The voices of POC have been silenced constantly in many different places. However, through different campaigns like the BLM and Stop AAPI Hate movements, more and more POC have brought out the injustices of the modern world. One topic that often goes silenced though is the amount of racism within the publishing industry. For the longest time, the publishing industry has been criticized for the lack of POC workers, with only 5% being black. Many people mistakenly assume that many Black writers are on the market because athletes, politicians, and celebrities of color are on the market. However, it is shown that while it is true many celebrities of color are in the market and a very successful, the market often lacks the presence of “mid-list” Black authors. Additionally, literary prizes also make the publishing industry look more diverse than it actually is. Over the past decade over half of the books awarded the National Book Prize were written by authors of color. Then contrast that with the books that were on the New York Times bestsellers list. Only 22 out of the 220 books were written by people of color. Recently, the call to diversify the industry has taken charge as frustrated Black professionals share their frustration of a long history of microaggressions and discriminatory treatment towards Black writers.
This past December the hashtag “#PublishingPaidMe” was trending on Twitter and writers shared their advances with hopes of unveiling the racial differences in pay. One writer, Mr. Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, was 26 when Mariner Books reached out to publish his short story collection “Friday Black”. His advance was $10,000 with an additional $40,000 for another unfinished book. Advances aren’t how many of the books were sold but rather how many books the publisher thinks it will sell. Despite originally being content with his offer, after seeing the hashtag trending on Twitter he was taken aback. Some white authors even revealed that they had been paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for their debut book. Although he would be risking his career, Adjei-Brenyah also decided to share his contract. As the hashtag trended on Twitter, professionals from the publishing industry came together to take a stand against racial injustice. This was received by publishing executives who promised more books from writers of color and antiracism training. However, even with these promises Black writers often go unnoticed in the market regardless of the enthusiasm shown by readers. By setting up Black writers for failure,
they also hurt agents, publicists, and editors.
There is also a deep correlation between the number of Black people who work in the publishing industry and the number of Black writers who get published. To illustrate, Toni Morrison worked as Random House’s first female Black editor. During her time working, 3.3% of the 806 books published were from Black authors. On the other hand, after she had left, the number of books written by Black writers significantly decreased with only two out of the 512 books published. Additionally, Marie Dutton Brown, a literary agent, discovered how often publishers put out Black writers. She attributed the publishers’ support for Black writers to the news cycle. As more and more news comes out to the media about the racial injustices against people of color, publishers take advantage of this opportunity and put out more books from Black “voices”.
Even today, there is still progress to be made. Significant changes have already been made and many publishing companies are continuing on. Back when Brown was an intern at Doubleday in 1967 she was the only person of color. Just recently, in 2019, almost half of the publishing interns were people of color. Whether this will keep up or lose momentum is all up to the publishers and how the media responds to these injustices. Just like the #PublishingPaidMe, many social media campaigns can help better the situation as well.
Writer: Christina Cheriyampurathu
Editor: Leah Tovar
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