says that leads to lower investment elsewhere in black talent. She says: “The hashtag #PublishingPaidMe that emerged on Twitter revealed the massive disparity between the advances paid to white and black authors. A decision made over and over again by different publishers who hold the purse strings; to pay black authors less than white authors. This is a situation that hadn’t even crossed my mind as being possible. Having sat with this revelation for 24 hours I am still at a loss as to how that decision could ever be made. “Smaller advances from the bigger publishers typically equate to smaller marketing budgets, less advertising, lower PR costs. Yes, we need diverse books and we also need a level playing field for authors based on talent, not skin colour. Yes, we need diverse books and we also need publishers making these decisions to question themselves, the system, their management. It’s no longer enough to perceive yourself as ‘not racist’. We need to be anti-racist. To step up and be part of the change. Thankfully there are some glimmers of light, and there are many people in the publishing community, including myself and Abiola Bello, trying hard to be a positive part of an exigent change.” Hashtag BLAK is about making a difference and Abiola says: “I feel like we’re actively doing our part rather than just tweeting about it. I love the idea that we can create a platform for someone who may have been overlooked by an agent or the big houses.
“Publishing is so slow! There is so much more that needs to be done. I have so much respect for the indie publishers as they are really leading by example.”
Helen agrees that sometimes the best solution to a problem is just to get on and do it. She says: “We are the sort of people who think that there’s never a right time to do something, there’s only the present moment. And we are grafters, so if we see that something needs to be done, we get on and do it. The publishing industry, however, is pretty slow going. It’s a slow machine. Change is happening but, honestly, I don’t think it’s happening anywhere near fast enough.” The question is how fast those changes can happen. At the moment it is the
Spring-Summer 2020
Helen Lewis.
smaller, more nimble publishers that are leading the way – not just by focusing on under-represented talent, but by removing structural obstacles. Abiola and Helen have deliberately created an open process for authors, with the aim of creating a positive environment for new talent.
Helen says: “We didn’t want any barriers for Hashtag BLAK so, it’s an open submission process – you don’t need an agent. But what we are looking for is an outstanding manuscript (it doesn’t have to be perfect!), massive amounts of passion from the author, and a willingness to work with us to build their author brand.”
Abiola adds: “We really want to find new voices. We’re mainly looking at
fiction and young adult and we’ve done a call out for Black British authors. But, we are open to anyone from a diverse background. The publishing industry just needs to do more rather than have millions of panel talks about the lack of diversity. It really isn’t hard to be more diverse.”
In recent years there have been a number of initiatives created to help deliver more inclusive and representative voices into the publishing industry – not just in terms of authors and creators. Both Helen and Abiola are determined that this impetus must not be lost, with Helen urging everyone in the publishing industry and all those connected to it (including book shops and libraries) to work together, saying that there needs to be “collaboration, consistency, creativity.” Abiola says that we need “more action! Up the ante rather than get complacent because a few more diverse books have been published. That isn’t the time to relax. A black girl shouldn’t just have four or five books that represent her from the same author. She should have hundreds of options from different voices.” Hashtag BLAK is hoping to publish two new books from Black British authors by summer next year, with Helen and Abiola particularly keen to hear from anyone with an adult book. Manuscripts can be submitted at
info@hashtagblak.co.uk. For submission guidelines and more
information visit
www.hashtagblak.co.uk PEN&INC.
PEN&INC. 19
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