Window on the book world: Calvin Reid plays a major role inside a leading trade publication.

When Calvin Reid began reporting on the book industry for Publishers Weekly in 1986, the industry itself looked a lot different than it does now. "There is so much more to cover now than there was when I first started writing at Publishers Weekly," he says.

Reid is now an editor for Publishers Weekly, the de facto bible of the industry. The trade publication has undergone changes in recent months, including the appointment of a new editor-in-chief, Sara Nelson, to challenge growing competition.

Although Reid's name might not elicit immediate reaction, his power is undeniable as an editor in the news department of the weekly magazine.

"There are times, after the fact, you reflect and realize that you have a big impact," he reveals. "The things that go into the magazine can help a book and help the industry."

Besides covering the business of publishing, he also reports on electronic publishing and runs the comics department.

A self-proclaimed comics nut, Reid was instrumental in launching the section, which also covers the emerging graphic novel genre. He was an editor of three graphic novels for Reed Press, a start-up by the company that owns Publishers Weekly

A Place for Us

Reid's presence has expanded the overall coverage of African American publishing, his other area of expertise. He also heads the magazine's annual African American issue.

Reid took over the coverage of African American publishing in the early '90s when it broke out of the box as black authors earned popularity and attitudes started to shift.

"For some time" Reid admits, "there was a sense that black people didn't read books and not a sense that books weren't being published that black people wanted to read. I took over the feature when those ideas changed dramatically."

Although Reid, who is 53-years-old, has now covered the publishing industry for nearly 20 years, his journalism career was accidental. "I didn't plan to be in the book publishing industry," he says." I came to New York [in 1981] to be an artist." Reid, who is from Washington, D.C., has a degree in art education from Howard University and masters in printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University.

He made ends meet working as a typist at Library Journal, but when a job as an assistant to the news editor opened at the sister publication, Publishers Weekly, Reid "figured I could write news stories, and still be an artist.

"It would be a little bit more interesting and they would pay me a little bit more money," he says.

His job keeps him more than satisfied because of its broader connections. "That's what's so exciting about writing for Publishers Weekly," he adds. "Although you are writing about a trade, you are invariably writing about the culture, if you love books, you can't ask for a better job."

Reid says publishing houses still have things to learn about marketing black books to their primary audience. "It is a good idea to market black books to black people," he says.

"In order for the books to really be financially successful, you have to make sure that the audience that would really like them knows about them."

He says lack of diversity in employment also haunts the publishing industry. "I am not going to portray that the industry doesn't like black people, and that they can't get in and make a mark, because they definitely can," he says.

"But there still aren't a lot of black people in publishing, especially as editors and executives."

Felicia Pride is the founder/editor of BackList (www.thebacklist.net), a publishing and literary newsletter.