Black voices in publishing just got a powerful new platform to drive sales. The African American Literature Book Club has launched a new monthly bestseller list devoted exclusively to Black authors, reports publishing expert Jane Friedman in the most recent issue of her newsletter, The Bottom Line.

The BLK Bestsellers List includes the top 20 hardcover and paperback fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, along with lists for YA and poetry. The African American Literature Book Club categorized and filtered the list based on Circana sales data and author analysis.  It is part of a much larger effort led by the Black Book Accelerator.

In April, James, by Percival Everett, topped the adult fiction hardcover list, followed by Dream Count, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at #2, and Happy Land, by Dolen Perkins-valdez at #3.

In juvenile fiction, Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper and two of Rachel Renée Russell's Dork Diaries books are in the top three, but I fell for the story and engaging illustrations of #4, Hello There, Sunshine by Tabitha Brown, so that's the book I'll be reviewing next week for Finch and Squirrel. Stay tuned!