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If you& #39;re curious, American Dirt has Bookscanned (sold) over 300,000 copies. It& #39;s that a lot? I& #39;m on the bestseller lists with Mexican Gothic with a total of 10,000 copies sold in. 2 weeks. On Goodreads ppl love American Dirt. It& #39;s huge. Now why do I bring this stuff up? https://twitter.com/PublishersWkly/status/1284548604540190729">https://twitter.com/Publisher...
Because a lot of the stuff surrounding that controversy revolved around people thinking Latin American and Latinx ppl were a bunch of jealous assholes. But really, it sprang from the huge chasm publishing had created between POC and white writers. And the poor support POC get.
Now I& #39;m not saying *I* am getting poor support right now. Things are good in Silvia land. But getting here has been a long, sometimes horrific trip and I don& #39;t think others understand how that can be almost traumatic.
The whole question of POC in lit sometimes gets reduced to "but why can& #39;t white people write about X?" Which, I actually don& #39;t care if someone who is white writers about X. But the problem is nobody asks the opposite question: But why can& #39;t Latinas write about X?
Because publishing does erect barriers for us. It thinks ah, man, Latinas writing *romance*? Nah, get back in there and tell a tale of immigrant suffering. That& #39;s your lane. And obviously it& #39;s not just a problem with one community, I& #39;m sure Black writers are pressured to write Y.
And it& #39;s not just publishing as in a publishing house. It& #39;s reviewers! And librarians! When readers expect a story by someone from my part of the world to come with maracas it& #39;s pretty disheartening. It& #39;s an ecosystem that is still not comfy with certain voices.
I was talking to someone in publishing and they said the success of Mexican Gothic is going to open doors to other writers. And by God, people in pub, I hope it does. I hope you use it as a comp title. I hope it allows you to glimpse other possibilities.
(Because my greatest fear right now is that you& #39;re going to Highlander me. So don& #39;t do that shit!
signed, me.)
signed, me.)
PS: I checked the Bookscan and American Dirt actually has Bookscanned 370,000 copies, so closer to 400,000. That& #39;s just hardcovers. Digital it& #39;s sold over 200,000.
AD sold the same year I was trying to shop a crime novel (UNTAMED SHORE) & I was told by a publisher it was good, but they would never purchase a crime book set in Mexico because it wouldn& #39;t sell. UNTAMED SHORE sold to Polis/Agora, a tiny company. It got 2 starred reviews.
Polis/Agora ran a 2,000 hardcover print run and I got a $500 advance on signing, plus glowing reviews. This spring we were again trying to sell a different crime novel... which nobody wanted either. Which is ok because I have a dayjob which I& #39;ll never quit so I can wait around.
