Triple crown winner: in the hot category of urban fiction, ex-offender Victoria Stringer self-published her story and launched her successful, independent press.

Urban fiction. Street fiction. Hip-hop fiction. This genre's growth by any name can be summed up in one word--"exploding" Since the popularity of Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever (Atria Books) in 1999, these novels have earned major space ha bookstores and have topped bestseller lists. Most of these novels began their amazing ascent as self-published novels.

Victoria M. Stringer, the author of Let That Be the Reason, was one of the first to venture into this arena. "I wrote this book five years ago. It came to me just months before I was released from prison" Stringer says. "I had never worked a job, I didn't go to college. I didn't know what 1 was going to do when I got out. So I prayed.

"God told me to use my life to warn others about the life that landed me in prison," Six weeks later, Stringer was free with two major possessions--a determination never to return to prison and a completed manuscript.

Stringer submitted it to all the major pub fishers. Within weeks, she had a collection of rejection letters. "I was turned down by everyone. But I knew what God had promised, so I decided to do it myself." After a bit of research, Stringer started her own publishing company, Triple Crown Publications, and published Let That Be the Reason in 2001. In just three weeks, she sold 1,500 copies. "All I did was write about my life. The story that sent me to prison was the source of my Success.

"Other writers began contacting me. I would help them, but I went to another level when one of the authors asked me to publish him."

From her own book to Gangsta, by K'wan (October 2002), to her latest publications, A Hutstler's Wife, by Nikki Turner (March 2003), [No. 1 on Black Issues Book Review's FLYING OFF THE SHELVES list] all of Triple Crown's books have been popular. The success wheel continues to turn. "Triple Crown Publications will publish 25 books this year," Stringer says.

This May, Triple Crown is releasing A Hood Legend by Victor Martin. In June, it will publish Larceny by Jason Poole. Other recent titles include A Project Chick by Nikki Turner (February 2004), Blinded by KaShamba Williams and Rage Times Fury by Trustice Gentles, all published in 2004. Sheisty by Tanisha Baker, Me & My Boyfriend by Keisha Ervin and Flip Side of the Game by TuShonda Williams, published in April.

What has made Triple Crown books so successful? "We know our market," says Stringer. "What we write is not urban fiction. It's not street fiction. It's hip-hop. We have addressed an audience that has said to the world, 'This is the music we want to listen to, this is the way we want to dress: Now they're saying: 'This is what they want to read.'"

Stringer does very specific marketing to reach her audience. "We are not all over the place," she says. "We hit people where they are, and we depend a lot on word of mouth. We sell our books on the streets. Once someone reads our books, they tell someone and they'll visit our Web site. A good number of our sales come from the Web. Our site gets more than 10,000 hits a day."

Joylynn Jossel, one of Triple Crown's authors, agrees with Stringer. Jossel, who is also published with St. Martin's Press, has entered the hip-hop fiction market with her novel Dollar Bill (July 2003).

"I didn't write this book with any genre in mind, but once Vickie [Stringer] saw it, she asked if she could publish it." Jossel believes the success of their novels come from one place--the lack of interest by mainstream publishers. "No one wanted to publish books for this audience," Jossel says. "I guess they believed these readers were too young." Jossel says all you have to do is look at history, reflecting on an earlier "street" novelist. "Donald Goines is (one of) the top-selling black authors ever. His death left a gap that we are just now filling. I give a lot of credit to Terri Woods, True to the Game (Meow Meow Productions, June 1999), who really stepped forth when she self-published her novel."

Like Stringer, Jossel says the genres sales success is no secret. "You can see we are writing stories young people can relate to," she says. "We are writing to a specific culture. Hip-hop fiction is grimy, from the hip. It is not written to provide people with an escape from life. It is real fife. We write what young adults ages sixteen to twenty-five want to read."

Although hip-hop fiction has shaken up the market, the books are not always met with acceptance. Many are critical of the way these books look--complaining of grammatical mistakes, editing challenges and sometimes inconsistent story lines.

"I'm hurt when I see some of the comments bookstore owners have made about these books," Jossel says. "Yes, we know that there are many things we can do better, and we're working on it. We want to continue to get better, because we're not just writing books. We're not just trying to make money. We're delivering a message--a point of hope. Some people have said we're just the flavor of the month, but at least we've gotten an entire new generation to read."

Victoria Christopher Murray, a contributing editor for BIBR, will release her next novel Truth Be Told (Touchstone) in July 2004.