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Odds & Ends On The Web: December 15th Edition

12/15/2012

5 Comments

 
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I know this isn’t really book-related, but I think after the heartbreaking news of yesterday, we could all use this list:  26 Moments That Restored Our Faith in Humanity This Year.  Make sure to give your kids a couple of extra hugs today.

There were quite a few book-related and very thought-provoking posts this week, so I’m just going to jump right in:

Over at The Hub, YA Librarian Annie Schutte has a very comprehensive post about the various forms of whitewashing that she has encountered on YA covers, titled “It Matters If You’re Black or White: The Racism of YA Book Covers.”  In it, she cites many examples of the misrepresentations of race, cover-tinting, and obscuring of features that sometimes occur when publishers attempt to market books featuring people of color (perhaps under the assumption that Caucasian readers will not be interested if they don't see themselves on everything?).  Diana Peterfreund, author of one of the books cited in Schutte’s post, responds to the accusations that her cover has been whitewashed:

For Darkness Shows the Stars cover
“When you pick up the For Darkness book, you know what kind of story you are getting. And though her skin tone is lighter than described, she is not depicted as being a different race than she is in the book. That I would have a real problem with….”

And she goes on to say:

“And sometimes, readers just want something to bitch about. I have a friend who hand-picked the Asian-American model on her cover, only to get an email from a (white) reader that the model “wasn’t Asian enough.”

I guess I should fess up here that I was probably one of the main readers bitching about the cover of For Darkness Shows the Stars.  And while I’m glad that the author loves how the cover turned out, I still don’t feel like it at all represents the pages inside.  When I look at the cover, it makes me think of a space opera featuring soul-searching angst and willowy girlie-girls.  I'm not the only one who saw that cover and assumed that her story was "Persuasion in Space", either.  Peterfreund even chose to address that assumption on the book’s FAQ page, due to so many readers misinterpreting the stars on the cover.  And yes, I do think that the model pictured looks entirely Caucasian; whereas, Peterfreund’s description of her made me think she was Asian or Hispanic.  So I guess I have to stand by my bitchery.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Foz Meadows talks about the importance of sex positivity in YA novels, for girls in particular – to which I basically want to give a standing ovation.

The Wall Street Journal had a very interesting article last week about pen names and why they’re often used by female authors to disguise gender.  According to research cited by the article, “four out of five men said the last novel they had read was written by a man. Women were almost as likely to have read a book by a man as a woman….”  This study and others have apparently encouraged publishers and writers to use male pen names – under the assumption that male readers will turn their noses up at any book penned by a female author.  So, apparently we’re just going to force female authors to cater to a subset of the reading population?  And probably perpetuate the root of this problem in the bargain (ie, the prejudice that some men have against female authors)?  Yay.

Over at Stacked, Kelly has some interesting discussion points about the nomination process for the Morris Award, in which only debut novelists are eligible.  Should self-published works be considered or not?

And in somewhat related news, Hugh Howey’s Wool series became the latest self-published work to be acquired by a major publishing house (Simon & Schuster).

Lastly, this bit of news is very exciting for my younger self: Caroline Cooney will be publishing the final installment (I didn’t even know there were sequels!!) of the Janie Johnson series next year.  Many of you will probably remember The Face on The Milk Carton as required reading in the seventh grade – or if not, then surely you recall the fantastically horrible movie starring Kelly Martin?

That’s all for this week!  Stop by and let me know what I missed!

5 Comments
Keertana @ Ivy Book Bindings link
12/15/2012 07:01:55 am

Can I just mention that I love, love, LOVE that article about sex positivity in YA? I feel like every week there are more and more articles about sex in YA and this is a GOOD thing. I feel like people need to just accept this and come to see that it really IS a good thing and that sex shouldn't be as hushed up as we all pretend it is. I was talking to a couple of my friends the other day about how in Europe, sex is so much more accepted and how much better that is. We were specifically discussing a character from the BBC edition of Sherlock and how some of the scenes she played would have been censored or taken out if it were to air in the US, merely because she was proud of her sexuality. Even my own parents find it incredibly uncomfortable to acknowledge that I know about sex and my mom admitted that she hates to watch movies when a sudden sex scene comes along because it makes her feel uncomfortable just to know that I know about sex. It's such an important discussion though, so I'm glad it's the getting the attention it deserves and hopefully the way sex is approached with teens will change. I definitely think that if I hadn't been a teenager who read so widely, I'd be a much different person and probably not even recognize some relationships to be abusive, much like I never realized that about Twilight the first time I picked it up. (I was sane enough to recognize that Bella was insane in New Moon, though.) Similarly, exposure to sex in literature can only have a positive impact on shaping young women to be assertive and recognize the type of relationships that are healthy from those that aren't. Anyway, thanks a bunch for sharing that article! :)

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Andrea
12/15/2012 07:56:01 am

The character description for "For Darkness..." makes it sound like she's intended to be part Maori. Nothing about the cover image suggests Maori in any way. It's a very pretty picture, but doesn't seem to match the description the author cites.

The Hugh Howey news is interesting because it's a print-only deal - which publishers keep saying they'll never, ever do, but in this case has translated to "hot enough property where the author kept saying 'no, I won't sell you e-rights'" until S&S agreed to print only.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
12/15/2012 09:01:08 am

This guy is very business savvy, no doubt. Not only did he get a huge deal (between 250-500K per PW), he kept his ebook royalties at 70% instead of 18% I think. That's smart, especially if his books really take off.

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Cassi Haggard link
12/15/2012 12:35:04 pm

I found the article about racism, whitewashing and YA covers interesting but I too felt that at times she was reaching with her conclusions.

I personally like silhouette covers. I don't think you can imply they were intentionally made that way to obscure race. When I look at my bookshelves on goodreads I can find quite a few of these variety where the character is either white or it's never outrightly stated. (Long Lankin, Variant, Fitz, Plain Kate, etc).

The discussion of race and whitewashing YA is important to have but I think you need to be careful not to reach when you're drawing conclusion. Just because someone's race is obscured does not always mean the intention is to trick the reader into thinking the MC is white. Sometimes it just fits the book quite well & is an interesting graphic choice.

From her list I would use Same Sun Here an example of a beautifully well done cover. I'm not sure how else they could've expressed the two world of the two pen pals, giving each equal significance with the cover art. It shows the New York & Appalachia both. Both of the characters are main characters sharing the different worlds they live in and the cover captures that.

Or another example, the Diamonds in the Desert, I can tell the characters are Asian from the first time I look at anything other than a thumbnail.

Just because they are plastered with the big face stock art trend does not mean the purpose is to obscure race. That could be part of the decision making process, or maybe not at all.

I don't really have the answers to this discussion. I do think there is whitewashing, but I think you have to be careful with what you call whitewashing.

In bright news, covers that do it right I want to mention Breadcrumbs. Girl on cover matches girl in book just right. http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/10637959-breadcrumbs

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
12/16/2012 09:12:06 am

Yes, certainly it would be very interesting to see some further research - for example, how often are these same artistic methods used when the main characters are white? As you say, it could very well just be coincidence and not used to intentionally obscure race. However, I do feel that true whitewashing of YA covers does happen and I think it's good to spread awareness about it.

I love that cover too! :)

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