets at first books in nonprofit organizations that connect Book Publishers and Community Organizations to find access to new books for children and Young Readers particularly those who are in need it. We start our discussion by giving each panelist a few minutes to share information about their organization, their company and their program and follows that with questions and we will start with brian. Can everyone here me . I am a lifelong librarian. Two of our core values in terms of working with kids are to engage children as readers and key element of that is to find books that reflect the diversity of the community that you represent. I began my work in the early 1980s in brooklyn, new york working for brooklyn Public Library, coming out of an optimistic period in publishing and on this lucky enough to working branches with the Virginia Hamilton, walter myers, that previous generations and previous decades did not have access to. We really thought back then that the world was going to change. Walter myers in 1986 wrote an essay that said we are going to change the industry. Since then the industry has changed but in many ways not as fast or as strongly or comprehensively as many of us would like. Good morning. I am the ceo. The world of publishing. I sort of stumbled into the world of publishing in the 90s because africanamerican Fiction Books had taken this country by storm and publishers did not understand how to market and promote these books and my company, literary Media Publishing consultants was created. We did a lot of work in that area and was so fascinating to be on the cusp of all the wonderful authors and most were no long serbian published. Terry mcmillan was at the top of the food shane making people understand reading, there was a joy in reading. Subsequently as the Publishing Industry developed, Fiction Books especially for women i started to see a void in the world of Childrens Books and 23 years ago, i found in an Organization Called the African American Childrens Book project. That cold frosty morning, the beginning of a novel, over 250 people came to a Childrens Book fair. This past february, 3500 people attended a when they book event. In two hours we sold 25,000 worth of books. People come from all across the country hungry for books that reflect their images and i continue to say this to people, if you give it to the community they will come and they will respond. All across this country you see a full lead in books in our community not because people dont want to buy them, they just cant find them. I will be talking a little bit about these africanamerican Childrens Book classics and the success as well as the things we can do as consumers to keep publishers producing great books. I am thrilled to be here, this is an excellent resource, when i started in Childrens Book publishing way back, in 1975, everybody that i had as a teacher, everybody around me was telling me it is impossible to get into Childrens Books, you cant break into the field but i was 27 years old and you dont hear those things so i saw every publisher i could see downtown and none of that worked. The council of innovation book 3 children, this is some place that i believe walter started. I had put some work into that publication and a publisher or had already been to see called me and said they had a book for me to do, not a book they would like me to consider but they wanted me to do it and i was thrilled and i didnt want to act like a didnt know anything about doing books so when the editor said do you know what youre doing i said yes. I didnt have a clue so i went home and i knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody, i called and said you have to help me out. Was extremely generous. One thing i found, i came in on a way of, Virginia Hamilton and walter and there was a real interest in growing the number of people of color in the Childrens Book field. The images were so low at the time of all the books that would done, people of color were underrepresented. The numbers havent really changed in all those years, this is 75. I sat on the panel with walter dean myers, Multicultural Panel but we were all black and i thought it is not exactly multi. It has changed, people have become more aware of their needs to be diverse city. One thing the walters said that i carried with me always, it is extremely generous. People help each other. Uconn always find someone to get into the business or assess your work. One thing walter said it has stuck with me is he wants is books to get in the hands of black teenagers and black kids but it is so important in the hands of white kids. There was an article in the New York Times, it is very important to see yourself in books as a child but equally important to see people who are not like you so that you get cal dont have books because it is a question of getting yourself up to speed and finding somebody to help you get into the business. Thank you. Good afternoon. I come to publishing as a wife and mother of eight. When my husband and i started to have a family i was actively seeking culturally diverse literature that i wanted my children to experience and found there was a shortage of that when i went into the typical bookstores. I was disappointed with the quantity of what i was able to find for my children and with the internet and it did allow me to find more things and i was able to water but i grew up in a family where my mother taught me to create the world you want to see sell my husband was a writer as well as myself and we decided a body of Childrens Books that were not just divers in culture but also in gender and physical abilities that told Great Stories of children navigating the diverse world we all share because one of the things i turned was sometimes not children that people fear that which they are not familiar with. I developed the Publishing House our Childrens Books come as an educator, a few years ago i got my masters degree in childhood education. I have worked with teacher development. In schools. I also created a Residency Program so children could learn to communicate more effectively and feel more comfortable in their body and their skin, and the Emotional Wellness workshop that would allow us to work more cohesive lee and that is the universe we all share. Thank you. All right. I am the director of marketing, an Award Winning Childrens Book publisher focused on diversity so we were started in 1991 and we have been publishing multicultural Childrens Books for 20 years. We are now the biggest multicultural Childrens Book publisher in the country. This is familyowned if and completely independent. That is one of the things that makes us different from other publishers out there because most publishers at this point are owned by Huge Companies and because we are so independent it allows us to take risks to publish things we believe in. And they paid in response to the response we have gone from parents, teachers, Young Readers and in terms of major book awards that we have won, we won the major awards and it is really great as a Small Publisher that we are able to compete in the Childrens Book market like this especially with diverse books that we create. So we began by publishing primarily picture books and we expanded to include middle grade books and young adult books as well. We have several in france, we have two books in print which publish middle grade and young adult Science Fiction and fantasy and some a few may knows that these are two sean wrotes that have been extremely white wash so we are trying to add more diverse books. We have our imprint which publishes books for classroom use for beginning readers in english and spanish. And the imprint publishing books that introduce Young Children to the cultures of asia and primarily bilingual english spanish picture books but also some bilingual books in other languages. We have vietnamese, japanese, we have fought whole range and over the last 20 years we have been expanding our definition of diversity to look at what there is a need for and communities and fills that need. We have expanded our definition of diversity beyond racial diversity to also include diversity in terms of abilities, other things like that. We are tuned in to what people looking for and because we are Small Publisher we are able to really answer that need as fast as possible with groundbreaking books of. One of the things that also makes us special is we have always been dedicated to debut authors and specifically working with doctors and illustrators of color. They are extremely underrepresented in publishing. It has been that way for many years and if you look at the statistics it is not getting any better. We make a special effort to work with authors and illustrators of color especially new offers to help them break into publishing and hopefully start very long successful careers or in the publishing book world. If you look at our 2014 titles we have 7 new titles so far out this year. 3 of the seminar by debut office and five of the seven are by either authors or illustrators of color or both so were sticking to that mission we had since the beginning. We have two book awards specifically for authors of the unpublished authors of color. Our new voices for picture books and new visions award for middle grade and young adult books and we give those away annually and the winner gets a contract with us as well as a cash prize and that is one of the ways we are trying to up the numbers of diverse people, having divers books is important and having divers sought this industry is telling their stories is important. We are an activist company so one of the things we are constantly trying to do is push the conversation forward. Why dont we have more diverse books . What is holding is that . How can we get past those challenges. We illustrated the lack of diversity in a number of industries. We are trying to understand the problems in Childrens Book publishing exist everywhere, in movies, tv and politics. There not isolated and we want people to see the numbers starkly and be able to think about some solutions to these problems. We have been releasing the course of the past year they have done really well. A couple of gone viral and picked up by the New York Times, and a way to continue to push the conversation and do that in other ways as well. A lot of other panelists said statistics are not changing, they are tracked by cooperative Childrens Book center every year and numbers of not gone up in 20 years. I hope five years from now we will be looking at different numbers that we are seeing in 2015 and hopefully it will be better. Good afternoon. Malaika adero 11, i am senior director at a global nonprofit social enterprise working to lower the barriers of access to highquality new titles for our kids. First book has been around 23 years. In that time we have distributed 118 million titles. We work with 130,000 teachers, educators across the country to work to make sure they have access to the books they need with their kids in the classroom and their programs and we are creating across 130 member base the opportunity to learn from educators and teachers what you need in the classroom and what your kids are drawn to and what books i kids picking up on the bookshelf and that is the laboratory which we realize the research comes to life. Kids pickup books they see themselves on the cover, in the stories. That feedback is 130 member base which is growing by leaps and bounds every month. It helps us to work more closely with our Publishing Partners and we have been around 23 years and really strengthened the ability to provide high quality books, we also have strengthened our distribution in the Market Solution to make the books accessible because what our base tells us is we not only once and need the books but Many Organizations are trying to have lower budgets, lower infrastructures and trying to work on ways to build capacity. Also the teacher, the afterschool programs, we understand from them not only the desire for the books but how do we work with partners who are affordable and that is working with publishers to detract down that costs, but publishing books that are looking for, aggregating the voice of those in the network that says we want the books but you put that buying power together and make a case of publishers and why it is important to have those titles. The way we distribute our books is one of two ways. Working with 8190 publishers across the u. S. We receive a high number of donated books that we read donate to communities for the first book, the National Book bank, and the unfunded enterprise that we take different communities around the country and invite the community to sign up and drive to the distribution for free. The book saying is a good resources to build home libraries and summer programs and books that dont follow a curriculum or that they dont need specifically right now for a particular topic but our base is saying there are times we want to teach about dinosaurs and science and history and we need access to highquality books, but with that curriculum in mind so six years ago our second distribution channel, the first book market place and that is where the work of publishers to have an online resource can go and buy one copy or ten copies or a classroom collection or 10,000 copies of a title that fits with the scene or the curriculum theyre working on today or this summer. And hearing more from the course of our panel today. Thank you, each of you. Now the we know a little more about our panelists we are ready to start our discussion. We want to focus on sharing answers and solutions and not just focus on discussing the problem. What i would like to throw out first to our panelists is this. Sometimes we assume issues we address our clear to everyone but often that is not the case. I am sure there are some, maybe a few who are wondering why is it important that we have more diversity among the books made available to our children. Maybe few people are wondering that so my question to you is why it is important to have more some of you touched on in a little bit. I would like to see you go into more detail. Why is it important to have more books among the offerings . When i was many years ago young girl, i attended an elementary school, we had to stop and go under our desks because the russians were coming and this went on for weeks, the russians are coming and theyre coming from moscow. I asked my teacher who are these russians and why they coming to a little small town outside a suburb of philadelphia. My teacher couldnt explain why the russians were coming so she said to me go to the library. We had a bookmobile. We didnt have a Free Standing library. I went there, we had a two book allotment and the children laughed at me because i got books on moscow, i got books on russia and they laughed and me and said you are never going to go to moscow, why would you read about something as stupid as that. My dad said never mind, keep reading. I started to read books about moscow, paris, rome, and five years ago i was in moscow and i am standing in red square as a tour guide. I started to identify every building in the square and how do you know so much about my country . I read it in a book. I am a young black girl visiting, most of the men in my community had gone to work and never went anyplace outside a five mile radius of the city. Everyplace we went that day that tour guides would pull me aside and introduce me to other people and say this is a person who knows something about the country and the response was so positive. A couple discounts and along with that, i use that example to say to you subsequently i have been to paris and rome and other Foreign Countries around the world but i say that because when you know something outside your community it opens your eyes to the possibilities and that is why diverse books are important. When little more leak malik walks into the room, albert will know something about him. Albert is not seeing on the television all the negative images thinking that is what he is all about conlan and he doesnt have a history. We talk about diverse books, it is important for us as the community, each of us to know something about ourselves and to read something about ourselves. Anyone want to comment . Very well said. To add to that that is very true. We often talk about diversity of kids books in terms of the window in the mirror. Bishop talked about that. Looking at other cultures, seeing yourself and being validated but i was reading and as a last spring about something that resonated in terms of working with kids, it isnt always about the mirror. It is also about the road map. Diversity in kids literature whether it is for kids of color, it isnt necessary finding themselves but what is possible in your life. And in terms of that metaphor of the road map, it was about personas, things you could try on and become in a book. It can really expand the way you can conceive your life beyond where you might be at that time. It was another perspective to look at. The world is getting smaller and smaller thanks to the internet cant even if you dont travel you learn respect. One thing christopher said was about snowy day and seeing the little boy in the hoody and not being afraid so you dont have to fear somebody. We lived around the world and at one point we live in okinawa, germany and when i came back was 10 years i saw an ashtray, buddha ashtray that felt defensive because i knew he was a god. You dont make an ashtrayeven at 10 i know you dont do this. Our respect for other cultures we learn respect for the people when you read about them and get familiar with them and they dont seem strange and you dont have fear for them when you run into them in a dark street. I will direct this question to you. Who is responsible for insuring more diverse books in the market place . Publishers solely responsible . What about booksellers and wholesalers and distributors . Where does market demand play . I would say everybody is responsible because everybody is part of the problem. It is such a complex problem that happens on so many levels, Publishing Houses are staffed primarily by white editors and so the books they are acquiring, you dont believe the diverse book sells so you have booksellers that dont see them and then consumers who cant find the man dont buy them and it is a self perpetuating cycle so i feel the responsibility is shared between everyone, publishers have a deep responsibility to fix this problem. And not just saying they believe in diversity but actively going out to look at diverse manuscripts and publish them and believe in them and put the Marketing Power behind them. Consumers also have a really important job here. It is easy to buy the books that are in front of you but if you want more diverse books you have to seek the mouth and that might mean u. S. Your bonds and noble where the diverse books in your collection, could you order some. Probably even higher than that. So i think those numbers alone prove that theres a market, and so its just matter of everyone who is, whos making those purchasing decisionses and those budgeting decisions to see those numbers and believe that the market is there if if we put the books out and make them accessible to people. Would you like to comment on that . Yes. When we first started in 2005, people said, well, why do you want to produce multicultural books . People of color dont buy books. And i was saying, well, im a person of color, im looking for them, i buy them, i know that theres a market out there. And so we just did it. And it turns out that the books that we were producing are consideredjyl character educatin Childrens Books. And so that allowed us and we didnt know that when we first started out with it, but in education theres a character curriculum that deals with diversity awareness and all of that. And so weve had to actually create a market that didnt necessarily, you know, exist for us. Sometimes what weve had to do is we bring it to the people, you know . When we bring it to the fairs, there are teachers who are probe active in looking for this type of materials for their classrooms and parents who are proactive in looking for these type of materials for their children. So im always excited when i hear parents go im looking for birthday presents for im looking for birthday present, or im looking for this for my curriculum, and these books are the perfect fit for that. I wanted to also include, add to the conversation that, well, many people in that cascade have responsibility for improving the situation. Publishers, diverse editors, diverse books being submitted, diverse authors. As first book, we also know that theres a case to be made for the buyers, whos buying. And not only whos buying, combined with the high statistics of the percent of our population thats minority, the high percent of our population, 45 of kids in America Today live at or below poverty. So we have low income kids, a high number of kids from diverse backgrounds who arent seeing themselves in childrens literature. Our ceo, kyle zimmer, is passionate about making sure were aggregating the voice of the folks serving these kids to say, yes, theres a market, and theres buying power across this market. So as we continue working with national organizations, school systems, Public Health departments, social services, home visitors, we are tracking what books folks are buying, how can we buy more of them collectively . We go be back to publishers and say, yes, and heres your market. So across this panel if we all worked and continue working from the publisher to the 3yearold that wants to see him or herself in that story or share his or of another culture that we all are adding pieces to that pyramid. You know, i just wanted to add that a theres this assumption especially which she mentioned that africanamericans dont buy books for their children. And its a myth. If people arent buying books for their children, nine times out of ten its about accessibility. You cannot just walk into a Big Box Store and find affordable books. You cannot just walk down the road to, like, many Childrens Books, find a Childrens Bookstore. Most major metropolitan cities have a Childrens Bookstore. The notion that we dont buy books is completely false. How many people in this room have bought a book for a child in the past year . Everyone in this room raised their hand. And im sure if you go around this country, you will find more and more the reason why people dont buy a book is accessibility. And we have to change the dynamics of that. We have to make and as hannah says, go to your barnes noble, your indent bookstore independent bookstore and ask, say if i come back next week, will you have a list of books . And im getting the hook back there. Okay. [laughter] weve talked somewhat about the need for more diverse books, but theres another side to the issue. What about those books that are already being published and made available . How can we get more of them into the marketplace and into the hands of Young Readers, all Young Readers not just readers of color, but all children . I know that book fairs offer an extremely viable option. First book is another viable option. But what are some of the other options that are available of things that we can do to get more book into the marketplace, into the hands of those children we know want the books and will read the books if they can get them . Well, i would say one of the things that we have been working on for a very long time is working with educators, because i truly believe that educators are a great gateway between and books and the children. And if we can work with teachers and work with librarians to get them to have those books available this their classrooms in their classrooms, then those books naturally will find their way into students hands. And so i think that especially thousand with the common core being so big teachers are looking for really quality, complex texts, and i wont go too technical into it, but, you know, we can, we can get diverse books onto the lists that are being recommended and then maybe instead of using the same old classics every year, year after year, written by white authors about white people you can substitute some of those classics for more diverse books that reflect the classrooms that are in our country. And so i think that that is one way that we can really connect our books with kids through educators who are looking for those books. Id also like to add that its on writers and illustrators a lot of times to be very proactive. I know when i teach, i have students who are 20, 25, and when they get out, theyve done their first books, second and third books, and they are extremely proactive, and you have to be these days. They have web sites, they have trailers, they market themselves endlessly, and you need to be out there. You need to go out to the bookstores, theres bookstores like books of wonder that continue standpointly put constantly put on new programs showing Childrens Books. So its really not that hard to get a bookstore engaged, get a library engaged. If you tell them i will come to a program and talk to kids and to get the teachers end gain engaged. Ive gone into schools with my entire class because the schools are open to that. Its really on the creators as well as the publishers to get the stuff out there and to teachers and parents have to really go look for it. Weve also extended into Community Programs because you have schools that are looking for this. There are a lot of Community Programs that offer literacy programs during the summer or to low income communities, and we actually create workshopped and lesson plans around the books and bring them into those communities and inspire children that way as well. Okay. And also your churches. Sn most people belong to some type of civic social or church organization. If your church or your social Civic Organization does not know where to get the books, you can go to a library and ask them to prepare a list. Brians a great resource. Hell probably speak on that, about how to start to get books into your home. Well, following up on that, i would just add that, you know, i think from the library perspective, we talk about discovery a lot today, and i think that weve got a real responsibility to make sure not that we just own these books, but we own these books bountifully, that we have multiple copies, that theyre in the publics eye. Because chances are people arent going to come across these books as we said often times in a bookstore. Were not going to come across them anywhere else sometimes unless theyre coming into that community. Often times they will buy these book withs once theyve learned of their existence. But unless theyre there in their face on the shelf, its not going to happen. Are arent the arent the budgets of many libraries shrinking . I know in some urban areas theyve closed branches. So what kind of impact does lack of money have on the selection or the more inclusive approach to books . Well, i guess youre putting me on the so the here. [laughter] you know on the spot here. Since 2008 Library Budgets have been negatively impacted, for sure. I think a lot of us have 3050 less of our buying power. Were trying to build back, but its slow. You know, theres a lot of arguments in the culture about why we dont need libraries anymore, why everything is digital, etc. , etc. A lot of that is, you know, false i would say. I think that when you talk about books for kids, libraries and librarians remain uniquely committed to that. I think that, like, when i look at my own budget, things get cut, but the Childrens Book budget isnt getting cut. Okay. Because our role there is unique. And with first book again just talking through, you know, we want to work with a lot of surprised time and again of how many libraries actually are buying their books at market or retail prices, yet 100 of the kids they serve are in low income communities. First book is an option to stretch bookbuying dollars for teachers, program leaders, libraries. And if we could aggregate the voice across libraries of the books that theyre buying, we can do even more with the publishers that we have relationships with. So sometimes its just bridging knowledge. Whos out there doing what . Where are the resources . How do we put your libraries with first book, with Publishing Houses that have the books that were all talking about and really building upon those synergies. And were all busy, and were all trying to do the best we can every day. So toms like this, and max bringing us together to have this conversation, were going to keep coming back with the conversation. And i think that the resources are Getting Better every time, its a matter of us working together to figure out now how do we hold hands and bring the corporate dollars to the table, sponsorship to the table for libraries whose budgets are getting cut . But with private industry dollars whose profits continue to increase. So what are the bridges for that as well. First book has an Online Presence market place. How is that faring . Is that doing well . I know youre making more books available through the marketplace. Hows it doing . Thats right, wade, thank you so much. The first book marketplace, im ecstatic to share, each year the number of books that we sell, the number of titles increases. The quantity of books that were selling increases. We have sold about three to four million books a year through the first book marketplace. Thats serious buying power. Folks who are finding the marketplace are learning how to use it, and i have to say our stories for all project which is first books contribution to increasing diversity in childrens literature working with harpercollins in our first. Mc round, we had 600 new titles to the first book marketplace where the titles reflect the lives of all the folks that were talking about today. And we want kids with means and low income kids and kids across every racial spectrum to have access to those titles to, indeed, have the mirrors and window is the and road map experience. The marketplace continues to grow, and we look forward to releasing the stories for all project round two. If you it allows us to bring moe titles to the marketplace. But the average cost is 2. 50. We know because of an Economic Assessment we did recently that right now the average cost of a high quality board book is about 18. And when youre talking about kids that attend title i, title ieligible schools, kids that have a High Percentage of free and reduced lunch and moms and families struggling with paying rent, getting my kid through school or buying books . Were back to the point. Our families do realize, but it is the money and the priority to buy books, and thats where first book is unique, and were uniquely positioned to work with sponsors and other compassionate partners to make sure that were bringing money to our schools in the form of grants and matching funds to stretch those bookbuying dollars that we know folks have and are spending. I would just add as a publisher, those purchases make a big difference to us. We were so happy to partner with first book last year. And were a Small Publisher still, and that purchase was really meaningful and allowed us to keep doing the work of publishing diverse books. So what first book does with those big purchases is actively create a market for diverse books. It means a lot for publishers. And i know for larger publishers its still a significant purchase. I want, and i think these programs are wonderful, but im a strong believer for my 23 years of working in the Childrens Book industry and seeing the work that weve done in philadelphia that weuan as consumers have to begin to buy books and put them back in the home. I remember the can kid growing up as a kid growing up i dont care how poor you were, you had a corner, a literary corner in our home. We have to begin the responsibility relies solely in the seat of the consumer. If you dont buy books for your children, you dont see those positive books that reflect our images. Because wonderful that all these things are happening, but everyone in this room has a responsibility to go out and seek and find books that are affordable. Because the more they publish, the more affordable i believe that they will become. You dont buy a hard cover, you buy a paperback. But consumers have to begin to buy books. And ill also mention the fact that this diverse, the need for diverse books, there are a lot of diverse publishers out there. And when this rally cry went out that we need more diverse books, i thought to myself as i got the text that there was so many people were emailing me what a shame there are no black books out there. And i thought to myself, i just did a book fair where people, consumers stood in long lines to buy books. The books exist. You have got to make an extra effort. And in your hands right now. So when we walk out of here today, dont think there arent any diverse books. Theyre out there. You know, hannah, one of the publishers, justice books, you can come to my web site, the africanamerican Childrens Book project. The books are there. We need more. Im not disagreeing with that, but its you, the consumer, that has the full responsibility for continuing the legacy. Our mantra is preserve a legacy, buy a book. Vanessa, you make a very important point, but how can we get more people in the community to really understand how important it is as consumers to very much books . Are there some steps that we can take to help bring that about . If they can bring sexy back, they can bring books back, okay . [laughter] [applause] its marketing. You have to begin to understand. You cannot expect books are a commodity the same way you pie shoes, a scarf, a pair of earrings or the gu latest cd. Youve got to bring it back to that level, and you have to approach it from a marketing stand point. My book fair in philadelphia is very successful, and the reason is we create a hype. Theres radio, television, print, promotions going on not only paid advertisement, but, you know, the editorial aspect. Everybody thinks theyre going to an event. When they arrive at the book fair be, the books are laid out in a way the way you would buy a shirt or a pair of shoes. You can visually see it. Weve got to change the dynamics of the way books are sold to Diverse Communities. And until we dont approach it from that manner, were still going to be having this discussion. Weve got to take the books to the consumer. Cannot wait for them to come to us. Its not just Diverse Communities that need to to buy the books, its white commitments as well. Exactly. Because the thing is ive never done a book that is strictly about being black. All the books ive done have black children in them, but theyre about going to school for the first time or getting a pet for the first time or getting a lunchbox. And any child can pick up that book and find a story this there thats relevant to them. I want to i mean, ive had too many times at book fairs where people will buy my book and say im giving it to a friends daughter, and i know very well the friends daughter is black, but it doesnt need to be that way. My husband and i just did beauty and the beast. Apparently, aside from john [inaudible] and what is it, the falls beautiful daughter, there are not a whole lot of retold classic fairy tales with blacks or people of color as the main characters. Its not just going to be the Diverse Community can completely support us. It has to be everybody. Read it because its a good book. But i agree with you, books are disappearing in the house, and people buy them, and i actually saw an article about this. People will buy them for their color scheme. Like they want pink books in the babys room. [laughter] it doesnt matter if theyre medical textbooks, theyre pink. [laughter] but theyre buying books, i guess. And, wade, another thing comes to mind when talking about engaging consumers. And kind of two points. One, particularly low income families, theres the thought that books are expensive, period. And oneyay generation later boos are expensive. And even though at first book and other places were driving down the cost of books and were lowering the barriers to access, expensive and expensive. And until we help parents revisit, books arent maybe as expensive as we think they are, and the high outcome of that investment, investing in a new shirt, high quality shoes, the quality of it, helping parents see, wow, maybe its not as expensive as i thought it was. Its also a piece of the parent engagement around the value of books and why one would prioritize spending limited dollars on that resource. You know, burnett ford produced a series that was published by scholastic books. The average cost of those books were 3. 3. 99. They were amazing books. They dealt with, they had africanamerican images, but they dealt with traditional things about getting up on time, you know, do you eat your vegetables . 3. 99. Everyday issues we all deal with. Everyday issues. Yeah. Africanamericans, even if theyre struggling to pay their bills and i say this over and over again because i have the experience will buy books for their children. But how youve got to present io them in a format that they feel comfortable with. A bookstore can be an intimidating environment for many people. You walk in the store, and if i dont have on my good makeup, theyre following me around the store, okay . [laughter] we have to address the way books are sold. Bringing books back into the home is really, really important. But even beside the point its not just about the price. If the kids go to a library, you start to grow leaders. Walter dean meyers was said he was red to as a child, and it was just realize to as a child. I was in iowa city, they stop that city for 15 minutes every wednesday morning, and the whole city reads. It was a bizarre thing. Everybody in the high schools, at work, in the gas stations, everybody stops, 10 00 on wednesday morning, and they read for 15 minutes. And i thought, good grief. [laughter] uhhuh. Its a phenomenal thing. But if you bring kids to the library and qv get Free Library Cards and they get books and they learn to read and to love reading and you have librarians still, hopefully, on the job who actually will put books in their hands, ive heard that so many times. Gary paulson said he was coming home on a cold day, and he ducked into the library to get warm, and the librarian put a book into his hands, and that led to him being a writer. You have no idea the Ripple Effect of just putting a book into a childs hands. If they have grown up learning, they will buy books and seek out books. You can buy books pretty inexpensively. You can buy a book on the street at a used bookstore. It might not be the 18 book that you wanted to get, but if you love, love, love that book, you will go get that 18 book. Uhhuh. What role can, i guess, what more of a role that schools can play in advancing the cause of diverse books being made available . I know youre principally an institutional publisher, right . And mattea, your company focuses on targets, the school market. Are schools stepping up to the plate to really make a difference . And i know, necessary saw, youve vanessa, youve cone some work with schools as well. Share with us your relationships and what do you see as the relationship between schools and diverse literature. I would say that schools are on the whole stepping up to the plate. I think that, you know, we have a very big country, and some schools, i think, you know, were all in agreement here that every school needs diverse books regardless of the dem graphics of your demographics of your student population. Some schools are more open to that than others, but i do think that a lot of Educators Want to put great books in their students hands, and they want their students to learn about the world and to see themselves in books and to learn about other people. I think the thing thats hardest right now is that teachers are under an incredible amount of strain because, you know, in a lot of states theyre implementing these new common core standards, teachers are underfunded, a lot of positions have beeniuo cut, so we see teachers with these huge classrooms and just one teacher. So i think were at a point where from a publishing perspective they want the books, but we need to make it easy for them to see how to use them. You know what i was talking about before, taking a look at classics and maybe substituting some more modern, diverse classics for some of the old classics that are used is a helpful way to make it easy for teachers to use diverse books in the classroom. But i think especially with the growth of Charter Schools were seeing, were seeing budgets that are specifically set aside for purchasing books and for diversifying collections. And so its just a matter of making the books as easy as possible for teachers to use so that they dont need to do all the legwork to figure out, well, is this diverse book youre coming to me with, first of all, is it culturally accurate, second of all, is it in my curriculum . If we do the work for them and put the right back into their hands, i think theyre very receptive. We get that feedback all the time at first book. Our base right now is saying we are so busy, were so full. We had the reading lists from last year and we could keep moving forward with it and it would be the same reading list the last ten years, its easier just to keep moving. But teachers are saying i do want diverse books, but some people dont feel qualified to replace. Theres this nervousness how to replace this title with this title, and whats the title that you would recommend. And then were learning, taking it a step further to your point be, teachers are then saying whats the new language i need to use to talk about this title . How do i talk about this title in a culturallyrelevant way that im not going to fend, that i am to offend be, that i am saying the words appropriately. Ask it and it stirs such a level of nervousness, people stick with what they know. Other folks have come to the same conclusion that working with superintendent, and principals to gain their endorsement of updating the reading lists, maybe one of those powerful places that we all can work to support teachers u our kids ask is on that reading list. n the first we created tip sheets. And tip sheets weve created in consultation of experts who have outlined ways to take this title and link it to these questions for this age group to engage kid to help teachers feel more confident about using the title. We really would love as we continue growing our stories for our project and the titles, creating tip sheets to be that bridge. In new york ive noticed a change in, a change in the way of in terms of distribution. The Distribution Channels for independent books, to me, has closed up tremendously. In new york city. And so what i mean by that is as at one point there were hundreds of independent publishers that carried more multicultural childrens titles, and they were selling thousands of them. And so at some point the city has closed out the independent districters, and now theyre all coming through a mainstream, you know, lets say a mainstream ingram or three distributers or bookstores, exactly. And so those distributers i know are not necessarily carrying our books. Uhhuh. And so weve had to find a new way of reaching schools. Im very happy to say that although teachers, i see teachers who have multicultural classrooms are looking for books for their students. They care about their development, they want to boost their selfesteem. I see them ordering and buying. I think that schools could do more to include independent Book Publishers and voices and illustrators and authors of diversity. Okay. We have a book. Its just been published. What do we do to make the folks who are going to buy this book aware that this book exists . Im just throwing it out to thats marketing is one. [inaudible conversations] book reviews are important also. I think book reviews are important to a certain consumer they dont read the library journal, they dont read publishers weekly. They listen on the radio, on the hottest Radio Station in the city. They see interviews on television. They read the newspaper. And if you want to get to consumers, the top Radio Station in that market during morning drive, get on a steve harvey or a tom joyner morning show, have them endorse your book with. I guarantee you, that book will be an overnight success. Thats how you reach consumers. Thats how Corporate America is selling their products. You have to use the same model that Corporate America uses to sell a book. We can no longer think of some intellectual property and something dainty, and we cant pursue those type of options. Its time to be proactive. Go to the people. Uhhuh, okay. So the good thing about the internet is that, for today is that theres so many different eaves to reach individuals avenues to reach individuals. Its the Radio Station, maybe somebody endorsings your produt might be one. You have facebook, you have linkedin, you have all these Different Networks where youre able to get exposure for what it is that youre doing. Even different marketplaces. I mean, everything doesnt necessarily have to go through barnes noble. You have, you know, the amazon marketplace. But its all about publicity or your own online store. Your own online store and, once again, wringing it to the people at the book fairs. I know that people are buying the books, its just about getting the exposure and letting people know where to find you. Brian, what role yeah, yeah. I mean, just to follow up on that, yeah, i think youre right, you know, there is this divide between the consumer and the institutional markets, and i think that if you really want to sell to the institutional market, you need those reviews whether its a School Library with journal, a book list or whatever it is. Its a vetting process. They need to see that this book is well reviewed in a way before hay put it in their they put it in their collections. If that book ends up being challenged in some way in the future, theyve got something to fall back on thats solid. Reviews, i think, is often times a challenge. Especially a challenge for Small Publishers, Small Publishers, emerging publishers, self selfpublished authors and all of that. I think its tougher for them to get you know, if you dont have that marketing staff to sit down and present your list to a book review editor, then its tougher, i think, to get those reviews. I think, hannah, some acquisition librarians actually require reviews, right . Uhhuh. Before they even look at you. Yeah. I would say, you know, in terms of the books of ours and were lucky that weve been around long enough that we do get those reviews, and the books of ours that do at least initially are well reviewed by multiple. We have the School Library journal, publishersxd weekly, kirkus, those are the big ones. And i think this terms of diverse books, its harder for independentlypublished people who arent getting those reviews to get into collections. A lot of newspapers where maybe direct consumers were getting their reviews, the book review is sections have closed or been taken out or have been shrunk. And so theyre