Tracking the increase in sales of these books is difficult because so many are self-published or sold in nontraditional outlets, says Reed of Publishers Weekly. But in an eight-year period from 1992-2000, the amount of money spent by African-Americans on books doubled to $356 million, according to Target Market News. Census figures for 2000 showed that book buying by black households rose by 26 percent, or three times the rate for white consumers, in a five-year period.
Shunda Leigh, who publishes Booking Matters magazine in Atlanta, has no doubt that there's a boom in African-American publishing and readership.
"When we started in 2002, there were 14 black book clubs," says Leigh, whose magazine promotes and showcases African-American writers, book clubs and businesses. "Now we have over 50 book clubs. Last year alone we did 179 author interviews and published information on 400 new releases by black writers. And many of these were self-published."
| The data and the quote caught our eye in Don O'Briant's Atlanta Journal-Constitution article "Word on the street: Hip-hop culture turns a new page as graphic novels portraying black urban life grow in popularity"
posted in articles on February 5, 2004 3:37 AM | t (1)
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