However, the good news is this. The increase that is witnessed in the number of African American books can be attributed, by and large, not only to more Black publishing companies, Black editors, but to self-published books. Given the advent of desktop publishing, the Internet, and Black book clubs, many writers are taking control of our destines and empowering ourselves by publishing our own stories.

So consider these questions. What are other ways having more Black books have helped? Is it easier to get published by mainstream as a Black writer, in a tight publishing market? Why is self-publishing so important, particularly for Black writers, if you can't get your books published by mainstream? To encourage other writers to pen their stories, here are some of the good things Black literature has brought to this country.

1. Salvation. To paraphrase Toni Cade Bambara, fiction snatches you back from the edge as a Black person in America.

2. Continuity with your ancestors. To paraphrase Toni Morrison, "If you are not writing about the Village which you come from then you are not writing about anything."

3. A reading audience who is eager to see stories that reflect their reality.

4. A way of restoring history which was not allowed to be written down in the past.

5. A way of lifting up the next generation through the printed word, in addition to our oral tradition, which is reflected in rap, Hip Hop, and Poetry.

6. A way of promoting racial understanding for other ethnic groups. I learn a lot about other parts of the Diaspora when I read books by Haitian Americans, or when I read Chinese American literature, or any other culture's literature.

Recently, a teacher told me at a book signing, that a study was done at her school. It was found that all the little Black girls said that their image of beauty was still a blond, blue-eyed child. Imagine! This was December, 1999! It reminds me of the tragic tale in Toni Morrison's book, The Bluest Eyes, where the scourged Black child, Pecola, went insane, all because she wanted blue eyes. This book's setting was circa 1940.

My point is this. If we keep writing our stories down, we, as African American writers, may not ever have parity in the world of books. But at the same time, we won't have another generation of little Black girls playing white, like my friends and I did, with scarves and towels draped over our hair, which we felt wasn't beautiful enough. Or perhaps, we won't have little girls going crazy like the fictional Pecola did.

Copyright 2006 Black Butterfly Press