By Lisa Rose
At a time when major publishers are closing divisions and laying off long-time editors, Tieffa Harper decided to launch Plenary Publishing. Some people might think she’s crazy for starting her company at this time, but Harper says, “I felt that this was a great time to step forward and publish titles that are more reflective of our experiences.”
Harper’s philosophy is “there are many voices missing from the marketplace, but particularly from writers of color…We are not one dimensional people, and publishing shouldn’t reflect that…Yet when you walk into the black section of the bookstore, you see that the industry at large thinks that we only want to read about gangsters, side chicks, ride or die wifeys and scheming preacher’s wives.”
“As a side note,” Harper continued, “I’ve done criminal defense work for several years, and there’s no glamour in seeing brothers and, sometimes, sisters, get mandatory federal prison time because they’re in the game or made bad decisions. One of our challenges as a community is to be careful of the message that we’re advancing, or to at least offer a counter point to what’s being put out there about us.”
Because of her dissatisfaction with the current publishing industry, Harper knew it was time to venture out on her own. “To be frank, I think that some large publishers just don’t get it.” she said. “…So instead of putting out a balance of titles, you get a glut of street fiction because of the perception that it’s selling to all of us, and we don’t want to read anything else. Sure, street fiction sells to its target audience (and they tend to know their audience very well), but what about the other segments of the population that like mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, contemporary works, literary fiction, etc.?”
For this reason, a central focus of Plenary Publishing is “to develop and support authors of color and expose them to mainstream markets.” Harper believes is currently very segregated.
“Marketing is a huge factor, and I think that most of these books are simply not marketed to anyone but the author’s racial community. It makes sense, of course, to target African-American readers for a book by an African-American author, but that author should not be limited to one audience…Larger publishers don’t have the time to nurture a book and develop the audience (because of marketing dollars, time, and the general sales window), so they rely on the general formula: black author = black book = black section of the bookstore (Siberia for some mainstream readers).”
Plenary Publishing is committed to break that archaic publishing formula and put its authors on the front shelves. Harper wants to do this, not because they share the African American experience, but because they depict the human experience and can inspire all people.
One of the ways Harper plans to reach her publishing goal is with the help of technology.
“We plan to simultaneously release our titles in several formats: hardcover, trade paperback and e-Book/Kindle, with an audio version to follow within a few months of publication. I’ve never been a fan of staggered release dates for books. If you’re a reader on a budget, you shouldn’t have to wait six months to get the paperback version of your book. Going to the library is great in this sense, but we want readers to buy the books that they love and at a point that they can afford it. We believe that in offering our titles at different price points and in different formats, we can reach more readers in an over-crowed market.”
Harper continues her work to make “separate but equal” black literature a thing of the past through Plenary Publishing. Her first books will come out in 2010.
To learn more about Plenary Publishing, visit www.plenarypublishing.com.
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