Any Bloggers Out There ... Or Anyone With A Following ...

[R.A.]

I'm volunteering, but I've learned to only recommend books I've actually read. I like that books are diverse, but unfortunately a lot of the indie books (and not just diverse ones, don't get me wrong) are badly written or focused on sex, and that just isn't the kind of thing I can promote on my family blog, if you know what I mean. So I'll check out the book, and if it looks good, I'll read it. If I like it, I'll promote it.
Thanks for doing this. It's a worthy cause!

[R.A.]

My husband's going to give me grief for buying a book with a half naked man on the front! But it's not categorized as romance, so hopefully I won't be unpleasantly surprised...

[Andrea]

Love that cover! I hope there's a hot love interest. The story blurb sounds like it might be. (Sorry, R.A. I tastes seem to be different. tee hee)

[[deleted user]]

Is there anything I could do

[Samuel]

It's a sad state of affairs, but in this country, in today's world, Racism is still a serious issue. Maybe it will always be. I don't pretend to know. What I do know is that I'm not surprised by this author's problem at all; and I truly wish that wasn’t the case. Now I’m not saying that her followers outright think racist thoughts...quite the contrary. I'd be willing to bet that many of them don't even realize that they are doing it. People are instinctively drawn to what they feel that they can relate to, or what's closest to them, or what is hammered into them as children. While not all fantasy and YA readers are necessarily middle class white teenagers, they do tend to make up the strong majority. And they, with their dollars, tend to dictate what books sell. Often to the detriment of minority writers and readers. And often based solely off of cover art.

As an upcoming high fantasy writer myself (African-American), my cover art has been one of the foremost thoughts in my mind for the past year. I wanted to catch the attention of the already present white fan base, while not alienating the minority fan base who are looking for something different. Personally, because of this and the fact that I didn’t want to be shoehorned into categories that did not truly represent my work, I decided not to have my main characters on the cover of my book; who are a black king and his daughter. Instead I opted for an Anne Rice-like approach as with the 20th Anniversary release of her masterpiece, Interview With the Vampire. I plan on having a still life showcasing important objects that hold a particular significance to the story and its characters. This is a parlor trick that Jen Greyson could try which could both offer up interesting alternate cover art ideas and also allow her to retain the original spirit of the work.

I would tell her however NOT to change the cover art if she wants her lead to be present there. If the lead is Latina then there is nothing wrong with having that lead on the cover. It’s the right thing to do. Don’t compromise your work and give into the flawed nature of modern society and allow backwards views to persist. Fight for what’s right. Besides, the readers that she kept after the artwork of the second book was revealed are the ones that she wants to keep. You don’t want your ethnic readers to see that you are opting not to showcase them in favor of another race. It’s just not a good idea. Besides, it should not matter what the color and race of your characters are. What should matter is the story itself. And the readers who have stuck with you thus far understand that and some of them are probably thrilled that you are doing something different in this respect. Don’t brush them off.
When my second book releases, I hope to be able to join these fellow authors in bucking the societal norms as I plan to start filtering in characters onto the covers as my series progresses also. I just have to ensure that people look at the body of my work first and the race of my characters second before I do.  I wish all of these authors luck in all of their future endeavors.

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012/...

[R.A.]

I read and reviewed Echo's Wolf. I enjoyed it, minus the sex and profanity. Actually, I wonder if those who like more romance will like it, since it's pretty light throughout most of the book. I'm interested in seeing what you all have to say about it.
I'm not clever enough to know how to link to my review on goodreads or amazon (if anyone knows how, please share!) so I'll link it from my blog if anyone is interested in reading my full review. http://rawhitebooksandmore.weebly.com.... Deva, thanks for recommending this book. PS. I had to edit this with the correct link, so I guess I don't even know how to link to a blog properly. Yeesh.

[R.A.]

I read your review, and I think we have some common feelings on what we like and don't. I'll be following your reviews from now on.