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AuthorReaders and publishing industry experts lament under-representation hispanic The stories have made their way into the mainstream world of books, but have also found new ways to elevate literature and resolve misconceptions.
“The stories are more diverse now than they were ten years ago,” Carman said. AlvarezA book on influencers Instagram And tiktok,
Some publishers, independent booksellers and book influencers are furthering the notion of a seamless experience by making Hispanic stories more visible and discoverable to book lovers.
Despite the annual celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month in the US from September 15 to October 15, the growth of online book retailers and limited marketing budgets for stories about people of color have been major obstacles to increasing that representation. Beyond the immigrant experience, there is an emphasis on ethnically authentic stories about Latinos.
“I think we’re moving away from the immigration story, the struggle story,” said Alvarez, known as “TomesAndTextiles” on Bookstagram and the Bookstok, Instagram and TikTok social media communities. “I think my content is meant to push back against the lack of representation.”
Latinos in the publishing industry
According to census data, Latinos currently make up about 20% of the US population.
However, the National Hispanic Media Coalition estimates that Latinos represent only 8% of employees in publishing in 2023, according to the Latino Representation in Publishing Coalition.
NHMC President and CEO Brenda Castillo said the coalition works directly with publishing houses to highlight Latino voices and promote their existing Latino staff.
“Publishing houses are the ones with the power to make change,” Castillo said.
Some Hispanic writers are creating niches for their work to find interested readers. Award-winning children’s authors Mayra Cuevas and Alex Villasante co-founded a book festival and storytellers conference in 2024 to showcase authors and illustrators from their communities.
“We were very intentional in creating programming to advance the craft and professional development,” Cuevas said. “And providing attendees access to the publishing industry, and most importantly, creating a space for community connection and engagement.”
Villasante said the festival and conference allowed him to maintain himself in the publishing industry, while giving others a road map to success in an industry that is not always willing to mass-produce his work.
“We are not getting our representation,” Villasante said. “I believe that is changing, but it is a slow change so we have to continue to try to make that change.”
go mainstream
New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, a Mexican-Canadian novelist best known for the novels “Mexican Gothic” and “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau,” is one of the few Hispanic writers who has been able to break into the mainstream. But she said it was not easy.
Moreno-Garcia recalled one of her first publisher rejections: the editor appreciated the quality of the story but said it would not sell because it was set in Mexico.
Moreno-Garcia said, “There are systems built within publishing that make it very difficult to achieve the regular distribution that is built naturally into other books.” “Sometimes there’s a resistance to sharing some of these books.”
Award-winning author and poet Cynthia Pelayo said that a marketing campaign is often the difference maker in terms of a book’s success. Authors of color often want more promotional support from their publishers, he said.
“I’ve seen extraordinary Latino novels that haven’t received the same amount of marketing, promotion, that some of their white colleagues have,” Pelayo said. “What happens in that situation (is) that their books are put elsewhere in the bookstore, while these white colleagues, their books are put up front.”
However, Hispanic Heritage Month helps draw some attention to Hispanic writers, he said.
independent bookstores
Independent bookstores continue to pursue Hispanic stories. A 2024 report by the American Booksellers Association found that of 323 new independent bookstores, 60 were owned by people of color. According to Latinx in Publishing, a network of publishing industry professionals, there are 46 Hispanic-owned bookstores in the US.
Online book retailer Bookshop.org highlights Hispanic books and offers a discount for readers during Hispanic Heritage Month. A representative of the site, Ellington McKenzie, said that the site has been able to provide financial support for approximately 70 Latino bookstores.
“People always want to support minority-owned bookstores and we are happy to be the connection,” McKenzie said.
Chava Magana, owner of Palabras Bilingual Bookstore in Phoenix, said she was inspired to open the store because she felt there was a lack of diversity and representation in the books taught in Arizona schools.
“Growing up, I didn’t experience a lot of diversity in literature in schools.” Magana said. “I wasn’t seeing myself in the stories I was reading.”
30% to 40% of the books for sale at Palabras Bilingual are Latino stories, he said.
Magana said hearing people say they’ve never seen so much representation in a bookstore has brought her to tears.
“The most gratifying thing for me is seeing what an impact it has on other people’s lives,” he said. “The thing that inspires me is that other people are inspired to do things, that people are inspired when they see a variety of books in the store.”