Black Reviews, Harlem Fair Merge
by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 7/18/2005
Retailers and publishers of books aimed at African-American readers are paying close attention to a new partnership between the two most prominent African-American review publications and its effect on the annual Harlem Book Fair, one of the largest black reading events in the country.
The new business venture joins QBR: The Black Book Review, a quarterly consumer review of black books (which also manages the annual Harlem Book Fair) with the monthly consumer book periodical Black Issues Book Review.
The new partnership will result in the discontinuation of QBR as a print publication, while BIBR will be renamed BIBR/QBR beginning with the September/October issue. QBR will continue to publish online at QBR.com.
Under the new arrangement, Max Rodriguez, founder and publisher of QBR, will focus his attention solely on directing the annual Harlem Book Fair and efforts to franchise the fair to other cities. Currently, Rodriguez has organized HBFs of varying sizes in eight cities, and plans to launch in four more cities in 2006.
BIBR expects to benefit from promotional and branding opportunities offered by QBR's growing book fair and reading event business—which also includes a book fair and a Harlem tourism and travel business. Adrienne Ingrum, BIBR associate publisher, said the partnership "eliminates duplications between the two print magazines and helps branding." BIBR publisher William Cox also publishes Black Issues in Higher Education and Community College Week, journals on higher education issues.
QBR has been published since the early 1990s, but there have been frequent complaints about its overall quality and its late publication. In recent years,QBR's print publication has been overshadowed by its role in running the Harlem Book Fair, which has grown in popularity and size. The Harlem Book Fair is a weeklong series of events culminating in the street fair, which will be held this year on July 24.
Publishers contacted by PW praised BIBR and the Harlem Book Fair, but were often critical of Rodriguez's management of the event, calling it "disorganized." However, these same publishers were optimistic about the partnership. "Max has too much on his plate; this will help him focus," said one.
