White Publishing Industry v.2

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Overview

The term "white publishing industry" refers to how the U.S. publishing industry is mainly made up of privileged people, including white, heterosexual, cisgender, and able-bodied people. This includes employees at publishing houses, along with the authors they publish. This creates several barriers and issues for employees and authors of color alike. While there is no simple solution to these problems, there are smaller steps that publishers and white authors can take to make sure that authors of color are getting equal opportunities.

The logo for Lee & Low books, a multicultural children's publisher.

Race, Equity, and Book Publishing

As of 2025 and also historically, the publishing industry of America is predominantly made up of white people. This includes employees at publishing houses in addition to the authors they publish. This is a problem because it doesn't accurately reflect the scope of race and cultures that exist in America's "Melting Pot." In 2015, Jason Low of Lee & Low Books jumpstarted the conversation about the lack of diversity in publishing. He created a petition for publishers to be transparent about the demographics of their employees, and received support from eight review journals and 34 publishers. The results of the study were dismal, showing that 79% of employees at publishing houses were white, 88% were heterosexual, 92% were non-disabled, and 98.7% were cisgender. PEN America's article, "Reading Between the Lines," published in 2022, further exposes the biased whiteness of the publishing industry. The article describes not only the problems authors of color face when attempting to get published, but also what employees of color deal with in editorial spaces.

The icons of The Big Five publishing houses.

2020-2021 DEI statistics for PRH, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and HBG.

The greatest examples of this issue can be seen in the Big Five publishing houses, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and HarperCollins. PEN America released a number of statistics detailing the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statements (DEI) of each of these companies. Though each company records their DEI statistics, only three of them make those statistics publicly available. This includes Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan. These 2020 - 2021 statistics revealed that how white each publishing house was. It was about 80% for Penguin Random House, about 65% for Hachette, and about 70% for Macmillan. Though their DEI statistics are not widely available to the public, Simon & Schuster did participate in PEN America's study for 2020 - 2021, revealing that their publishing house is about 67% white. With the overwhelming majority of employees being white, it creates difficulty for employees of color to feel comfortable speaking out for themselves and authors of color.

Praise and Criticism for the Publishing Industry

Because the publishing industry is being called out for their racist tendencies, there are some white authors who believe that they will not be published because they’re white. In 2022, James Patterson, one of the most well-known authors of all time, said that white males have a hard time getting published, and that it is a form of racism against white people. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes,” he said in an interview for The Times. This is a clear misrepresentation of the publishing industry, and fails to acknowledge the fact that white males have dominated the book scene throughout history.

In response, publisher and author Brooke Warner wrote an article acknowledging that things have changed for white writers; “we’re in a moment where white writers are not getting the same default consideration they’ve had in the past. That doesn’t mean white writers aren’t getting published; of course they are.” She also believed that things have improved in the last few years for authors of color, but there is still a long way to go. “The industry is flawed….At the same time, the industry is doing a lot better.”

Unlike Warner, Bernadine Evaristo, "the first black woman to win the Booker prize," did not acknowledge any potential change in the publishing industry. In a foreword for an academic study on diversity in publishing, she completely condemned the industry for their heteronormative, white rhetoric. She described the publishing industry as only seeing their readers as white and privileged, believing only those people can afford the time to read. The white publishing industry follows the belief of "one is enough," believing that a single story about people of color is the only one that will be read. This is in part due to how publishing companies decide how much a book will make through "comparative titles," though the criteria for such books leads to an over-representation of white stories, and under-representation of authors and people of color in literature. “The truth is that good literature about anything can be enjoyed by all kinds of people. Literature transcends all perceived differences and barriers. It’s partly the point of it," said Evaristo. She is not the first and certainly won't be the last to speak out.

Effects of Prejudice on Authors

The stigma against publishing authors who are people of color, queer, or disabled leads to restrictions on the diversity of stories available to the public. Many authors seeking to publish fiction involving racial issues or other controversial subjects face the disappointment and frustration of having their viewpoints suppressed. Not only does this lead to a curtailed flow of income for such authors because of corporations' hesitancy to publish their work, but it give writers a sense of stress that their messages are not reaching audiences in need of hearing their stories. This is especially true for children's book authors seeking to publish age-appropriate books about exploring and celebrating identity.

Authors can also face challenges beyond the publishing stage due to books being banned. Book banning disproportionately affects authors of color, with 39% of banned authors in the United States being people of color despite only accounting for 27% of the population. The banning of books hinders sales from libraries and other public institutions, meaning that many banned book authors struggle to pay off their advances. Since book banning limits book profitability, many publishing companies are less willing to publish material by a banned author again.

Solutions

There is no single way to solve the white publishing problem overnight. To eradicate the problem would mean completely changing the system of how books get published. One of the major reasons diverse books are so suppressed is because of the system of using "comp titles," meaning existing books authors can compare their work to in order to promote their own prospective books. Since most existing books were published by white, straight, cis, and non-disabled authors, authors whose stories center these marginalized identities have little to compare their work to, and publishers see this unknown territory as a financial risk. Reconstructing the system is no small task, and cannot be accomplished by a single person. However, there are still smaller steps that can be taken to diversify publishers.

What white authors can do

As mentioned previously, white authors have a significant amount of privilege in the publishing industry. They are more likely to be published over authors of color, as their works are usually not considered a “risk” to publish, nor are they told that the quota for white books has been filled for the year. While white authors cannot completely fix the publishing industry, they can make an effort to uplift authors of color and make space for them.

The easiest thing they can do is to intentionally read and promote authors of color. Promoting these books can amplify authors of color’s voices, giving them the opportunity to speak and share their stories. White authors should also recognize their own privilege, and acknowledge when authors of color tell them when they are writing from a bigoted viewpoint.

What publishers can do

There are several steps that publishers can take to diversify their catalogues and to make sure that authors of color, along with employees of color at the presses, have equal opportunities to white authors and employees. First, they can make an effort to hire writers of color, whether by reaching out to them or by doing an open call that encourages BIPOC writers to submit their manuscripts to that publisher. Publishers can also promote their existing writers of color and their works, while also taking care not to tokenize or exoticize them.

Presses should also make sure that they are paying their writers of color as much as they are paying their white writers. Authors of color are often paid much less for their book advances, even when they have already published bestsellers. Publishers should do their part to solve this wage gap issue by paying authors of color fairly.