The results of a survey of diversity in the world of US publishing were released last month. The figures cover executives, editorial staff, sales, publicity and marketing as well as reviewers, literary agents and interns. They show that the industry overall is just as white (76%) as it was four years ago. I was about to say it is unbelievable, but it’s not, is it?
In terms of gender, there are 74% cis women and 23% cis men running the show, with the remaining 3% made up of those who are non-binary, trans or intersex. A full 81% of the industry are heterosexual, and 89% of those surveyed are able-bodied. I’m begging somebody to tell me how this reflects the world around us. I intend to throw no specific shade on the Americans, because we all know that the UK publishing landscape isn’t any better.
When people ask me how we ensure that publishing is more representative (a question I highly doubt white authors get asked), I point not to the authors, but to the industry. Publishing has got to keep up with the world, not the other way round. I’m hoping that the industry learns the hard way.
