Book publisher Karen Hunter does not know how to hold her tongue. Not that she has any desire to learn. After all, silence would deny the world of such witticisms as Hunter saying that Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney might be “running for president of Caucasia-stan,” because of a GOP ad that was devoid of people of color.
“Did he say, ‘This time we’ll get it white’?,” Hunter joked on air in an interview with Thomas Roberts on MSNBC. Mocking Romney’s “this time, we’ll get it right” narration in his commercial, the dig by the frank and funny Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MSNBC analyst ruffled feathers. But Hunter was more bemused than anything.
“Wait, we can’t talk about white people for being white?” Hunter asked during her interview with theGrio, shrugging the whole ordeal off. “That’s really bizarre for me. How do you really cultivate a truthful exchange with your audience, because now you have to watch your mouth or watch what you write?”
And if there is anything Hunter does in her publishing business, it is to go for the jugular of truth. When Hunter “goes in” on someone – whether it is Mitt Romney or on the behalf of her clients, like the mother of all momagers, Kris Jenner – it’s no holds barred. She’s unapologetically bold, unapologetically blunt and always unapologetically black. “[T]hat’s how I’m approaching this publishing thing. I know that I’m very, very black. Both in agenda and voice,” Hunter said.
Hunter founded Karen Hunter Publishing in 2007, because the “luster is off” as she put it regarding the power of big media companies. “They’re all folding, closing down. When you read a book, do you look at the label or for who the publisher is? You just care about the end result. I can’t tell you what record label Chris Brown on.” Karen Hunter Publishing is taking advantage of this shifting landscape to great success.
Hunter’s products — works by huge celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle and Kris Jenner — are now being published under her own imprint, but she started her career as a reporter. As a writer for the Daily News, Hunter covered sports and then crime. In her closing years there, Karen became the first black columnist in Daily News history.
But the move that would eventually spawn her professional life as a book publisher came on a whim – her desire to get the hottest new music for the low, low price of nothing.
“I started writing about music to get free CDs,” Hunter admitted.
Writing about music to get on the promo CD media list led Hunter to do a piece on Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., before he blew up. She also did interviews with the singer Faith and actor/rapper Will Smith. But it was a story on LL Cool J that eventually got Karen out of the newsroom and onto the book publishing track.
“I was in Long Island doing a piece on LL Cool J for a movie,” Karen explained. “During the interview I asked if he’d ever done a book. He said he wanted to and added, ‘in fact I see myself on a cover, covered in hats, naked.’” Perhaps seeing that image as an easy sell, from there Hunter enlisted the help of a friend to find a publisher for the performer. During then-President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, Hunter and Cool J went to Washington, D.C. to seal the deal with St. Martin’s Press.
Hunter admits, in retrospect, she had no clue what she was doing — but she still ended up helping the rap star write a New York Times best-seller.
That’s when Hunter thought to herself, “Hmmm. I might have a future in this writing thing.”
A self-proclaimed “do-junkie,” after LL’s book Karen got on the phone to gather contacts for other celebrities who had both the audience and the stories that could lead to successful books. Later came writing collaborations with Janet Jackson, Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa. But the ultimate end game for Hunter was starting her own publishing company. She did not let her lack of industry knowledge deter her.
“I didn’t have a lot of aunties and uncles I could call, asking ‘how do you start this publishing house,’” Hunter said. “People running publishing companies don’t look like me. But I had the wherewithal to understand I had to know how publishing works from the inside. What makes this business work from the business side.”
After a false start with another author who wanted to do a book imprint, but didn’t possess the same standards as Hunter, she eventually created a relationship with publisher Simon & Schuster. From there, Hunter continued to produce both celebrity memoirs and books by authors dealing with eye-catching, but informative subjects. The first book on her imprint, Rajen Persaud’s Why Black Men Love White Women, tackles gender, race, history and relationships.
“The title is provocative, but it’s a history of white supremacy in America,” Hunter said. “It’s that kind of stuff that I wanted to do. You do some celebrity books because they, quite frankly, pay the bills. But I’m careful with the celebrities I pick.”
One of those celebrities is the doyenne of the Kardashian clan, Kris Jenner.
Jenner’s memoir, Kris Jenner . . . And All Things Kardashian, goes into detail regarding her marriage and the fact that she cheated on her husband. “She actually did have a story to tell. She got real honest. Started talking about her affair, her journey to finding God. It allowed me to see her in a totally different light,” Hunter said of the work.
It received negative backlash initially because the book came out the week her daughter Kim initiated her divorce. Kim Kardashian, who had wed basketball player Khris Humphries in an elaborate televised wedding, was only married to the baller for 72 days. Both Kris and Kim were embroiled in the controversy surrounding their break-up.
“People thought that it was scheduled and planned, but this was a disaster nobody wanted,” Hunter said. Kris Jenner may not have been released with perfect timing, but Hunter used her unflinching power with words to promote the book effectively.
“First day on Amazon she was getting all one [ratings] from people going ballistic. And I did something I shouldn’t have,” Karen revealed. “I’m on Amazon cursing people out: ‘Hey, read the book first.’”
Yet ultimately, Karen was able to create good buzz. Thanks to Jenner’s willingness to take the heat, Hunter eventually got her a break through moment when a celebrity gushed about Kris’ book on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Now Hunter is working with Jenner’s youngest daughters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, on a young adult novel.
Hunter’s next project is a book with Muslim Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison. Ellison is a convert to Islam elected from a district where Muslims only make up one percent of the population and African-Americans are only 11 percent. “This kind of book is a game changer,” Hunter said. “It will allow so many people who may be prejudiced against people who are Muslim to see them as human beings. We bring humanity to the stuff that we do.”
Her passion about Ellison’s book and its potential is reflected in how — even though she’s made a mark in celebrity publishing — Hunter’s heart still beats with an activist’s fervor.
“I am very black and that means something to me. It’s not just about having a publishing house, but looking at how you are remembered. The person who is able to record their message owns it and we didn’t own anything in the publishing space except for some erotica novels,” Hunter stated passionately. “Everything has its place, but… You have to have a vision for what you want to do. A hundred years after I’m dead, what will this line stand for? When you look at [Karen Hunter Publishing] and see the titles I did, I can rest on that. I made a contribution and it wasn’t ‘coonery.’ It wasn’t the typical fare of books, like we threw some books together because they were black.”
Yet, as proud as she is to be an African-American book publisher, Hunter balks at this moniker as a limitation.
“There’s no such thing as a black book. Black music, black art. The stuff we do is as mainstream as Barack Obama as president. He’s not the black president, he’s the president of the United States who happens to be black. I’m not a black publisher, I’m a publisher who happens to be black. He’s not doing it in a black way, he’s just president. And that’s how I’m approaching publishing.”
Danielle Belton writes for Essence and Clutch Magazine. Visit her blog, The Black Snob. Follow Danielle Belton on Twtitter at @blacksnob.