Reading Between the Lines: PEN America Report on Diversity in the Book Industry

Last week PEN America released an extensive report on diversity in the book industry: Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing.

The report lays out both the continuing lack of diversity in publishing, as well as looking at the efforts made to overcome its systemic inequities, how successful (or not) they have been, and what obstacles persist in implementing real and lasting change:

"Systemic change requires more than goodwill. It necessitates specific, far-reaching, and sustained policy revisions and company-wide commitments that outlast any single political moment and persist despite inevitable hurdles and setbacks."

Because the report is so long, the next several "Anti-Racist Bookseller" columns will focus on specific parts of the report, with respect to booksellers.

"Diversity in the books sector isn't just a question of who is on editorial staffs and which authors receive book contracts," notes the report's authors in the introduction, "Our research and interviews revealed a host of historically underexplored financial and institutional factors that feed into underrepresentation across the industry, and compound the marginalization of publishing professionals, authors, and booksellers of color. These factors include policies and strategies for entry-level pay, author advances, employee retention, professional mobility, mentorship, book sales, audience development, and marketing—all of which shape a book’s chance of publication and commercial success as well as an author, bookseller, or publishing professional’s capacity to remain and flourish in the industry."

Read the full report here