……It wasn’t always easy for Ms. Jackson, but in this in-depth chat with Knowshi, the Florida-based trailblazer discusses her triumphs, trials and what she tells new novelists about making a place for themselves on bookshelves and among their peers.
KNOWSHI- It’s an honor to speak with such a pioneer in the publishing world, wow—-having written 100 books is AMAZING!
BRENDA JACKSON (BJ)- “Thank you for helping to spread the news! Terry [McMillan], I believe, is on her ninth book, and on average, most authors release one or 2 a year, but this year I’ve had 6 books come out. It’s a milestone that no other writer has reached and I don’t think people know, so I told Harlequin that my story needs to get out there. I appreciate Dallas giving media coverage because I’m making history!” (chuckles)
KNOWSHI- Indeed. First of all, can you tell me the differences in the romance industry back when you started versus the publishing world today?
BJ- “When I first decided that I would write a book, it was in the 1980s. I’m not going to say there were no African-American love stories, but there were very few. Vivian Stephens, who was the first black editor at Harlequin, she had gotten a couple [from black writers] in, but overall publishers had this belief that black romances doesn’t sell and that wasn’t their market by far. They didn’t think that anything was broken, why fix it?”
KNOWSHI- Seriously?
BJ- “We confronted publishers about publishing African-American books: some would tell us ‘absolutely not, we don’t have the market for it,’ end of conversation. But after my background in business and being a part of corporate America [State Farm], I understood their reasoning. I didn’t believe or accept it, but a publisher, like any other company, is in the business to make money. and if they don’t think their clientele will buy into this, they’re not going to waste their time.
Then Terry McMillan came onto the scene with Waiting to Exhale, and then they were looking for Exhale-type stories. I wasn’t writing about the men who misuse their women, abuse their women, I was writing about the romantic guy, the one being faithful to one woman, remembering her birthday, taking her out, date nights…(click here to read the rest at Knowshi.com)
