I once had the extreme pleasure of meeting Dawnn Lewis about seven or eight years ago. You may remember her as “Jaleesa” from “A Different World”, Robin from “Hangin’ Wit’ Mr. Cooper”, or even Cheryl from “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”, but if you’re a super nerd like me, you also know her as the voice of “LaBarbara” on “Futurama”, which had me extra “fan stupid” when it came time to meet her.
Chatting with Dawnn Lewis after her speech.
Yes, I LOVE when Black women do voice-over acting. They hold a very special place in my geeky heart. Regina King, Cree Summer, Queen Latifah… I absolutely adore when our sistas step outside of the stereotypical boxes drawn around us and blow something like even a cartoon voice-over acting gig out of the water. (See my video where I gush about Regina King and her work as Huey and Riley on “The Boondocks”.)
Anyway, it was during Black History Month, and Dawnn was at our local college to receive an award for her outstanding work in the community. I almost didn’t go because I was running late and couldn’t find the purse that matched my boots. Deciding not to be shallow, I grabbed a purse that absolutely did not match and just headed out there to see what it would be like, and I’m really glad I did.
It was a wonderful event jam-packed with Black and Hispanic professionals celebrating each other’s accomplishments, and the overall vibe was extremely motivating. At the conclusion of the event, they presented Dawnn with a special award of excellence for all of her achievements in acting, music, and philanthropy. She looked absolutely beautiful, was incredibly eloquent when she spoke, and looked so much like one of my aunties that I had to tweet a picture of Dawnn to said aunt (who still claims that she doesn’t see the resemblance).
Afterward, we were allowed to go up and take pictures with her, and I remember being pretty nervous. Not so much because of her work on “A Different World”, or because I was geektastically freaking out about meeting the woman who voiced the sassy, no B.S.-taking Jamaican wife of Hermes Conrad. Nope, that wasn’t it.
I was just floored by the totality of her overall accomplishments. Not only was I unaware of the many other movies and voice-over work she’d done, but I also didn’t know that she’d done an album and played a major role in the making of the theme song for “A Different World”.
What really blew me away, though, was when I found out she had formed a publishing company. And though it was for music, the fact remained that she took the risk and was willing to be a trailblazer, creating a company where she was a producer and not a consumer. That was really inspiring to me as a Black woman.
So, of course, when I met her, I’ll admit I was a bit awe-struck. Not star-struck, just completely overwhelmed by her powerful aura. I’m kind of pissed at myself because I wanted to talk to her about “Futurama” and try my best “LaBarbara” impersonation on her, which sounds like an odd mix of a Scottish accent and Dracula (trust me, I’ve practiced enough to know how bad it sounds, but in my mind, she was going to laugh), but I found myself drawing a complete blank.
Instead of gushing about “Futurama”, I wound up stupidly mumbling about how I loved her on “A Different World” and how much she looked like one of my relatives. (I’m serious. The resemblance was uncanny.) Maybe the power behind those big, beautiful eyes of hers gazing right into mine struck me dumb. I don’t know, but I was honestly at a loss for words for a few seconds.
She was cool, though. She gave me a big hug, took some pictures with me, and actually held a conversation with me. And not one of those, “I’m just humoring you as I walk away” quips, either. She was incredibly down-to-earth as she conversed with me. And I’ll never forget that conversation because it’s the point of this article.
Dawnn asked me what I did, and I told her that I was a book publisher. Her eyes lit up and she seemed really impressed when I said it. Maybe because she thought I was younger than I really am. (I’m older than I look and still get carded all the time, so when I talked about “A Different World”, she had a playful smirk like, “You’re too young to know about that show!”)
Anyway, here’s what she said that really struck me. She leaned over and said intently, “I’m gonna tell you a secret. Publish eBooks. That’s the future of publishing.”
I was absolutely not expecting her to say that, so my reply was, “Really? That’s crazy you said that, because I am an e-book publisher! I actually create and produce the e-books, then publish them for clients. We only do e-books starting off, though.”
“That’s good… great,” she replied with an enthusiastic nod. “That’s the route to go. eBooks are the future. I’m telling you.”
I decided to pick her brain a little further. “Well, it seems like I have the hardest problem getting people in our community to understand the power of e-books,” I explained. “So I was thinking of giving up and just switching to print books. Especially since it’s still a $90 billion industry.”
“No, no, no,” she shook her head adamantly, then repeated, “E-books. That’s the future. Not print books. Keep going the eBook route.”
I thanked her for her advice, gave her another big hug, and watched her strut off in blue velvet heels that the shoe harlot in me was aching to purchase at that very moment. (I did not buy the shoes, just FYI. A minor victory.) However, what she said echoed in my mind.
Here’s what was weird about Dawnn’s insistence about how e-book publishing is the path to remain on: I desperately needed to hear that message. After years of market research, I am still hearing the same thing from our people: “I love the feel of a good book in my hands”; “I feel like it will be easier to sell a print book”; “My eBooks aren’t selling, so it’s obviously just a fad”, or “I don’t know nothing about how that e-book stuff works”.
As a result, I was ready to give up and only focus on the markets that were knowledgeable about the advantages of e-book publishing. India is blowing up with e-book publishing, as well as China and Japan, so my thoughts were to divert my attention away from the Black community and switch to a global market to ensure my company’s position in the future.
Something just didn’t sit right with me regarding that decision, though. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my biggest fear is that five or ten years from now, we as Black people will be so far behind this technological revolution that we will once again find ourselves struggling to catch up with our counterparts so we can reap the benefits.
This is an ongoing trend with us as a people, and I don’t want to see it when it comes to e-books. I can’t just allow my people to be left behind. Not when we have a chance to set up an infrastructure in the literary world where we can truly support each other. This is our opportunity to build a publishing, marketing, and production network that allows us to control a major share of the market on a global distribution scale. The prospect of it is so exciting to me that my hands are literally shaking.
A colleague of mine once said this to me: “Tamara, if you feel like the people don’t have the knowledge on how eBooks can benefit them, then you need to be the one to tell them. If they don’t understand, help them understand. Take the time to teach them about it. That’s how you gain trust.”
And he’s right. I’ve been so busy trying to convince clients one-on-one why e-books are the better route that I haven’t been showing it to my people on a mass scale. So, I’m here to tell you this unavoidable truth: e-books are the future of publishing, like it or not. Change isn’t coming; it’s already here. Print books are around now, but we’re being entirely too shortsighted about this technology.
Do you remember what people said when the first cell phone call was made back in 1974? If not, I’ll enlighten you. The masses said that this technology would NEVER become popular. Even in the 90s, no one believed that cell phones would become the major form of communication and render landline phones nearly obsolete.
And where are we now as we head into the future? People are using their Smart Phones for everything, even reading books. I’ve watched students pull up textbooks and take quizzes on those things, yet I’m supposed to believe that reading on devices isn’t going to become the norm in the future?
Take a look around the classrooms. Even elementary schools in some districts are issuing e-reader devices for children to use in class for lessons. Some colleges have exclusive agreements with Apple and other companies, making it mandatory for you to have an iPad or Mac just to enroll in their school and take classes. If you can’t see how we’re being increasingly groomed and conditioned toward reading on electronic devices, then maybe it’s because you just aren’t comfortable with change.
However, Dawnn’s advice rings in my head daily like a mantra: “E-books are the future.”
The question is: what part are we going to play in the future? I don’t want to see Black publishing companies contracting out for e-book conversion services anymore. Though you’re a publisher, you’re still just being a consumer. I want to see more of our Black publishers learning how to create those eBooks for themselves and have e-book conversion specialists hired in-house. I want to see us become producers. Then I want to start seeing us connect with each other, evolving into major e-book distributors for other authors and publishing companies out there.
I want us to master the information and knowledge required to be the best in this craft. I want us to learn the techniques and innovations that continue to improve this growing medium. I want us to be movers, shakers, and influencers again. Is that so much to ask or too farfetched? I don’t think so.
I don’t think it’s crazy to want to see us investing in our children. For example, founding and funding programs where we take old e-readers, put them in the hands of our kids and teach them how the technology works. Let them take those things apart and put them back together again.
Who knows? We could be planting the seeds of a future company that refurbishes old e-readers and redistributes them to our community at a discount, complete with all of our books loaded onto them.
To get to this point, though, we must embrace the future now. We must embrace the changes that are taking place when it comes to how we get our information. Not just books, but news, magazines, and even poetry and artwork. The time is now for us to not only learn how this “e-book stuff works”, but to also teach each other and share what we know so others can do the same. That will be the only way that we can find ourselves prospering as educators, authors, and creators in the literary and entertainment world.
