Throughout recent years, the demand for diversity has been at the forefront. From entertainment to the workplace, inclusivity has become a requirement. The publishing industry is no exception. Many companies had shared their work demographics, like Vice Media Group, only having 10.47% of their employees are Black/African American, and Hearst only has 5% Hispanic employees, both reported as of 2020 in the publishing industry.
Reviewing the New York Times Best Sellers List, reveals that over 70 percent of all authors are white, and representation of all other ethnic groups is below ten percent. While two-thirds of the publishing industry workforce are women, higher-level, higher-paying jobs mostly held by men still in 2021.
Released by Penguin Random House , less than 20% percent of newly hired employees in warehouse and non-warehouse positions in 2020 were Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Bi/Multi-Racial. Resulting in only a marginal difference from previous years going back to 2016.
Companies are being asked to concentrate their efforts on establishing a more diverse workforce in order to increase representation in the publishing business in the United States.
Most of what is considered classic literature is remembered to have been written by Hemingway, Dickens, and Orwell. In mid-June 2021, AbeBooks.com released its listof 40 classic literature must-reads. No surprise that the majority of the list is straight, white men. Offering less than a little to the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and queer familiarity.
While more than 76% of executives, literary agents, book reviewers, and editorial, marketing, and sales employees were white, just over 80% are also straight, according to a survey in November 2021.
Within the last year, The American Library Association has continued to ban LGBTQIA+ books, and the numbers continue to rise higher but are not limited to people of color.
Joseph Morgan, a former writer, and editor of an online pop-culture magazine, believe that change is still very far away. After working and reporting on the entertainment industry for several years, he noticed the perception of change but it’s only a front as he claims.
“There are a lot of books being adapted into television and movies. There’s a need for more diverse source material. It feels like an easy task however, there’s still so much push back.”
Morgan spending much researching and reporting on current popular movies and television believes that “Diversity is a little bit of an illusion still. Yes, there are emerging adaptions coming from popular books that focus on people of color and queer stories but compared to all of the stories centered around straight white characters is very unmatched.”
Not only is representation needed by the author but also in the book character as well. More often, are characters of color or LGTBQ are often stereotyped and misrepresented. Many of which are solely secondary or supporting characters. The National Education Association supports the push for diversity within the school system, believing aids in empathy and understanding by non-minority groups.
However, regardless of the current statistics, more representation is on the rise. Social media has helped as a catalyst for spreading the word. Twitter accounts like, @WeNeedDiverseBooks hold book auctions hoping to showcase more attention on books by BIPOC and Queer writers. Other social media groups, like Diverse Books for Diverse Kids on Facebook. Aiming at younger readers, in hopes of bringing more representation to everyone, like No More Ghosts!, an article shedding light on book bans and hiding queer books for kids.
News reports and social media accounts all focusing on the interest of diversity go beyond financial gain for authors. This movement for evolution in the publishing industry is reaching other industries like movies and television. The keyword to remember is inclusion. The change isn’t meant to alienate anyone rather spark excitement about a diverse range of voices and perspectives for people from all backgrounds.
For many decades, the US education system has been the standard for classic literature. However, most if not all, required reading in the American school system are written by white male authors. Many educators and students are pushing for more diversity and inclusion, something that represents the United States growing diversity. Educators are asking for more beyond Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, and Salinger.
Those who support more diverse books believe it’s important for children of color or LGBT students to be able to see themselves at all ages, including Colorado Public School Administrator Dean of Students and Licensed Child Therapist at University Prep Charter School Jasmine Montero.
With over ten years of experience working with children and with the education system. Jasmine Montero has seen, firsthand. the effects diversity has on the children and the harm book bans can have on young students.
“It would be a big misstep if a student gave up because they couldn’t find inspiration from someone like them”, Montero expressed discussing her concern on book bans. “Banning certain books tell those kids something about them is wrong, whether it’s the color of their skin or self-identity”.
Organizations like Banned & Challenged Books have taken upon themselves to advocate for banned book giving young readers a chance to find relatable stories and characters.
“I remember reading The Catcher and The Rye in High School. There are so many books full of sexually explicit content and violence. But LGTBQ and POC books are banned for the effect it might, when there is no explicit content at al. It isn’t adding up”, Montero explained during an interview.
School boards spanning the United States claim to be protecting students from social issues, however past curriculum shows differently, with stories like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Both books depict suicide and teenage sex.
One parent, Danielle Mendez wishes she could inspire more excitement for reading with her younger children. “It’s hard to motivate my kids to read the required books. Even if it’s a fun story about the ABC’s, all the characters have blonde hair and blue eyes. My kids don’t.”
Mendez is active parent urging her children’s educator to offer something more for all students. She noticed her son eagerness to read and share the stories with characters of color.
“My son love Miles Morales (Spiderman comic book character), because he looks like him. That’s who he wanted to do his book report on.”
The idea almost seems contradictory, and many have taken to social media with Twitter hashtags #DiverseTexts and #DiversityinSchools. The conversation and efforts for ore diversity is a community effort and one that won’t change overnight. One Virginia School Board continues to push for book bans on stories focused on queer and POC communities, reported by MSNBC.com.
“We need to take a look at who is making laws and who is it truly benefitting? If children are asking for inclusion why is so hard to give it them?” said Montero regarding Virginia school board ruling.
With allies like Montero and social media to shine light on the hopeful changes, a change in publishing could be the shifted that’s needed.
Some of the 2020 and 2021 top YA (Young Adult) novels have been published by BIPOC authors like Firekeeper’s Daughter, The Gilded Ones, and The Mirror Season. What about beyond the YA genre? Many BIPOC adult fiction authors have spoken out against pay variations, promotions, or overall book deals being lower than their white counterparts, in an article by BookRiot.com. One author has seen much success with best-sellers like Mexican Gothic and Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia has spoken out on several occasions.
The Mexican-born Canadian author graduated from the University of British Colombia and started her career in publishing before she published her first short story collection, This Strange Way of Dying, in 2013.
Garcia published a blog post to her personal site asking BIPOC authors to share their experiences within the publishing industry, expressing her own feelings of being stereotyped and dismissed. She verbalizes the pressures to conform and the anxiety it brings to writers of color.
“Sometimes when you deal with stuff as a POC you start to think this is all happening in your head, that you are imagining things,” Garcia said along with the frustration that these suggestions are clearly only BIPOC issues.
Many other authors of color came forward, expressing their dissatisfaction. Responding to Garcia’s post was confused and irritated Maurice Broaddus, author of The Knights of Brenton Court, who was told by publishers his story was “to ghetto”. In that criticism, was a publisher wanted to commission him because of “that urban thing he does”.
In a 2021 article with Smithsonianapa.org, Silvia Moreno-Garcia continued to out the diversity imbalance. Garcia stated since receiving critical acclaim, she isn’t being asked to change her name to something more Anglo-Saxon. She concluded with a reminder that this doesn’t mean there is more inclusion.
She conveys her experience with publishing’s clear bias in being willing to accept imaginary white characters and their culture like Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, but still to get pushed back on Mexican heritage and terminology.
One fantasy author, Neff Rodriguez chose to self-publish rather than traditional publishing. “I’m in the process of completing my high fantasy novel with Queer and BIPOC characters. I did a lot of research, and I chose to self-publish like a lot of other BIPOC authors.”
Rodriguez said she felt alone and confused by publishing companies recommended by to her by white authors. “I simply asked [two separate publishers] if I was okay to use my language which is Spanish in book, along with English. I want my book to feel genuine. Both told me know and asked that I make a lot of changes”
Rodriquez remembers taking time alone to reflect on their remarks of her book and realized it was no longer her story. “I cried out frustration. I was angry about the fact that I was going to change everything to accommodate someone who probably never even buy my book in the first place,” Rodriquez declared, and pushing her to self-publish.
Neff Rodriquez takes her voice to social media in the hopes that other people will recognize the disparity of diversity within publishing. She has become an activist and an author in the same breath.
“I want to read queer stories that are not just the coming out story, because the queer community is more than just about coming out. The BIPOC community is more just the color of their skin. These stories are just important as white stories, so I am going to write them” Neff Rodriguez concluded.
Garcia is also not afraid to share her feelings regarding white authors telling BIPOC stories. The American Dirt author and her publishing company landed into controversy in 2019 after the novel received high praise from critics. It was quickly considered stereotypical and appropriative of BIPOC culture on social media. Garcia also weighed in the debate through her Twitter:
“American Dirt” is “the fact that the book is framed as ‘starting’ a discussion about the plight of migrants when activists and writers have been writing about this for a while. It erases us,” Garcia wrote.
One Reddit thread, r/Books, had mixed thoughts when discussing the Lee and Low Books end of 2019 diversity survey. Some believe any diversity is still diversity and others state it's simply not enough.
However, this issue is deeper and much broader than the just in the US. NoveList published to LinkedIn an article further exploring the lack of diversity in children’s book in countries like, Australia and New Zealand.
Diversity and inclusion in the publishing industry have undoubtedly come a long way, and it is clear that there is still a long way to go. However, maybe following in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s message, publishing can accept all voices and backgrounds equally.
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