Bearded dslr photographer with tattooes on his arms over school desk background.
So very, very, white.
This article from the New York Times is worth reading in its entirety, but to sum up a few key points: Of fiction books published by one of the large houses between 1950-2018, the author’s race/ethnicity could be identified for 7124 books. 95% of those were written by white people. In 2018, 11% of the books in the sample were written by authors of color. According to a 2019 survey, 85% of the people who acquire and edit books are white.
It’s not a perfect study (the authors of the article freely admit) because nobody actually tracks this stuff. How many books this year were written by African-Americans? How many last year were by Latnix writers? Nobody knows. Nobody’s counting.
I particularly appreciate that this article points up the whiteness of the editorial profession as one of the roadblocks to publishing book by writers of color. (Unmentioned is the fact that publishing is so poorly paid…if you want to start out as an editorial assistant, it helps immensely to have no student loans or family who can give you a boost when it comes to renting a studio in New York. And of course there’s a correlation with race.) I also appreciate calling the tendency of publishers to underpay non-white authors and illustrators (although, to be frank, I’m reeling at the advances some writers of adult books get.)
It’s a valuable article. Go read it.
And I’ll add one thought of my own: the article looks at authors (they forgot illustrators, but there you go…a lot of people, when writing about publishing, forget the younger end of things), editors, publishers…but they didn’t mention readers.
Readers have been eating up books by authors of color–Stamped, The Hate U Give, Booked, All-American Boys, and I could go on. If you’re reading this? Don’t stop. If the demand for these books stays high, publishers will keep buying them, and they may start paying the creators what they are worth.
(Oh, and for the record: $10,000 for A Pandemic Is Worldwide, $14,000 for Deadly Wish, $7000 for Brown Is Warm, Black Is Bright. #publishing paidme)
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Sarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Gender 😕 The survey reveals that publishing is about 74 percent cis women and 23 percent cis men. The 2015 survey reported that overall, 78 percent of people who work in publishing self-report as cis women. The current survey has 74 percent of the respondents self-reporting as cis women. Given the sample size difference, this 4 percent change in cis women does meet the bar for statistically significant change. These numbers may help explain why some feel that book publishing caters more to female readers. Among executive and board member positions this disparity evened out somewhat, with approximately 38 percent of executives and board members identifying as cis men. This reflects the reality that males still ascend to positions of power more easily, even in female-dominated industries.
Gender’s certainly worth considering too…especially in children’s books, where (in my experience, can’t back it up with numbers, but I don’t think it’s controversial) the gender disparity is even wider. I’ve often considered how this effects boys learning to read and developing their tastes in reading.