Navigating racism in the publishing industry

Things I learned as a Black author, so you don't have to

“If you’re going to open your mouth, make an impression”

This is me at The Black Writers Guild (UK) at their annual summit in 2023, about to hold a panel of white leaders, at the top of publishing, accountable. You could hear a pin drop.

My debut publishing experience as a Black woman was eclipsed by racism from the very beginning. From being told there isn’t a “market” for anti-racist literature in the UK when I first pitched my proposal in Spring 2019, to pay inequity. To book deals left on the table, suddenly doubling, when George Floyd was murdered. (A sign the industry bigwigs could ‘now see’ there was indeed a market after-all). Right through to over a hundred racist comments being written all over my manuscript, followed by a general lack of care and safeguarding throughout.

There was rarely a moment untouched by racism. As a result, my publishing experience, was, at times, traumatic and had a detrimental impact on my wellbeing and confidence in writing again. This may go way some way to explain why I only feel able to write about some of it, some 3.5 years later.

I get a strange feeling of both despair and comfort when I realise I am not alone. Too many Black authors, seemingly almost as standard, experience racism as part of their author journey via ‘traditional’ publishing houses. With those who don’t go on to write second books, I do wonder if that is because of poor debut experiences and/ or a lack of future investment in us, particularly once the trend in ‘us’ wears off and the industry reverts back to a white dominated norm.

The Black Writers Guild UK was formed in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, with a strong call to arms to hold the publishing industry accountable for colossal underrepresentation of Black authors and systemic racism that too many Black authors are impacted by.

Back to me at The Black Writers Guild.

I listened to a white panel of head honchos give an account of the state of play in their publishing houses. After listening to and feeling somewhat agitated by what felt like canned responses and dry PR statements, I stood up out of my chair, raised my hand and asked someone to pass me a microphone.

I asked the hundreds of Black authors in the room (who felt safe enough) to join me in raising their hand if they had experienced racism in their author journey.

Approx 65-70% of the room raised their hands. (Unsurprisingly given why the Guild was formed - it’s worth noting, others didn’t raise their hand, as they were self-published, screenwriters, or at the start of their journey).

I then asked people to lower their hands if they felt that their experiences of racism were handled adequately by their publishers. Barely anyone lowered their hand. Seeing such a vivid visual depiction of this reality was astonishing.

I needed to see some degree of accountability and understanding of the magnitude of the issue. So, to a pensive room, I asked the white panel of senior leaders at the top publishing houses, what exactly they were to doing to properly safeguard Black authors. I can’t say their answers were anywhere near satisfactory, but they were, for what felt like the first time that day, honest - not nearly enough.

As I started to speak more about my author journey - other Black authors started to approach me, demoralised and distressed having experienced racism throughout their author journey too. From being tokenised, to being assigned editors that are racially illiterate at best and racist at worst, to having their experiences of racism denied or minimised. Some even recounted their agents washing their hands of intervening when racism reared its ugly head, saying it was outside of their expertise and that they had done their job by negotiating a book deal. Diabolical.

Most Black authors I spoke to had suffered in silence, also having a detrimental impact on their mental health. Too many too frightened to speak out in case their publishing deal got revoked and they are painted as the problem. This fear of retribution is real and is also a sign of a deeply toxic culture and one I don’t think any of us should tolerate. I understand the fear - and how much courage it takes to speak up. And what I also know is this - we cannot address what we cannot name.

So I am naming some of it, in the hope it will help you avoid experiencing some of the racism I did, or at least minimise impact. While it shouldn’t be on you to ‘learn to navigate racism in the publishing industry’, the reality is, the publishing industry is over 90% white - filled with a lot of folks who would self-profess to be liberals, who think anti-racism doesn’t apply to them - perhaps because they are well read. But it became clear to me in my own author journey, if they were well read on this subject - then they would understand racism functions far beyond the good person vs bad person binary and would be doing a hell of a lot more to both safeguard and address systemic racism in the industry.

Know your value

Knowing your value first starts with choosing the right agent for you (if you choose to have one at all - there are pros and cons to this). One that will not only ensure you are properly compensated, but both safeguard and advocate for you in the way you deserve. This is going to be paramount and the big difference between them protecting you from harm or contributing to it.

Accept what feels fair. Before I was offered any deals, my agent at the time, told me not to expect to make money from publishing. And so I didn’t. A couple of years later when I was offered what felt like low deals, because it was in keeping with the advice I was given, I didn’t question or challenge it. Until I saw the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag on Twitter. What a shit show. That hashtag highlighted gross pay inequity in publishing and highlighted white authors being paid a hell of a lot more than black authors and frequently being offered six figure deals. At times, 10x as much and more. And bear in mind, you get your advance in tranches - one typically on signing, another on acceptance of delivery of your completed manuscript, another when the book is out and sometimes a fourth if a paperback version is published. If that spans over a number of years, is that sustainable for you? That wouldn’t have covered bills for a month. Know your worth and if you choose to work with an agent - work with one who also knows your value, understands the real implications of the ethnicity pay gap and who is going to ensure you are properly compensated because of this.

I find the widespread lack of transparency in the publishing industry deeply troubling. The more financial resource they put into books, the more you see these books plastered everywhere - that has no bearing on your value - especially Black authors who are held to ridiculously high standards, white authors aren’t.

You and what you have to say on the page have huge value wether you end up in bookstore displays, bestseller list, billboards, or not. So don’t forget that without authors and the magic of our words there would be nothing to publish.

Know your worth

Linked to the above. If you are writing a book as an expert on a subject that currently forms a huge part of your business model, you are essentially giving away your IP to all and sundry. Make sure you are properly compensated. Invest in your own contract lawyer so you understand your rights and the implications and benefits of signing a book deal.

Ask questions

The onus shouldn’t be on you knowing what the right questions are to ask as a debut author, or solely down to you doing your due diligence, but there are definitely questions I wish I’d have known to ask that could have minimised exposure to harm.

Before signing with any agent or publisher - ask them for their company stance on anti-racism. Ask them to demonstrate how they safeguard their Black authors (and other minoritised authors). Check out their social media and website and look at their author list - seek out and speak to other Black authors on their books. Reach out via social media, email them, ask for their honest feedback. So many are happy to do this, but many are not speaking out publicly due to fear of retribution (HUGE issue).

Culturally competent editor

I cannot express this enough. Make sure you have a culturally competent editor. A culturally competent editor for Black authors does not necessarily have to be Black (while in my experience that hugely helped), but they do need to be socially conscious. So much of the harm that I experienced was due to originally being assigned a white freelance editor, without my consent, that had no racial literacy that was so challenged by my content, that it got in the way of her doing her job.

You are so incredibly vulnerable when you deliver your first manuscript, it’s no small feat, so you need to trust who you are working with. Their hands are first to be on what might be your most prized possession. To then receive your most treasured piece of work back, with over a hundred racist micro-aggressions in the comments, is beyond unacceptable. It is deeply harmful, dehumanising and incredibly painful. And yet it happens to too many Black authors because publishers are not thinking about safeguarding and simply believe white liberal women (who occupy most of the industry) are not racist, just because they say they aren’t, rather than because they are actively engaging in anti-racist practise and can demonstrate racial literacy.

You could also look in the acknowledgements of books of authors you admire and see if they mention their editors - if so, reach out to the authors and ask their experience of working with them.

If your publisher is thinking of assigning a freelance editor to edit your work, ask to be present at interviews, ask questions about their anti-racism journey/ stance on social justice. If you don’t like their answers - trust your gut. And use the power of your no.

Check out lists of editors on the Black Agents and Editors - the Black Writers Guild is around now and offer support and advice for members.

You should be able to focus on getting your book into the best shape - not combatting racism and defensiveness from your team.

Sensitivity reader (not the same as an editor)

Ask your publisher to invest in a culturally competent sensitivity reader - this will avoid cultural colloquialisms being ‘corrected’ for standard colonial English. Or perhaps stylistic choices like the capital B in Black (people) being made lowercase without consent by the typesetter.

Find out who is in your team and what their marketing plans are - EARLY

After the situation with my first editor and the poor handling of it that followed - trust had totally corroded between my publisher and I. To mitigate, I asked to be involved with who my publishers were assigning to my book team. I asked one of the marketing team they had assigned to the campaign what anti-racist books they had read - and to her credit she was honest - the answer was none.

Your publisher absolutely should be investing in culturally competent marketing and PR company if they do not have the expertise or resource in-house.

A common marketing plan is to share advance (proof) copies to peers and influential people to get them talking about the book and potentially endorse it. When I received the list of people my publishers recommended sharing an advance copy with - 95% of the list they compiled were Black women - many of which were my friends or colleagues. Plus, my book, The Good Ally, is about dismantling white supremacy - this is not the work of Black women to do! (Unless they work in D&I or have an interest in understanding the fuckery (many Black women have written to me saying how affirming and empowering they found the book) and even then, it’s not their sole responsibility).

You shouldn’t have to - but to make your life easier - create your own list and feed into theirs.

Some questions you could ask:

Where will they be positioning you?

What are your relationships with Black media like? Who are your contacts?

Who will they hope to position you to speak with at events?

What media outlets will they pitch you to? (this will give you a real flavour as to if they understand you/ your subject matter or not and wether they are taking safeguarding you as minoritised talent seriously. Wide pitches to outlets like the Daily Mail is not safe for Black authors writing about white supremacy.

Crisis comms

Now I need to caveat - my lens is as a dark-skinned Black woman who navigates white supremacy in her work. With this lens, a crisis comms plan should be paramount and as a public figure, abuse and at worse - threats to life are too commonplace.

The whole point in writing and publishing a book is to get it into as many hands as possible. This means your publisher may spend money on targeting advertisements on social media. You may come into contact with aggrieved people hiding behind the comfort of their keypad agitated at your work, or even simply for you just existing and thriving. How are your publishers planning to safeguard you - if you get a tirade of racist comments under their ad about you and your work? How will they handle comments? How will they support you if your book becomes victim to one star bombing reviews from be-gruntled racist individuals? Will they debrief and check in with you should you become the target of abuse after exposure from a media interview?

I had a brilliant piece featured in the Observer - it gained a lot of traction, it also generated a lot of abuse targeted at me. I don’t recall anyone checking in on my wellbeing at that time.

Event safety

Questions to ask: Where are they positioning you to speak? What area and environment will you be in? How will you be getting to and from the venue? How will they ensure your safety? Depending on how they answer these questions, will ascertain whether they are taking your safeguarding seriously or not and whether you need to go elsewhere. If you don’t feel comfortable about anything you have a right to speak up and you have a right to say no. You are not their mule.

Many Black authors who tackle white supremacy in their work need security at events. I’ve heard accounts of Black women authors being harassed and stalked, to racist epithets being plastered all over the venue toilet walls. Even historian David Olusoga has spoken about his experience of needing to have security at book events due to the harassment he gets for talking about the slave trade and white folks role as slave traders - re: simply doing his job as a historian and recounting factual historical events.

In my personal experience - conversations about crisis comms were either minimised or not considered. I remember one conversation with a PR that was being interviewed to execute my book PR. When I asked them what their crisis comms strategy looks like - their response was “surely you won’t need that”.

There was constant tedious debate about who was paying for security / transport at book events. Rather than focus on my safety, it became a constant debate between the venue, my publishers and PR, as to who was paying a couple of hundred pounds for security/ transport. There will be boundaries around this, but your publishers should absolutely be budgeting for this and providing reassurance of your safety.

Get a contract lawyer

The best advice I got from my friend and fellow author, Layla F Saad, was to get a contract lawyer regardless if you have an agent or not. A contract lawyer will be working for your benefit and no-one else’s. My recommendation would be to front-load your advance, so you get a bigger payment in your first tranche, when you’ll be doing most of the labour.

Tighten up your publisher contract around security and travel needs being a non-negotiable at in person book events, so you don’t have the humiliation of being made to feel you have to beg for basic needs to be met at every event.

To round up

Take your time - I certainly felt the pressure to sign a deal that felt misaligned from the start. There is a feeling that “you should be grateful” for being lucky enough to get a deal, that feels similar to the way racist Brits on the internet often rant that “Black people should be grateful for being let into Britain” (Let in by whom?) Its ill-willed and this kind of gratitude is not something I want any part of. Because it’s not healthy gratitude, it’s toxic.

I strongly believe what is for you, won’t go by you. I had 31 no’s before I published. So don’t rush into signing with a publisher or agent.

Having the right people in your team is vital for your safety, wellbeing and overall success of the book - so you can simply focus on your work. If something feels off - it probably is, trust your gut - it’s wise.

There’s so much more I could write - but I’ll leave it there… for now. Perhaps I should write a book.

Much Love

Nova

Nova Reid is a writer, author of The Good Ally, TED Speaker and Producer. You can find out more about her work on www.novareid.com

Photos by Josimar Senior