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   Want more information? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of the Track Changes newsletter, which goes a step (or two) further behind the scenes into the publishing world. Support First Draft by subscribing to the podcast wherever you listen (on Apple Podcasts, Spotfiy, Stitcher, or elsewhere), and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. You can donate to the podcast, on a one time or monthly basis. 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.