SPREAD THE WORD’S RETHINKING ‘DIVERSITY’ IN PUBLISHING REPORT HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANCE OF LOOKING BEYOND ‘CORE’ AUDIENCES
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to concerns that publishers’ acquisitions of authors of colour are by and large fronted by authors who have already been recognised by the literary establishment, puting in doubt whether publishers are actually commited to an inclusion drive that involves reaching a new audience, or in fact believes that its core, white middle-class audience will not see value in books by writers of colour. The Rethinking ‘Diversit’ in Publishing report by Spread the Word and The Bookseller, published in June last year, found that “when it comes to writers of colour, publish- ers struggle to imagine an audience for such books, or more precisely, audiences beyond the supposed ‘core’ audience”.
Of the four Black British authors published this spring by Profile, two are household names (David Olusoga, Kwame Anthony Appiah), one is of “Great British Bake Off” fame, and the fourth is a YouTuber. The remaining non-British Black authors, of which there were 13, were either part of the literary canon or contemporary award- winners. Hannah Westland, publisher at Profile, said: “Our publishing programme is, and always has been, global in its focus. This does not diminish our desire to improve the representation of Black British authors on our lists, and we are working hard to do this, but this work goes on alongside our commitment to continuing to publish outstanding voices from all over the world.”
Overall, the study found that there were slightly more US Black writers published this spring than British Black writers. In a recent gal-dem article, it was highlighted
that visibly successful books by Black British authors have been repeated, with inspirational guides and anti-racism tracts regurgitated in a bid to cater to a previously untapped reader- ship. Of the books published by Black British authors in the study, just 27 were by new writers, predominatly non-fiction and self-help books. Eight were fiction débuts. The Bookseller found two mixed-race studies and several financial advice guides, alongside self-help books and anti-racism texts. Looking across non-fiction as a whole, there are concerns that publishers run the risk of saturating a readership, using words like “Black girl...” to the point of gimmickry, and neutralising important discussions about the intersections of race, while failing to publish writers who can push conversations on social issues forward into new territory.
Room for improvement When asked to respond to The Bookseller’s findings, all the reviewed publishers cited a commitment to company-wide diversit
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and inclusion initiatives aimed at acquiring new, representative talent. Some directed The Bookseller to forthcoming publications by Black authors not yet included in their catalogues, coming later in the year, or recent acquisitions. Pan Mac, for example, said a full-year audit of its lists showed Black British creatives represented 3.2% of its output. The big publishers are commited to publishing audited data, but so far only PRH has done so publicly, prior to this piece. In response to this research, PRH said that 5.3% of its commissions for 2020 were from Black British/Black writers, compared with 0.8% in 2019, at least in part due to its accelerated inclusion plan, published last year. Its c.e.o. Tom Weldon said: “I firmly believe that progress has been made within Penguin Random House and across the wider industry, and we see this reflected in our own data, both in terms of who we hire and the authors and books we publish. Of course, we still have important work to do to help drive real, long-lasting change and to fulfil our mission of publishing books for everyone, and our commitment to nurturing and publishing Black writers and illustrators is at the heart of that ambition. We acknowledge there is more to be done to improve the diversit of authors published in the more commercial genres, and this is something we are strongly focused on.” The Publishers Association (PA) plans to release a toolkit for publishers by the end of April, aimed at establishing an industry-wide approach. PA c.e.o. Stephen Lotinga said: “Publishers are looking closely at data collec- tion around the protected characteristics of the authors they publish. There is widespread recognition that this is an important thing to pursue and that an aligned industry-wide approach to collecting this information would be valuable.”
Of the 4,017 authors analysed in The Bookseller’s research, 83% were white, and of these around 80% identified as British. The New York Times’ recent op-ed “Just How White is the Publishing Industry?” conducted a similar and longer-reaching analysis; it examined a list of English-language fiction books published in the US between 1950 and 2018, and found that of the 7,124 books for which they were able to identify the author’s ethnicit, 95% of the authors were white. It appears calls for more diverse authors are on their way to being answered, but only by some—and even then, only partially.
Heather Marks is creative producer at Words of Colour, a creative development agency for writers, artists, creatives and entrepreneurs of colour. She is also head of engagement, brand and sales at No Bindings, a small independent press in Bristol.
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