Notes On A Napkin #1

• Warner No More

WOW! Talking about reverse order, and no strings attached! Warner Books has changed its named to Grand Central Publishing, reflecting their soon-to-be new address on Park Avenue just north of the station. "It also reflects the publisher's renewed commitment to publishing a diverse range of books and offering readers content through new channels and new formats." If you don’t know by now, foreign companies, most notably French and German conglomerates, own most of our major publishing houses. On the reverse side of the coin, you would rarely see Americans owning anything on the same level of business dealings. Even with the French, there’s a healthy and growing American expatriate community of Blacks, but rest assured we are kept at bay and limited to what we can truly be independent of.

• Coming Soon…

By the time you read this Oprah Winfrey will have already announced a new book club pick. Vintage is the lucky publisher. Lucky?! Shouldn’t that be changed to BLESSED? How much you wanna bet that the book she pick will NOT be one of an African-American entity? It boggles my mind that few of our books and authors are thought enough to be inclusive of Oprah’s ‘generosity’ here in the States. Do we have to live in South Africa for benevolence to be shown to us closer to home?

• Quick Riches the Easy Way

Seems to me the best and quickest way to make a name for yourself and earn more than a fist full of dollars would be to write a NON-FICTION book! Yes, one without drama and the usual nuances associated with call, response, and the all too-familiar waiting game. BUT…you have to have something to say that would garner the support and sensibilities of the general public. Go through Oprah, you say? Sure, and we KNOW how successful THAT would be, right? I say go non-fiction because other persuasions are taking practical and generic lore and making it seem like a new invention, or something just now available to mankind that is a cure-all for anything mentally and physical. The common thread is – you don’t need anyone or anything to steer you away from what has always been there for you in the first place: common sense, and faith in God. Biblical truth is not a time intensive value…it’s there for us anytime we feel the need to take initiatives. Read my essay below on The Secret’.

• The Fly Jock’s Mosquito in the Mix

Mosquitoes are pests and one of the worst kinds of nuances because they have tendencies of staying around. I wonder how Tom Joyner feels about Steve Harvey muscling in on many of his established markets? Here in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area he (Mr. Harvey) is holding his own, but in recent weeks have been trounced severely according to the Arbitron rating system. I personally think there’s room for another player, but to be competitive newcomers MUST bring their A Game and offer much more than their immediate competition. In my opinion, Steve Harvey is okay, but hardly a Tom Joyner…especially in the sense of his philanthropy work toward education, assisting the HBCU’s, and finding money for needy school children. Steve…are you listening?

• Where’s the Love?

I was invited recently to attend a literary conference and was awed by the number of major publishing house sponsorships. Of course, I’m privy too, and understand the need for publishers to honor and support their writers. This is where the respect and high visibility often comes down to in many different ways. I immediately thought about how Romantic Times and Romance Writers of America (RWA) go to lengths to solicit funds to showcase authors writing the genre. Then I think about our Romance Slam Jam…I mean, I can say more, but is there a need to? One thing I found lacking from what I could see on the surface, was the noticeable absence of a presence from those companies that the AA writers are writing for, save for Parker Publishing. I’m one that would want to SEE the fruit of labor and know that the support is visible and not something done behind the scenes. And to think that RWA owes a lot to a Black woman who inspired it all! Maybe one of these good ole days we will see wholehearted support all the way across the board for the authors who want that equal parity but don’t see a lot of it.