Indie Publisher Drops Author Over Twitter Dispute Regarding OwnVoices

[zodgory]

Another day of drama on book twitter though the current argument is about who can write what. It all started when writer Alisha Hillam tweeted about how white authors shouldn't write from the POV of non-white characters and should have sensitivity readers. This also goes for cis/het authors writing LGBT+ characters and abled authors writing

Comments

[potter_lover456]

I follow a bunch of romance writers and this was all my Twitter feed was for a few days. (They've now moved on to other topics.)

I think the most interesting thing to me was for months they've been praising "Something to Talk About" and then the (white) writer spoke about how she had been mistaken to write in the POV of an Asian-American woman and they all praised her for the apology. And 1) I felt like if she wasn't already in their circle, they wouldn't have accepted her apology so quick and 2) if it was such a big problem to you before, why were you praising the book?

All of that being said, I would prefer to not see a white person writing from the POV of a POC. I deeply disagree with some of the people above saying you can't flesh out the characters properly. In the case of romance, it means your love interest can still be a POC but you don't have dual POV. (Which is fine by me because I don't like dual POV anyhow.)

I'm sure there are white writers who can do it well and respectfully. I've personally taken classes on the subject and the class was full of well meaning writers. But I also know that publishers will LEAP to take a diverse book by a white writer before even glancing at an own voices writer.

[potter_lover456]

Wow I wrote an essay.

Follow up: Did anyone read Love Her or Lose her from Tessa Bailey? I saw the cover and thought, "Really?" Because nothing about Fix Her Up gave me confidence that she could write two characters of colors well, let alone one.

[veracity]

Honestly, I've never read Tessa. I know Sarah and Jen from Fated Mates love her, but their review made me do some kinda dance of no when I listened. She's hyped up but I've never felt the need to read her based on reviews.

[potter_lover456]

Fix Her Up was hyped a lot before it came out. But I remember even in the book posts here people were not impressed once they read it. The heroine's family has awful opinions about women that were confronted, but not actually dealt with--at least not in a satisfying way to me. And I remember being uncomfortable about the sex scenes in the book because there was this slight undercurrent of the MC being sexy and good for being submissive. And not in the BDSM way, in the "women are subservient" way.

[veracity]

That's how I felt listening to Jen and Sarah. It didn't feel right. Like the writing being talked about wasn't entirely engaging or what I needed as a reader. There's a reason I review the women characters in the genre. Everything I've heard about Bailey makes her not tick a single like of mine. Sarah was gushing how Bailey writes books so quickly, and I'm thinking, "but they're basically upscaled Harlequin Presents" with their shallowness.

[veracity]

I'm on romance twitter as well. I've seen a lot of Black writers discussing this topic for over a year. I know Katrina Jackson has, a lot. The topic frustrates me because a lot of white writers and readers are specifically ignoring the POV element and the ownvoices part of the statement. Don't say you can understand if it's not your experience. Writing romance requires a lot of empathy for the characters and it's hard to be empathetic if someone's just ticking boxes to gain a larger following. Which is how I was reading this thread.

[potter_lover456]

You're right, a lot of people are purposefully ignoring the POV statement. They're willfully ignoring it because they don't want accountability. I feel like if you have any level of awareness and asked yourself "Can I do this the right way? Do I really understand their lived experience?" and come back with any answer that isn't no, you're kidding yourself. And basically proving that you don't have the knowledge or understanding necessary to tell the story.

I feel like I should clarify that the class I was talking about was just about writing diverse characters authentically, not specifically writing from their POV. Reading over my comment I don't think that was clear.

[veracity]

And the whole point of the POV/ownvoices comment is to highlight that people with those experiences have written them. Usually forced via self or indie publishing because the big four only want a certain kind of writer (ie: white women) to write romance. Never mind how books by skyrocketing unknowns like Talia Hibbert have flourished in the social media age. The point a large publisher took a chance. But a marginalized writer shouldn't be forced into such a superstar position for the same impression someone like Tessa Bailey or Christina Lauren get all the time. I realize Lauren is a team, but the point is that publishers really push the team when a lot of other people could be promoted with the same grandiose style, by an ownvoice.

I figured you went through one of the many courses put out by industry professionals or education institutions on how to write well. To not Lane the characters, as ASP liked to do.

[potter_lover456]

I was talking to a professor a few months ago about diversity in publishing, romance specifically, and he said, "Well maybe there really is only white readers so they don't need to."

So then I lit into him about how if you're not supporting authors of color, both by publishing their work and then giving them the marketing/PR push, if production orders limited runs and doesn't push the book during sales, if booksellers categorize said books on the ethnic section instead of romance, and we basically do everything to mask or silence their voice, what do you think the statistics are going to reflect?

The authors and readers are there, you're just putting on a blindfold and building a wall so you can't see them.

And Christana Lauren's writing quality does not warrent their marketing. My friend just got into romance and has read a bit of their back catalog and messaged me the other day, "When do I start liking them?" and I couldn't give her a good answer. I only really liked Twice in a Blue Moon and Dating You/Hating You was okay.

[veracity]

That lazyass answer he gave you would have lit up inside and out. Like if you can't bother to pay attention to a billion dollar a year industry, you shouldn't be teaching about writing or publishing. Ever. Because there are a lot of readers and writers who are WOC, specifically Black women, who spend that cash. There's a reason women like Bev Jenkins have careers. There's a reason Vivian fucking made RWA into an industry standard and white women built it back down to their belly crawling level. Black women have always been intregral to the genre, and publishing in general. There's a reason why so many of the RITA journalism pieces focused on unsung heroines in the genre. And the industry because Black women work fucking hard for no pay basically.

I've never read Lauren. I'm very "is it on sale" and "will I like it?" It's often a huge no. No. And more no. I can't stand the Psychangling or whatever they're called. Or the Daggerhood. Yet so many people lose their minds over there. I think Kenndedy Ryan is an amazing writer but I'm a little shy after reading Longshot and how...difficult it was to read. It was less of a romance and more a women's fic. I wasn't expecting that kind of abuse.

[potter_lover456]

Well, luckily for him, this was for my unrelated grad degree, I just bring romance into every project because I genuinely love it and glad I got back into it a few years ago. But lazy thinking like that is what's justified years of racist businesses across disciplines so fuck him still.

I remember when I found out about Vivian and RWA. I shouldn't have been surprised because Black women are so frequently erased from the history of their own movements, but that one got to me.

I don't have the money or space for books right now, so I've been exclusively reading ebooks from my library, so it helps that it doesn't cost me anything to read them. Have you read the Alexa Martin books yet? I don't read really read sports based stories but I keep hers and I'm intrigued.