Monday, June 25, 2012

Urban Book Publishers A Growing Industry Built Around The Culture Of Inner City Life

By Chloe Gib


Urban book publishers focus on books about the lives and needs of inner city people in their communities. It is mostly African American communities, but can be other cultures within the same setting as well. We share a sense of pride that comes from where we are from, and that same pride is conveyed in these books in a way that all who read them can relate too.

Within the inner cities of America is a web of cultures all surviving in the same hood. Because they share this common bond of location it binds them together in a way that touches everyone. Urban fiction writers recognize this growing niche and are rising to the occasion with new manuscripts that have similar settings and tone but original story lines for the Urban Publishers.

Urban fiction writers' stories have a dark tone often times exposing the darker side of living in the inner city. Bad language, violence, drugs and sexual content are regularly written about. These books are for adults only and not recommended for young children.

As an alternative there are Street Teen Fiction books for young adults that still keep the inner city tone but concentrate more on issues that teens face today. There is also a Street Christian Fiction category that can be a positive choice that offers up the spiritual side of living in the same inner city environment but has none of the offensive content.

This evolving niche has been known by many names, including Hip Hop Lit, Street Lit, and Street Fiction. In fact, Hip Hop Lit came into being just about the same time as the music. Many famous Hip Hop singers also write for this genre niche.

Many a critic has complained about the violent, explicit content. Still, others say that these stories portray a side of Urban America that has long been put aside. They like that these stories are so real to life, and believe it is important to portray what is really going on in our inner cities today. Yet even more fans would not have ever picked up a book if not for this genre.

Urban book publishers have shown the light on a part of African American communities and other cultures living in the inner cities that have been hidden in the dark for a long time. It has deeply impacted the publishing industry. The niche is growing and gaining a larger audience of readers and will continue to move in that direction.




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