Kappa Akkolades

[jitterbug13]

Tavis Smiley has made history. His new book 'The Covenant with Black America,' is currently Number One on 'New York Times' Best Seller list. And according to Third World Press, the book's publisher, the trade paperback's listing has made it the first African-American-owned publishing house to have a title listed on the coveted list.

'The Covenant,' a collection of essays offering a plan of action to address ten of the most important issues impacting black people today, entered the list five weeks ago. It also hit Number One on the 'Washington Post' and 'Publisher’s Weekly's Best Sellers lists, and has been rated the top seller on Amazon.com in all categories.

"Tavis Smiley has risen to the occasion in the marketing of the book," Haki Madhubuti, founder and president of the Chicago based publishing house, told Black Voices. "Without doubt or hesitation the success of 'The Covenant' must be contributed to a higher degree to his dedication to the project."

"Mainly, Black people are reading 'The Covenant,'" he added. "Most black people in America, most certainly after Hurricane Katrina, realize there is something essential missing in their lives. And many of them understand that one element that they do not have direct access to is knowledge--knowledge about their lives that allows them to heal, to create and to understand wealth gathering, the importance of community and why education has not been number one on our list of priorities … it’s not a fluke. You’ve got readers and non-readers buying this book."

Madhubuti, a Chicago State University professor who contributed the book's afterword, also attributes an extensive marketing effort to the 'The Covenant's' success, and an aggressive push to have the book ready for release by this year’s State of the Black Union symposium, which was held in Houston Feb. 25. "Everyone here really came on board with this project," he explained. "With a window of less than three months, the book was not only ready on time; it was ready more than one month ahead of schedule. That’s almost unheard of in this industry."

The idea of 'The Covenant' came out of more than 3,500 responses to a poll that asked African Americans what issues they were most concerned about. The book sets out to identify ten of these issues and provide a blueprint for what individuals, public policymakers and corporate citizens can do to move the African American community forward, socially and economically.

"Tavis, whose idea for the book originated on his 2005 Town Hall Meeting, felt that in keeping with the principals and values of the idea, it was appropriate to come to a Black publishing company,'" Madhubuti added.