Recorded live at the Black Books Matter Festival, MahoganyBooks co-founder Derrick Young sits down with S.A. Cosby, the bestselling author of Blacktop Wasteland, Razorblade Tears, All the Sinners Bleed, and King of Ashes.
Cosby talks about the long road to his breakthrough. An early book was rejected more than 60 times, his first agent dropped him, and one publisher asked if he could make his work "blacker." He explains why he writes a full private biography for every main character, how he decides a story is finished, and why fans of Razorblade Tears got a surprise in King of Ashes. He also gets candid about the business side: the gap between his advance and a white peer's, why writers of color should ask publishers about marketing budgets, and why Black bookstores get skipped on author tours.
Cosby shares updates on the Netflix adaptation of All the Sinners Bleed and a Blacktop Wasteland prequel he's writing. He closes with a defense of Black Southern life and why he keeps writing about the South: "Because I'm from the damn South."
Shop S.A. Cosby's books at MahoganyBooks.com.
Takeaways:
- Cosby says publishers told him early on they liked his books but didn't "see a market" for them. He describes getting what he calls "three-quarter rejection letters": three paragraphs of praise followed by a no. An early book was rejected more than 60 times, and he burned the rejection emails after landing his deal with Flatiron Books.
- He writes a private biography for each main character, covering details as small as favorite ice cream and first kiss. He says about 95% of it never appears in the book, but it keeps characters from making choices that only serve the plot. His example is Titus Crown's hidden fear of snakes in All the Sinners Bleed.
- For Cosby, a book is a snapshot of a character's life, not the whole story. He considers a story finished when the character has made an emotional journey and ends up different, not perfect, from where they started.
- Cosby confirms his books share a universe. Characters and references recur across novels, and Ike from Razorblade Tears makes a cameo in King of Ashes. He says he brought Ike back partly because so many readers asked how Ike was doing.
- Cosby describes Crime Writers of Color, a group he says started with 12 writers around 2015, when writers of color weren't being invited to crime fiction conferences. He says it has grown to about 300 members.
- Cosby says he received a $5,000 advance for Blacktop Wasteland, while a white author with similar credentials received $100,000 for her debut. He urges writers to share pay information and to ask publishers how much marketing money is behind their book compared with peers. In his words, "don't let your gratefulness hide your self-respect."
- Cosby and Derrick Young describe how publishers can steer author tour stops toward whichever store promises to buy the most copies, which can shut out Black bookstores. Young tells the audience that every book bought or borrowed from a library is tracked and sends a message to publishers.
- Cosby rejects the publishing idea that Black people don't read. He points to a crowd of about 180 at an Atlanta-area tour stop that had set up 50 chairs, and an audience of 387 in St. Louis.
- Cosby argues that the South belongs to the Black people who built, loved, and died on it, not to Confederate apologists. He calls it the site of "America's first great sin" and its first great ability to overcome it.
Mentioned in this episode:
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