Despite the foreboding headline (Has the DEI Backlash Come for Publishing?), there’s good news to be found in the latest diversity counts among the biggest New York publishers. Since 2019, the number of novels by Black authors has increased from 4 percent to 9 percent; the number of novels by all other authors of color has increased from 8 percent to 16 percent. (The article’s authors counted titles at Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan.) As noted in the article, this is by far the biggest such change in US literary history. However, because two high-profile Black editors (Lisa Lucas and Tracy Sherrod) were recently dismissed by the Big Five, the article expresses doubt these gains will last or that further progress will be made.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
