Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant are co-authors of several books including Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made which has sold 800,000 copies to date.  A few days ago they provided BookSwim with a guest post with an interesting perspective on the most recent Publisher’s Weekly cover which was extremely controversial.  I decided to follow up their guest post with an interview to find out more about these two authors.

Virginia & Donna - How did this union begin?
Virginia - Before we began writing together, we were both plus-sized models in NYC.  Donna was in the biz for a year and a half before I joined.  After a short stint, I ended up going to the business side of things.  I became the Editor in Chief of Maxima magazine (a magazine for sized 14+ women).  Donna came and joined me and we worked on the magazine together of over a year.  On New Years Eve of 1987 as a result of the economic crash, we got a call from the magazine’s backers saying “Thanks so much, we’re not going forward with this.”  Donna and I discussed options and decided to write a book together.  We picked up a copy of How to Write a Romance and Get It Published by Kathryn Falk and began our journey.  Our first book, Exposures was based off a romance template.  We got an agent and the book was sold within 2 weeks with only the proposal and first two chapters.

There was a large lull between 1990 and 1997 when we searched for a new agent and tried to decide what book to write next.  Finally, we came up with Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made which published in 1997.

Who handles all your twitter/blog/internet presence?
Virginia - I do.  Donna isn’t much for all the social media and e-mail, so I handle that aspect of things.

Have there been any studies about how well a book sold if it has been displayed in two different sections?
Virginia - I think a book should be displayed in all applicable sections.  I understand that publishers control the co-ops and advertising displays, but when it comes to a store cataloging items as “Fiction,” “Science Fiction,” etc, if a book appropriately fits multiple genres, it should be displayed in all.  After Donna and I wrote our open letter to Oprah, that set off an interesting firestorm of “stuff.”  A dozen or so other authors also shared in our views.  The recent Publishers Weekly article and a New York Times article made it seem as if all black people are only interested in all black things.  It is because of this that having a book just displayed in the “African American Literature” section is bothersome.

What are your thoughts on the “African American Lit” section in book stores?
Virginia - Both Donna and I are of the belief that there should not be a separate category for African American fiction.  What happens today is that what you mainly see is urban lit, street lit, and erotica.  When I look at these books, I know that it is not the stuff that I want to read.  Our books end up on the same table even though we are very much a different type of fiction.  Our books would make a better fit within Women’s Fiction.

How would you describe your books?
Virginia - We write Women’s Lit because most of our main characters are women, and our stories are about mothers, daughters, etc - women.  Our themes are friendship, and family.  We write about women’s lives and the kinds of things that all women go through no matter what their race.

Do you have any advice for an aspiring African American writer who is looking to get published?
Vriginia - In today’s market it is so hard to give any advice as we’ve just heard the most horrible things about what people have been looking for.  Publishers are looking for street-lit, erotica, or christian, otherwise it won’t sell.  As a writer, if you have a broader vision of yourself and the stories you want to tell, you absolutely must tell the best story you can.   Hope that your hard work and efforts will pay off.  The publishers are trying to catch up while things change much faster than they can keep up with.  Publishers are very reactive and not very proactive.  What you really have to do is be true to the story you wish to tell, and tell it the best way you possibly can and put it out there.  You have to be afraid for an uphill battle.  Publishing isn’t working on developing the young new talent.  They want big numbers, if you don’t, they won’t give you a next book.

I still think that what we do is a very noble part of human history - that storytellers have been the keepers of what has transpired - factually and in fiction since the beginning of time.  Writers are valuable to culture and always have been in every culture and every country.  There will never be a time where there won’t be storytellers.  We need to figure out how we can continue to be storytellers in a marketplace that is constantly in flux.

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Thank you Virginia and Donna for your time and your contributions to the literary world!

-Nick