I’ve noticed that bookstores are not consistent in the way that they shelve books by African American authors. Sometimes they are shelved in the AA section, and other times I’ll find them in the general fiction section. Sometimes, if it’s a romance, it’ll be in the romance section.

I wish there was a way for the bookstores to automatically place books by AA authors in the AA interest section(for those who only read Black books, like the people I was speaking of in yesterday’s post) AND to place them along with their genre of fiction. For example, I’d like to see my romance novels shelved in the romance section AND the AA section. I’ve even entered bookstores, and if they have multiple copies of my book, I’ll take one or two and place it in the AA section, so that those browsing in that section will see my titles.

I guess it’s hard to find a consistent method for all bookstores to follow, but it would be great to find a way so that the books by AA authors could be easily found by all parties interested in these novels.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com