James L. King bound into the room, energizing an intimate group of African-American women who had come to the Karibu bookstore in Hyattsville one recent evening to hear him talk about his latest best-selling book about the closeted lives of ostensibly straight black men who sleep with other men.
"We're going to get this party started," he bellowed, causing the women to burst out in laughter.
King has sold millions of copies of his two books, On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep With Men and Coming Up From the Down Low: The Journey of Acceptance, Healing and Honest Love. He's appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and his book tours include some of the biggest chains in the biggest cities. Yet even with his success he always makes sure to include stops at black bookstores such as Karibu.
For more than a decade, Karibu (ka-REE-boo) has been the dominant source in the Washington area for books about, and for, African-Americans - before mainstream stores began devoting sections to the genre. It has grown from a street-vending operation to a business with five locations.
In August, it plans to open its first store outside the Washington area at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn. How it fares will help determine whether Karibu - "welcome" in Ki-Swahili - moves into other markets such as Philadelphia.
Karibu's growth into a chain is unusual for an independent niche bookseller, say people in the publishing and book business.
"It's hard for small, independent booksellers and you can add another twist to it for black book sellers," said Paul Coates, founder and director of Black Classic Press, a Baltimore publishing company. "They face a number of challenges. But Karibu's level of organization and their commitment just bears out in the organization that they've built."
The margins in book selling are slim, especially so for independents, which account for less than 10 percent of the market and can't afford to buy in the quantities that the large competitors do. Many owners of black bookstores enter the business because of their love of books or a desire to provide a service to the community, Coates and others said. They don't always have a strong business foundation.
"Independent booksellers have the same problems as any other small retailer," said Meg Smith, a spokeswoman for the American Booksellers Association, which represents 2,000 companies. "They have to be really good business people. They don't always have the resources to compete in the marketplace."
