Comments on: Who’s The LIAR?

By: Marianne

Marianne — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:01:20 +0000

Shame on Bloomsbury-to have put Justine in this position, it’s just 100%, no 1,000% unbelievable and insane!
And person #1 on the “crazy beyond-beyond” line is Justine’s editor who actually tries to back up the brilliant idea to use this cover in today’s PW-please, go check it out, if you have not already…
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6672790.html?nid=2788&source=title&rid=1606975753

By: Judging a book by its cover. « Guns & Verbs

Judging a book by its cover. « Guns & Verbs — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:43:03 +0000

[...] reading the US ARC of Liar they have also started asking why there is such a mismatch between how Micah describes herself and the cover image. Micah is black with nappy hair which she wears natural and [...]

By: Ain’t That a Shame | Justine Larbalestier

Ain’t That a Shame | Justine Larbalestier — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:34:12 +0000

By: susan

susan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:18:13 +0000

“…and I want to add that it’s not like editors and marketing people are monsters. Pretty much every single person I’ve met in children’s publishing is a great, smart, hardworking, passionate individual who wants to get books into readers’ hands. I think this was just a bad decision symptomatic of a larger, mostly hidden problem that we need to talk about and it’s good we are doing so.”

When will we stop defending the guilty?
My response:

I worked in publishing. While I’m willing to agree marketing people are not monsters can we hold people accountable before we rush in making excuses for a real problem and it is not hidden. Racism is insidious not hidden. Huge difference. Whether you are consciously racially bias or not does not minimize the affects of race in this industry or the country as a whole.

I’m disturbed that so many are already defending those who have the power and the choices.

I was raised to be prepared and willing to be held accountable for my actions. I will not let Bloomsbury and those involved in this bad decision off the hook before I have thoroughly and rightly criticize them for a serious and REAL problem.

By: susan

susan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:41:00 +0000

See Colleen's response and call at Chasing Ray

By: susan

susan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:18:35 +0000

See CORA girl, Tashi's response at Taste Life Twice.

By: paulahy

paulahy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:41:45 +0000

I’m glad that Justine finally spoke out about it. I’m glad that the children’s writing community seems dedicated to stopping this madness about piegon-holing books. I wish the publishing industry would listen.

By: Jodie

Jodie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:48:42 +0000

I’ve just read her reply Paula (http://bargainlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-of-liar-by-justine-larbalestier.html) and it makes good sense (especially the part about why she didn’t want to come out and rant about it right away).

I love her suggestion that readers make a difference by buying books that feature black, chinese, hispanic etc characters on the cover. That’s a positive way to make a difference.

By: Joni Sensel

Joni Sensel — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:49:31 +0000

At the risk of entering a conversation I’m marginally qualified to enter: I think one of the root causes of such problems is that the majority of folks working at the publishing houses, particularly in sales & marketing, are not colors. To make a long post short, I’ll just say I have an upcoming cover that has felt the impact, too. (And body shape & type is another place this plays a role, not just skin color. Just TRY to have a protagonist who’s not svelte and NY fashionable, and see what ends up on the cover.)

I’m glad Justine was frank on her blog post. I know people worry about seeming “unprofessional,” but I think that courage is professional and employing it is the only way we can hope to gain any control at all over our art, our careers — and our society.

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:58:03 +0000

Jodie, apparently Justine is going to address the cover issue on her blog today.

it’s true authors often don’t get to make all the creative decisions, but I would think they need to approve the cover before the book is published

No. Authors are fortunate if they get input into a cover. Lucky if the input is taken. We have no control over cover, definitely no approval rights. Perhaps this changes as you become better selling, more successful – but even then I believe there’s limits to what an author can do about a final cover.

LIAR’s case is a reminder that covers are part of the marketing strategy. And no matter how close an author is to their book, that’s a creative/emotional tie not a strategic sales tie. So in many cases, we might shoot ourselves in the foot with too much control over the cover, blinded by our own literal sense of our words.

Most times I think publishers get the feel of a story right and then there’s this. I’m very anxious to hear what Justine will say, today.