Track Changes: Inequality in Publishing

How bad is structural inequality within the U.S. publishing
industry, how did it get that way, and what can we do to make it
better? Industry experts and activists contextualize, illuminate,
and identify some of the key inflection points that perpetuate
inequality and get into what every book lover can do to enact
change.


This episode features:


Industry expert Mike Shatzkin, Founder and CEO of The Idea
Logical Company and co-author with Robert Paris Riger, of The
Book Business.


Jalissa Marcelle Corrie, marketing and publicity manager at Lee
and Low Books, contributor to anthology A Phoenix First Must
Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell, and planning committee member
of People of Color in Publishing.


Nicole Johnson, Executive Director of We Need DIverse Books


Arthur Levine, founder of the Levine Querido and for 23 years,
Publisher at Arthur A. Levine Books at Scholastic.
Catch up on the series so far:

Episode 1: Publishing 101


Episode 2: Agents: Who Are They, What Do They Do, And How Do You
Get One?


Bonus Episode: Publishing in the time of COVID


Episode 3: Selling Your Book (Part 1)


Episode 4: Selling Your Book (Part 2)


Episode 5: Advances (Part 1)


Episode 6: Contracts


Episode 7: After the Book Deal

Discussed in this episode:



We Need Diverse Books




The Lee & Low Books Diversity Baseline Survey 2015




The Lee & Low Books Diversity Baseline Survey 2019




P&L Statements




Dana Canedy, new publisher of Simon & Schuster




Barnes & Noble selling to Elliott Advisors




James Daunt




Waterstones




The American Booksellers Association


 




More Information:




“People of Color to Publishing: We’re Not Okay,” in
Publisher’s Weekly




“A Conflicted Cultural Force’: What It’s Like to Be Black in
Publishing,” in The New York Times




“In Publishing, ‘Everything Is Up for Change” in The New York
Times




 


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Track Changes is produced by Hayley Hershman. Zan Romanoff is the
story editor. The music was composed by Dan Bailey, and the logo
was designed by Collin Keith.