Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thank You, We Did It! Magic of Glass cover is changing

Bloomsbury is changing the Magic Under Glass cover!
You can read the press release here

But I copied and pasted it here as well

Bloomsbury is ceasing to supply copies of the US edition of Magic Under Glass. The jacket design has caused offense and we apologize for our mistake. Copies of the book with a new jacket design will be available shortly.

Yes, Yes, Yes! Huge, huge THANK YOUs and hugs to everyone who commented, wrote letters/emails, Tweeted about this and wrote blog posts and signed the petition and joined challenges and just all around rocked my socks :) You guys are the greatest and I will be one of the first in line to buy this book with a person of color on the cover (I will be annoyed if they get rid of having a person on the cover all together). ETA: Read about the cover here, there will be a poc on the cover! Whoo hoo!!!!! It's going to be gorgeous I can feel it and very different. A historical fantasy book with a POC :D

And for the record, no I was not contacted by Bloomsbury but who cares as long as they are changing the cover! Although, I'm irritated that they haven't admitted as to why what they did is offense and WRONG.

Is this the end? No. This can never happen again, the whitewashing on covers. Not on my watch. I'm currently looking into the The Mysterious Benedict Society series whitewashed covers, as pointed out by Bookshelves of Doom. And we still need more books being published and reviewed about people of color, but one step at a time. And this is a BIG step, since it proves once again the power of thousands of voices uniting as one and being heard and the power of bloggers. Thank you all for refusing to be silenced and realizing why this is so important.

Please still sign this petition telling all publishing companies that you will buy a book with a poc, GLBT or overweight teen on the cover (currently at 304 signatures, keep 'em coming!). Also commit to reading and reviewing books about POC, write a blog post or better yet to help you get started, join the POC Reading Challenge.

Read Jaclyn Dolamore's thoughts on the cover issue (before she knew it was being redesigned I think) here

Oh and I'm thinking to celebrate the changed cover and the 200 followers I'm going to offer a copy of Magic Under Glass once it's redesigned. Amongst other things :)

PS Thanks for all the GLBT recommendations! I'll reply ASAP and I have read Ash and Down to the Bone.

24 comments:

  1. Yay! How exciting is that! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Way to go, Ari!! This news is fantastic, and you had so much to do with making it happen. *cheers* Congratulations on making change. You rock.

    I have to admit, I'm still incensed that Bloomsbury refuses to 'fess up to whitewashing. Yes, they apologized because their cover caused offense. That's good. They're changing the cover. That's good, too. But I'm still hungry for a real, no-holds-barred confession from them: they deliberately left a POC off of the cover because they thought that cover wouldn't sell. I want to hear them say that, because until they do, they'll whitewash again. And I am not okay with that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ari do you know you're quoted in an article in the guardian!

    thestonebow, I'm with you. We got the regret speech with LIAR. I was going to write the same thing. Tell me you're no longer going to whitewash covers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was so happy to see this! And to see you quoted in The Guardian! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is awesome. And now we all need to show them that this is worth it by BUYING THE BOOK WITH THE NEW COVER. Money talks. (And, I agree, I hope they don't just change it to text only or something...they have a big opportunity here.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. It only takes one voice to get things going. Way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so thrilled that through a collective effort, and in large part thanks to bloggers like yourself, we were able to get Bloomsbury to take notice.

    And thank you, Ari, for reminding us that this is not a one-time matter. The problem of whitewashing covers is pervasive and omnipresent - and it has been for far too long. I remember reading Ursula LeGuin books when I was a teen and wondering why my cover models were white, when there wasn't a white character in the book. Keep it up, and hopefully the publishing industry will change its racist marketing practices! I'm with you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So pleased at the happy ending, and the hope for the future it presents! Here from Justine, and your heartfelt letter made me cry: plus you've handled all of this in a classy, thoughtful way.

    So basically - kudos! *throws confetti* I'm so glad.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think its awesome the cover's going to be changed. I'm doubtful they've actually learned a lesson, though. Anyway, keep up the good work, Ari!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad that Bloomsbury USA wised up. Perhaps they will finally get it and come to the conclusion that readers will not keep silent about this.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can't wait to pick up a copy with the new cover!

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Eva-Me too! *happy dance*

    @CO-I saw the guardian article, really great to see (and be quoted!) It totally helped along with salon and dear author and jezebal and all the bloggers :D

    @thestonebow-I want to hear that too which is why I said this is oonly the beginning, we have to ensure this doesn't happen again and that Bloomsbury and other companies realize why this is wrong. I want to see those statistics (if they even exist)

    @Amanda-Me too! thanks for linking to the article, very exciting :)

    @April-Agreed! I'm defintiely going to give away a copy.

    @Jessica-I just saw the author's post and it will have a POC cover model. yes! Money does talk and that's good and bad.

    @Sandra-So true but this was a group effort that couldn't be ignored.

    @Thea-Me too, I love that we were a community united! Baby steps. I need to read Ursula LeGuin's books, it's awful how the SciFi channel made all the mcs white in addition to her white covers! I'm so glad to have your support =)

    @Lorin-I hope they've learned a lesson. This is not the end, we will make sure they have and that they repent.

    @KB-I hope so! *fingers crossed while typing* This truly spoke to the power bloggers have once we all get behind a cause.

    @Sarah-*catches confetti* haha thank you =D I'm humbled and amazed that my letter impacted so many people, I'm so glad that we had so much support. Thank you for your thoughtful, kind words. I love your blog posts, funny but they really make you think and question things.

    ReplyDelete
  14. SO proud of you, Ari! Look at what one little voice was able to accomplish!! *beams at you*

    ReplyDelete
  15. I actually have an interview on monday for an internsip at an agency and if I get the question "Why do you want to work in publishing" this issue is one of the reasons I will cite, and that I have cited before. There need to be books about all different people and the covers should reflect that across the board...but especially in YA.

    Congrats - it all starts with small changes.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hooray for the blogosphere! But I'm really annoyed that they haven't acknowledged the bigger problem. At the very least I think they should have said that they recognize they have done this twice in a short span of time, and that they will work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again.

    (Thanks for the link to the petition!)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Er, "they" being Bloomsbury, not the blogosphere - just realized I'm being unclear with my pronouns. :\

    ReplyDelete
  18. Congratulations, Ari! Thank you for leading us in this issue. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yeah! An excellent outcome to all your hard work!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I heard about this yesterday--that's so amazing! If it wasn't for following your blog and reading about it here first, I might never have even thought of picking up this book. But now with a new cover, people are bound to notice it--I know I'm looking forward to it! Thank you for all the work you've done. Your bravery encouraged me to write to Bloomsbury myself and it's really heartening to see them acting so quickly on behalf of their mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congrats, Ari on a job well done. Towards the effort to keep this from happening again you should launch a campaign for national media attention to these book industry practices. Force the press to pay attention and shame the pubs into equal treatment for all.

    D

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am so glad that the cover is being changed! It makes me so upset that, as a future high school teacher, that there aren't enough good books out there representing minority students and the ones that are get shafted like this because of silly reasons.

    It might be a small step toward eliminating white washing on book covers, but it is a great step in the right direction!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ari - Much Congrats on getting over 200 followers

    Bloomsbury should send you a copy of Magic Under Glass, Liar, Ten Cents A Dance - and any other Bloombsury book you've talked up for your giveaway.

    It would be good PR. And Bloomsbury needs ALOT of that right now.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you!! Thank you for sharing :) And don't be Anon, I try to always reply back and I like to know who I'm replying to ;)