I am sure the title of this week's blog post threw you off. You may have wondered, “What kind of crazy question even is this?” or “Why would a person do such a thing?”Sadly, someone did do this and she did it repeatedly. I am sure many of you are familiar with the TikTok drama surrounding Only For The Week by Natasha Bishop (a fabulous book by a fabulous author, btw. I highly recommend!) and she who shall not be named. Basically, she who shall not be named trashed Ms. Bishop’s work, literally booing it, over a series of videos. Not one… A SERIES! As my mama would say, there is a way to do anything! That includes reviewing a book and the way she who shall not be named did it was not it.
This controversy is a lot deeper than what it may appear to be at face value. It is just one glimpse into a widespread problem. There are so many issues in this particular situation that make it a hot topic. The first is that Natasha Bishop is an Indie Author, a Black Indie Author, at that. The next is the power that content creators hold and what their words and recommendations mean. Lastly, we all know our preferences as readers and tend to stay away from books that we know we would not be interested in. Doing this prevents what we all had to unfortunately witness. Let’s dive into why this is such a hot topic and why it is way bigger than it seems.
It is one thing to be an author backed by a traditional publishing company and all its resources. It is a completely different thing when you are doing everything all on your own. I am not saying one is better than the other; they are both commendable achievements and they each come with their pros, cons, difficulties, and such. Still, we cannot diminish the work Indie Authors, particularly Black Indie Authors, have to put in to do what it is that they do. They are not just authors. They often have to become graphic designers, editors, web designers, and everything else needed to produce and market a book (or they have to come out of their pockets to outsource it to others). They do not have a massive marketing team to combat the sometimes negative words of content creators/influencers whom others look to for book recs.
The term influencer is one that we hear a good deal. Many people want to be full-time influencers, but almost anybody with a social media platform, no matter how big or small, can be categorized as an influencer. If you share what you read, watch, or listen to, and share your opinion, suggesting whether or not people should consume those works as well, you are potentially an influencer. This is a very big responsibility to have especially when you are giving your opinion on someone who already is up against so many obstacles. Now, I am not at all saying that people cannot critique particular books. Many authors welcome the feedback, even critical because it helps improve. But it is one thing to say how you feel about a book. It is wholly another to completely bash it. This is especially so when the main reason for bashing said book is that this is not a genre or content that you as a reader enjoy reading.
As both an author and a reader, I have preferences on books that I will and will not read and genres that I will and will not write. This goes for most readers and most authors. Of course, there are those who want to step outside their bubbles and into foreign spaces. Many do this without a truly open mind or any intent to render a fair review. Upon arrival, they are taken aback by the things they find when they knew from jump that they would not like the book. It is okay to only read a certain genre of books or a certain type of books. But people shouldn’t try something new, and then bash it because they don’t particularly like the genre as a whole. It is even more damaging to follow it up and tell people not to read the book. I do not believe she who shall not be named picked up Only for the Week with any good intentions or expectations. In the end, regardless of her opinion about a book, discouraging others from forming their own opinions is unfair.
This situation reflects that internalized racism affects our judgment about Black creatives and their work and we as Black authors and readers must acknowledge, interrogate, and combat it. Seeing a Black person giggling while clearly admitting she is reading a Black-authored book solely because it is Black History Month is so sad. Do our works not merit consideration or consumption the rest of the year? Unfortunately, for many Black readers, the answer is yes. They have accepted the narrative that Black authors are lacking, write poorly, and are one-dimensional. They are dismissive of our content, what they perceive as our singular writing style, and our right even to take up space as authors. The amount of anti-Blackness present in some spaces that are supposedly set aside for Black people is sickening. It reminds me of something I used to tell my students: “This is the way that White supremacy works even when White people are not in the room.“
As an urban romance author, the amount of disdain, misunderstanding, and condescension that I see from Black people toward works like mine is truly disheartening.
Don't tell us you dislike us because we write about trauma or disparity when you'll turn right around and read a book about a fantasy post-apocalyptic world in which people most often deal with devastation, rebuilding, and oppression. You are ignoring the fact that many Black people are writing about Black lives, relationships, and struggles, post-apocalypse—our apocalypse was the devastation of Atlantic slavery.
I am not saying Black people cannot be critical of or dislike works created by Black people. But when that dislike encompasses huge swaths of Black creations and is juxtaposed with an avowed or visible preference for works created by others and a willingness to give those creators grace, some self-reflection is merited!
Oh, and if you don’t believe she who shall not be named has internalized anything from a history of colonization, go find her video where she reveals her desire to “discover” people/works as if they do not exist without her intervention. That is Christopher Columbus-ism at its finest! (Or maybe lowest.)
Well, that's enough of my rant— I could expound on this topic for hours. Instead, I am off to write and as always,
Blissful Reading
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