Cruising for Book Sales.

Black authors meet and greet on the high seas 

Blame it on "The Love Boat" the long-running television series that permanently wedded the notion of cruising and romance into the American psyche.

Four years ago, Emma Rodgers of Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas was trying to come up with a different approach for her store's third annual Romance Slam Jam. The answer came easily as Rodgers decided a cruise ship would make the perfect venue for the event.

"Cruisin' on the Sea of Love," the 1997 Romance Slam Jam, set sail July 27 on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas on the Carnival ship Fantasy with eight romance writers and their fans on board. "It was a wonderful event," said Rodgers. "Other passengers on the ship joined us for a series of on-board workshops and author presentations." During one event, African American and Bahamian writers read from their works. The local television station covered it and interviewed participants for the nightly news.

The 1998 Romance Slam Jam featured author Gwynne Forster on a seven-day cruise on the Carnival ship Inspiration. For Forster, being the only author on a romance cruise that included several ports of call had great advantages. "I developed new reader possibilities for my work," noted Forster. "At each port Mrs. Rodgers introduced me to local booksellers and gave them copies of my books, which I autographed." While there, Forster did radio and newspaper interviews, and gave a lecture on fiction writing and submitting one's manuscript. After each presentation, Forster sold books. "We sold every copy we brought," she said. But romance fans are not the only readers choosing to set sail with their favorite authors. In recent years, the number of African American literary cruises has increased. Booksellers and readers and writers--of all genres--are enjoying the sand, sun, and surf in tropical ports of call. More and more people on cruise ships seem to be discovering the advantages of curling up with a good book or someone who's read one!

Pamela Harrison works for an e-commerce firm in North Carolina. After she moved from Atlanta to Charlotte, she became increasingly frustrated by how African American books were marketed. "I love to read and I love book signings because I get to meet the authors in person, to put a face with a person's work," said Harrison. "I began to think, `If I could see authors in any way I wanted to, how could I do it?'" The answer: a literary cruise.

Harrison shopped the idea around to several authors, found them receptive and with the help of a travel agent, put her plan into action. To market the cruise, she created a web page and invited bookstores and book clubs to include links from their sites about the cruise. She mailed brochures, sent out e-mails, and ran ads. Through word-of-mouth and the Internet, more than 170 people from 15 states, including Iowa and Alaska, set sail. B.L.A.C.K.'s (Black Literary Authors Cruise Konnection) maiden voyage on Carnival's Fantasy was a book lover's dream. Journalist and horror writer Tananarive Due and her husband, science fiction author Steven Barnes; Victoria Christopher Murray, writer of inspirational fiction; and nonfiction writer Patrice Gaines were on board. Authors Yolanda Joe, Omar Tyree, Lolita Files, and Eric Jerome Dickey also made the voyage. The program consisted of scheduled activities and presentations by authors--including an 8 a.m. pajama party reading by Dickey.

"It was familiar, yet different," said participant Yolanda Joe. "It's much like a session in a bookstore. You talk with readers, make a short presentation, read from your work and take questions and answers. Only the venue is different."

Donna Bozeman, who manages a bookstore in Anchorage, Alaska, was intrigued when she read about the cruise. "We don't always get what's available stateside and very few African American authors reach us on tour," she said. "I enjoyed the interaction between readers and authors, whether it was hearing Yolanda Joe talk about her grandmother's admonition: `Girl, get yourself a fur, or listening to authors I had read explaining where their characters came from. I was in book heaven."

Harrison is now planning a Y2K cruise with more than a dozen authors for five days and four nights in the Grand Cayman Islands in September.

Planning a themed cruise is not for the faint of heart, said Annette Vendryes Leach, president of the Black Literary Club in New York. Leach organized a literary cruise to the Bahamas two years ago. The three-day getaway cruise, primarily for women, "Body and Soul Days of Renewal: Sex, Spirit and Literature" took a year to plan. The program featured Brooke M. Stephens (Men We Cherish: African-American Women Praise the Men in Their Lives), Gail Elizabeth Wyatt (Stolen Women: Reclaiming Our Sexuality: Taking Back Our Lives) and Donna Marie Williams (Black-Eyed Peas for the Soul: Tales to Strengthen the African American Spirit and Encourage the Heart). "It was a lot of work" said Leach.

Linda Boozer, president of Black Diamond Summit Tours in Denver, agrees. Her travel agency specializes in what she calls "upscale travel experiences for African Americans." Boozer's tours have included the Essence Music Festival, Sinbad's Soul Music Festival, and the Acapulco Black Film Festival. Boozer explained that a travel agency needs to know the theme for the cruise, the anticipated size of the group, sailing dates, itinerary, and budget. For themed cruises of 10 or more, group rates can be negotiated.

Book Lovers on Holiday

The African American Book Club Summit will hold a five-day cruise to Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico, leaving from Galveston, Texas, aboard the Carnival cruise line in October. The event is cosponsored by a group of black book clubs in Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, and Delaware. Workshops and activities are geared toward readers, book clubs, and aspiring writers. Participating authors include Eric Jerome Dickey, Anita Richmond Bunkley, Evelyn Coleman, Kathleen Cross, Van Whitfield, Jewel Parker Rhodes, Lolita Files, Kimberla Lawson Roby, and Parry Brown.

In April 2001, Ruth Bridges of Atlantic Book Post is extending her successful literary salons to the high seas. Unlike the programs held in New York, Chicago, Savannah, Scottsdale, and other cities, there will be no authors traveling with the group. "The cruise will focus on Caribbean women authors as we go to Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico for eight days on the Dawn Princess" said Bridges. In Trinidad, for example, Roslyn Carrington, author of A Thirst for Rain, will be waiting for Bridges' group. "We will meet for lunch, discuss her writing and her island, have a book signing, and we will go shopping" Bridges notes enthusiastically.

For more information

African-American Book Club Summit www.pageturner.net/cruise [phone]

Linda Boozer Black Diamond Summit Tours Denver, CO www.bdsummit.com [phone]

Donna Bozeman,participant B.L.A.C.K. Cruise Anchorage, AK Manager of Waldenbooks [phone]

Ruth Bridges Atlantic Book Post Alexandria, VA www.atlanticbookpost.com [phone]

Gwynne Forster, author www.tlt.com/authors/gforster.com [e-mail]

Pam Harrison Black Literary Authors Cruise Konnection (B.L.A.C.K.) www.myfreeoffice.com/blackcruise [phone]

Yolanda Joe, author c/o Random House New York, NY 212-751-2600

Emma Rodgers Black Images Book Bazaar Dallas, TX www.blackimages.com [phone] [e-mail]