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This book fair's for the self-published
The partners of C&B; Books Distribution have put together the Queens Book Fair to showcase black writers' works
May 3, 2005
Listening to Brenda Piper and Caroline Rogers discuss their book distribution business, it is hard to believe so many ideas can fit into the tiny office alcove they share in Flushing. Their plans segue from book signings to community barbecues to Web site expansion as though they are reading a checklist.
But perched at the top of that list is the women's most ambitious event yet: This past Saturday's inaugural Queens Book Fair at Jamaica Market.
"We really did a lot with this one, because we didn't realize there were so many self-published authors," Piper said.
The fair has generated local buzz for emphasizing the growing phenomenon of self-published African-American authors. The writers have seized mainstream publishers' attention by independently printing small quantities of their work and controlling all of its creative and financial aspects.
The authors' success hinges on marketing strategies as diverse as door-to-door sales, street vending and arranging book signings at popular restaurants or nightclubs. But before this year, only Harlem had established an annual book fair where writers are exposed to thousands of readers in one setting.
The Queens Book Fair attracted hundreds of people to Jamaica Market, and Piper and Rogers were counting on the event to introduce some writers to a bigger audience than they've ever enjoyed.
"It was packed," Rogers said. "And I was shocked. It was rainy and we didn't think people would show up. But they still came out."
To some degree, the women are all about taking chances. They started their book business almost by accident a decade ago, while selling gift baskets and floral arrangements at the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Flea Market in Jamaica.
They began bringing used books from their own collections to sell at the market, selling out each week. A frequent customer soon asked if the pair could get their hands on books by other African-American authors.
"She asked how soon we could get them, and I said we'd have them for her the next Saturday," Rogers said. "And I thought, 'I don't know how I'm going to get these, but I'm going to find out.'"
Rogers, 44, not only supplied the requested books, but soon found herself fielding requests for work by other black writers. Within weeks, she and Piper were visiting distributor warehouses that stacked dozens of titles from tiny imprints around the country.
By 2001, the women sensed a revolution stirring in the African-American literary community. Sister Souljah's 1999 cautionary coming-of age novel "The Coldest Winter Ever" had reinvigorated an urban-literature market that had hibernated for decades, provoking a new generation of black writers to eschew the mythic glamour of drugs and violence.
Other genres took shape around the same time, including revenge melodramas, romance thrillers and inspirational memoirs about overcoming abuse, addiction and lives of crime.
"It's a whole industry booming within an industry," said Angela Wallace, whose self-published novel, "Secret Dramas," earned acclaim for its unique hybrid of soap opera and mob intrigue. "[Writers] are implementing their own imprints. As a result of that, they're bringing other black authors in under their umbrella. I think mainstream publishing is noticing that."
Amid this resurgence, Piper and Rogers established their own tiny umbrella on the Internet in 2002. C&B; Books Distribution eventually opened a kiosk at Jamaica Market in October and introduced its newest location in a compact corner store in Flushing in January.
The partners built their stock through consignment deals with self-published authors, advising writers through labor-intensive processes such as mission statements, cover design, press releases and book signings.
While she tirelessly provides encouragement and advice, Piper, 53, insists that no book will sell without its author's own follow-through.
"They have to be willing to get out," she said. "They can't just drop their book at the store and expect the stores to sell their book. We have our own business to run."
But the women treat the Queens Book Fair like a community service as much as they do a business endeavor.
The event, which offered seminars and workshops for published and unpublished writers alike, kicked off with a networking breakfast to help forge partnerships in New York's independent literary scene. Readers had the chance to meet and solicit advice from their favorite authors, as well.
"Harlem and Brooklyn, they already have their recognition - even the Bronx," Piper said. "Queens was very low-key, and it's just starting to blossom."
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