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Bulk of middle grade, YA fiction must prove profitability for placement at bookstores

Authors are fighting back against a Barnes & Noble stocking policy that they say hurts the sales of debut novels by people of color.

Middle grade author Kelly Yang shared a viral video of her daughter in a Barnes & Noble bookstore reacting to how her new novel Key Player in her Front Desk series was not going to be stocked at stores with other books in the same genre.

The rest of the video shows Kelly tearfully explaining that Barnes & Noble plans to stock only the top two books per publisher per season. She said her publisher told her that Barnes & Noble had decided to not stock the fourth book in her series, and many others in the middle grade and young adult genres, until the first editions sell successfully elsewhere.

Other authors and supporters replied to Kelly’s video to share their concern over the stocking policy they perceive as discriminatory.

The middle grade and YA genres are getting flooded with books by marginalized authors representing groups that have been grossly underrepresented in the literary industry.

In many cases, these authors, like Kelly Yang, have a large social media following that includes other similarly situated authors. So word spreads. If readers are not able to access these authors’ books from a highly visible chain bookstore, then that can spell trouble for overall sales.

Barnes & Noble boasts itself as the No. 1 book retailer in the U.S. and as the “internet’s largest bookstore” on its website.

CEO James Daunt views Barnes & Noble’s three-year-old stocking policy in a different light. “By allowing proper bookselling to take place at the store level, good books will have more space and better presentation, as well as genuine support from the booksellers of each store,” Daunt told NBC News.

“When we just took what was imposed by publishers, approximately 80% of the books were ultimately returned unsold. In effect, the bookstores were filled with books customers had no interest in reading. Now we sell most of what we buy,” he added.

In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Daunt said, “What we are doing—with middle grade and adult, fiction, and nonfiction, alike—is to exercise taste and judgment. This is to buy less but, if it is done with skill, it is to sell more.”

Authors took issue with the CEO’s words with phrases such as “good books will have more space and better presentation,” “books customers had no interest in reading,” and “to exercise taste and judgment” when referencing the wide variety of kids’ books.

Those already operating on smaller marketing budgets will have to prove their books are saleable in order to attain the coveted spot on a Barnes & Noble bookshelf. As for those unsaleable books, I wrote a blog post recently about how these books circulate to dollar stores and contribute to literacy access for consumers who cannot afford new books from Barnes & Noble.

Access is key here. Many consumers don’t think twice about buying a book from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com because these marketplaces are in their neighborhoods or online. Mindful book buyers have to go out of their way to seek books from an indie bookstore, so if these titles by authors of color solely depend on the indie bookstore market, then their sales are sure to plummet, unfortunately.

Even getting on best-sellers lists is at risk, but more importantly, potential readers—we’re talking kids here—don’t have their eyes on these books. That could be the greatest travesty of all for these authors who feel the Barnes & Noble stocking policy punches them in the gut. It’s not all about the money for these authors while Barnes & Noble, one of the only bookstore chains left, is about the money.

she lit editor + chief content creator

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Penguin Random House trial comes to a questioning end

Oral arguments ended this week in the antitrust trial of the moment between the Department of Justice and Penguin Random House in its bid to buy rival Simon & Schuster.

The federal government wants to prevent the potential Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster behemoth from dominating the book industry and putting authors at financial risk. The two publishers and Simon & Schuster’s parent company ViacomCBS, which put the Big Five publisher up for sale in 2020, vowed they would put authors first, but when it comes to book sales, that all depends on consumers (and bookstores).

The trial seemed to focus on authors who made six-figure advances and higher, according to media reports, such as Stephen King. As we wait for the verdict this fall, whatever the outcome, it will shake the industry to its core.

If Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are allowed to go ahead with their merger, the Big Five of the top five publishers, which also include Macmillan, Hachette, and HarperCollins, may go down to the Big Four. The impact on employees, authors, and literary agents will remain to be seen if the merger goes through.

Taylor Jenkins Reid accused of racial insensitivity with new book

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo novelist Taylor Jenkins Reid is getting criticism for being a White author and featuring yet another Latina main character in her new novel. In Carrie Soto Is Back, the title character is Latina and looking for a comeback in professional tennis, which means competing against an Asian player who is experiencing racism.

Fellow book blogs like Bowties and Books and Tomes & Textiles, which are headed by bloggers who identify as Latine, say this is the second indiscretion from the author. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo also had its title character identify as Latina, though she was passing for White and straight for Hollywood success.

As we enter US Open season with all eyes on Serena Williams, Carrie Soto Is Back has conveniently received marketing dollars with pop-ups that started at Wimbledon in July. The bloggers argue this is an example of letting a White author tell stories about characters of color without investing in authors of color at the same level.

Brit Bennett manifests American Girl book deal

The best-selling author of The Vanishing Half shared a tweet from 2016 saying she wished she could strike a deal with American Girl. That dream now came true as Brit Bennett’s book Meet Claudie: An American Girl is a reality via an audiobook out this week.

A new American Girl character, Claudie is a Black girl living among creatives in 1920s Harlem. When her family gets an eviction notice for their boardinghouse, Claudie hatches a plan to save the day that incorporates her own creativity.

Robinne Lee’s ‘Idea of You’ book-to-film casts leading role

Anne Hathaway will star in the Amazon Prime Video film adaptation of actress Robinne Lee’s romance novel The Idea of You. Centered on a 40-something French American divorcée who falls in love with her daughter’s favorite boy bander, the 2017 novel will also be produced by Robinne, Anne, and Gabrielle Union, known for her book-to-screen works as well as her best-selling essay collections.

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