writer; founder
Personal Information
Born in 1963; single; children: one daughter.
Career
Chicago Department of Transit, route driver, early 1990s; author of Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat, 1995, Men Cry in the Dark, 1997, The Maintenance Man: It's Midnight, Do You Know Where Your Woman Is?, 1999; founder of Legacy Publishing.
Life's Work
At one point in Michael Baisden's life, success seemed to elude him. A Chicago small-business owner and public-transit employee, he had written a nonfiction book on the subject of infidelity in relationships. Several major publishers refused to publish his book. Undaunted, Baisden borrowed the funds to publish it himself. That book, Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat, touched a chord with readers, and his success story has become one of the most remarkable in the African American book-publishing industry.
Baisden was a route driver for the Chicago Transit Authority in the early 1990s, and the owner of a faltering small business. Moved by the tales of heartache and duplicity that were told to him by his friends, he decided to begin collecting their stories for a book that would provide some insight into modern relationships. In order to get his book published, Baisden sold his car, borrowed money, and founded Legacy Publishing. Legacy's debut book was Never Satisfied, which was issued in 1995. Never Satisfied is a collection of interviews with men and women who relate their experiences in deceitful relationships. Baisden writes extensively about the common perception that men seem to be commitment-phobic. He rejects several theories, and argues that women behave unconscionably as well--especially women who knowingly date married or otherwise involved men, or turn a blind eye to the infidelities of their partner. Through anecdotes and his own conjectures, Baisden constructs a scenario in which these situations occur. "Most cheating men, especially the married ones, will come right out and tell her the details of his situation," he writes in Never Satisfied. "This will allow her to make a judgment as to whether or not she can go along with the program. Respect and consideration for his wife or girlfriend is absolutely necessary if the relationship has any chance at longevity."
A Fresh Approach
In Never Satisfied, Baisden focuses on how an unfaithful man is forced to construct a world of lies, and how the contemporary dance-club scene helps to foster infidelity. "Just as the animal hunter relies on guns, traps, and camouflage to capture his prey, the cheating man depends on smooth talk, good looks, and the low morals of his victims to accomplish his goals," Baisden writes. In the book's introduction, he remarks, "What I am attempting to do, at the very least, is to expose the games that are quite seriously destroying our relationships with our women, and as a direct result, affecting our ability to maintain healthy relationships which could be beneficial to both ourselves and the children that are unsuspecting players in too many of those very games."
Baisden embarked on a series of exhaustive tours to promote his book. He promoted Never Satisfied in bookstores, nightclubs, and even hair salons, and it became a phenomenal success. Never Satisfied sold nearly 50,000 copies. Baisden used the profits to pay back the money he had borrowed and to write his first novel, Men Cry in the Dark. Published in 1997, it sold more than 30,000 copies in hardcover alone. The plot revolves around four friends from Chicago's South Side, and touches upon their attempts at financial entrepreneurship, relationships, single parenthood, and interracial dating.
Hunger for Love
In Men Cry in the Dark, Baisden created a group of characters whose economic situations and social quandaries reflected issues within affluent, urban African American life in the 1990s. One of the characters, Derrick, is a former computer-industry associate who left the corporate world to launch his own magazine. Although he is sometimes arrogant in his interpersonal relationships, he seeks a committed partnership with a woman. Derrick is forced to reassess his attitude when he meets Angela, a woman who is a genuine match for him. Derrick's friend, Tony, is the classic Romeo, but also a single parent who is devoted to his daughter. When Tony decides that he wants to settle down and marry his girlfriend, the mother of his young daughter begins to make trouble. Ben is a successful Chicago florist who is consistently railroaded by uncaring women. His friends often remind him that he only dates women who are too young for him, and eager to take advantage of his generosity. Mark, the fourth male in the novel, is frequently criticized by his friends for refusing to date African American women.
Part of the success of Men Cry in the Dark came from what Publishers Weekly writer Carol Taylor described as its collective appeal. "Black readers, like all readers, want recognizable and realistic images of themselves and their lives, not stereotypes endlessly replayed in the same venues, neighborhoods, relationships and careers," noted Taylor. Baisden is often compared with other newly successful African American male authors who explore black life in fiction, such as Eric Jerome Dickey and Omar Tyree. "These writers deal thoughtfully with the male side of relationship issues while doling out a healthy dose of sexy escapism," asserted Taylor. She also noted Baisden's remarkable ability to publish his own works, citing industry "reports that he [Baisden] has declined offers to join a traditional publisher."
A Popular Motivational Speaker
The success of his first two books, combined with his attractive looks, made Baisden a popular figure on the book-signing circuit. Thousands of women often attended his book signings to hear his forthright, but firm, relationship advice. The audiences grew so large that Baisden began a series of seminars, Love, Lust and Lies, in which he discussed some of the problems in contemporary relationships and how both men and women might begin to create a healthier pattern of love within their relationships. His 1999 novel, The Maintenance Man: It's Midnight, Do You Know Where Your Woman Is?, addressed similar themes. One of the novel's lead characters is Malcolm Tremell, a handsome, successful male escort who is desperate to find a more respectable job. This desire grows increasingly stronger after he meets a wonderful woman, and is unable to reveal his true profession to her. Malcolm's best friend, Simon, owns an Atlanta nightclub, and learns that his fiancée is possibly involved with a handsome pastor. Another character is Teddy, a male stripper who has no qualms about taking advantage of women. One of the novel's female characters, Ariel, works as the nightclub's manager. She would like to leave her job at the nightclub and become a wife and mother. However, Ariel's family and friends constantly remind her that her dating standards are much too high.
The Publishers Weekly article called Maintenance Man "a steamy bad-boy novel full of the stuff readers crave--love, sex, betrayal and money." Taylor described Baisden as part of the wave of what has been termed the "Brotherman" genre--the counterpart of the resoundingly successful "Sistergirl" fiction exemplified by female African American writers like Terry McMillan. Baisden is single and lives in Atlanta.
Works
Selected writings
- Never Satisfied: How and Why Men Cheat, Legacy Publishing, 1995.
- Men Cry in the Dark, Legacy Publishing, 1997.
- The Maintenance Man: It's Midnight, Do You Know Where Your Woman Is?, Legacy Publishing, 1999.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Publishers Weekly, December 13, 1999, p. 37.
- Additional information for this profile was provided by http://www.michaelbaisden.com.
— Carol Brennan
