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By Qinshu Zou

“Wench: A Novel” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez explores a unique aspect of American history by focusing on the relationships between enslaved Black women and their white masters. Set in the 1850s, the novel centers on a group of enslaved women who accompany their masters to a summer resort in Ohio, a free state. While the book addresses many themes, the topic of diversity emerges through the distinct backgrounds, personalities, and dreams of these women.

According to Kima Jones, the founder of the publishing company Jack Jones Literary Arts: “There needs to be more women of color in publishing, in positions of power, period.”¹ The publishing industry has historically lacked representation of Black authors and stories that highlight the Black experience. “Wench” addresses this gap by giving voice to a group of women whose stories are often overlooked or minimized. The novel’s focus on the complex relationships between these women and their white masters sheds light on a unique aspect of American history. By exploring these dynamics, the book encourages readers to think critically about power, identity, and resilience.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s work contributes to a more inclusive literary landscape, where stories from diverse backgrounds are valued and shared. The success of “Wench” demonstrates that there is a strong demand for books that reflect a wide range of experiences. This success helps pave the way for more authors from under-represented groups to tell their stories.

Also, “Wench” serves as an educational tool, allowing readers to learn about a different perspective on history. By expanding the kinds of stories that are published, the industry can promote a broader understanding of human experiences, fostering empathy and connection among readers.

Therefore, “Wench: A Novel” plays an important role in promoting diversity in the publishing industry. It challenges the traditional narratives by bringing forward stories that are often left untold, enriching the literary world with a more inclusive and representative range of voices.

Reference:

Ho, Jean. (2016) Diversity In Book Publishing Isn’t Just About Writers – Marketing Matters, Too. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/08/09/483875698/diversity-in-book-publishing-isnt-just-about-writers-marketing-matters-too 

By Eva Zirker

How do you imagine an author? 

Where are they writing? At a large wooden desk at the middle of a bright office? In a café serving £7 oat milk lattes? Or rather in a cramped apartment, with wallpaper peeling off and a dish-stack higher than last year’s income? What are they wearing? Where did they study? Did they study?  

Chances are your imagination falls into one of two categories. On the one hand, there is the idea of opulence: the wishful thinking that old money instantly fills the bank account of anyone who picks up a pen with a right idea in mind. On the other, there is the romanticisation of precarity: the author who does it all for the art. I have yet to meet a landlord who accepts passion for rent. So, who can actually afford to write? 

A select few might enjoy the first scenario while lifting up the heavily disputed figure of an average advance on a novel. Depending on the source, it ranges anywhere from several thousand pounds to high five-figure amounts and lies far from reality for most. Yet for most authors, the romanticisation of their precarity might be little more than a coping mechanism for the harsh reality of literary production. To the majority, even affording ‘A Room of One’s Own’ is not an easy feat, especially in a cultural epicentre like London. 

Although writing fellowships, author residencies, or cultural promotion programmes are valuable frameworks, they realistically only serve a few. However, even to those who can stand the constant competition, the demand to produce literary masterpieces is crippling creative endeavour. Writing does not happen predictably or on demand. This especially applies to people with disabilities, caring responsibilities, or similar circumstances. Their work does not always reflect traditional conceptions of productivity, despite the expectations often held within a stipend or residency.  

It is true that writing as a profession requires a substantial amount of passion to balance out the hardships. The 2023 Author’s Guild report shows that half of all full-time authors earn below the US minimum wage from their writing – which is equivalent to a mere £5.83 an hour. Attending readings, selling merchandise, giving workshops, or even sponsorships can provide necessary second sources of income, or third, or fourth. Consequently, authors need to market themselves. Their livelihood becomes inseparable from their performance as a writer and – now more than ever – as themselves. Often, the opportunity to market oneself is the reimbursement an author can expect when their writing has, for instance, been selected from an open call. But it is this exact individualisation that hinders systemic, substantial change on the long run. Recently, the 2023 writer’s strike has shown that acting collectively provokes change. Even though writing for film and television differs from literary writing in many ways, it has emphasised that without writers, much work within the cultural sector simply comes to a halt. 

To amplify diverse voices in publishing, we must not only ask whose voices are to be amplified, but also who is unable to write and why. We must ask how to promote more flexible structures that provide for more than a select few. We must acknowledge that clout pays rent as much as passion does. Only then can we make writing a less precarious occupation. We need to remember that authors lie at the core of publishing – as people, not as a commodity. After all, without them, we would only be publishing notebooks. 

Sources: 

Bründel, H. K. (n.d.). ein weißer mann erklärt mir, dass ich tippfehler gemacht habe [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/tip.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

De Muirier, J. (n.d.). Der Text und der Auftrag. [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/auf.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

Kavouras, N. (n.d.). Zwischen dem Aufkleben von Briefmarken. [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/brf.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

Landau-Donnelly, F. (n.d.). Schreibräume – Gedanken über den Zusammenhang von öffentlicher Literaturförderung und tropfenden Wasserhähnen. [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/ged.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

Los Angeles Times. (2023). Striking at the Heart of Hollywood. [online] Available at: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-04-10/wga-writers-strike-story-collection [Accessed 17 Apr. 2024] 

Oevermann Ignatia, N.-F.  (2024). Impostor – Gespenster. [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/img.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

The Authors Guild. (2023). Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey. [online] Available at: https://authorsguild.org/news/key-takeaways-from-2023-author-income-survey/#:~:text=Median%20Author%20Income [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

Uzun, F. (2024). Ayağını Yorganına Göre Uzat – oder das Wagnis, die eigenen Spielräume zu erweitern. [online] Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/se/de/kul/lir/pro/txt.html [Accessed 12 Apr. 2024]. 

By Beatrix Ambery

BookTok, the TikTok community dedicated to discussing books, has been praised for its ability to launch and accelerate the careers of lesser-known authors. It is responsible for widening the publishing pool to include those who write under less traditional circumstances. Colleen Hoover, for example, went from an ex-social worker who self-published her work on Amazon to a New York Times bestseller published by  HarperCollins, largely thanks to BookTok promotion. Hoover’s success story is not isolated –  several self-published works have been picked up by leading publishers in a similar fashion. However, although Booktok is effective at introducing new and unknown authors to the literary market, it cannot necessarily be considered a non-discriminatory, diverse way to discover your next read.  

The main reason for this is the TikTok algorithm – an algorithm that pushes the same four or five books consistently. If you view a TikTok about one book, TikTok is likely to show you another one discussing that same book, boosting that book and account’s popularity. TikTok’s algorithm records videos you like or don’t like, who you follow, your search terms, which videos you watch to the end and which videos you share. Influencers produce short form content about the most discussed books in response, aware that this is what will make their videos popular on the app. Thus, an echo chamber is created, where the same handful of novels is repeatedly mentioned. Of course, new books and authors do sometimes make an appearance on the app, but the majority of successful videos on BookTok will follow algorithm-led trends. Users will consistently be shown ‘BookTok books’ like It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller or Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, because this brand of content has a higher chance of being popular. The content’s pre-established following generates an increased profit for influencers, their sponsors, authors and their publishers.  

Noticeably, all of the aforementioned authors are white. Hardly any of the authors who blow up on TikTok are people of colour. BookTok offers a narrow insight into the literary market: modern books are often limited to their trendiness, and classics are favoured for their cloth bound aesthetics. Widening the canon is not the primary motivation for most book influencers or their viewers. Tyler McCall, who writes for The Cut, sees this problem as ‘an extension of racial inequity in the publishing industry overall’(2022). Whilst I agree with him, I believe that more of the responsibility needs to be shouldered by TikTok users. User generated content is partly a response to the books that the publishing industry is releasing, and partly a reflection of society. If BookTok’s diversity is stunted, it is because a portion of society and industry is refusing to support marginalised authors. Influencers, especially those with a large established following, have a duty to discover and support diverse authors and their content. Followers should embrace new content and want to add new narrative perspectives to their bookshelves. A shift in community mindset is required in order to diversify the platform. To encourage this change, publishers should include a larger variety of marginalised authors in influencer PR packages. Literary blogger Sharee says that she has ‘seen the most creative content coming out of the Black literary community and when asked if they even got a free book in exchange for the marketing production they rolled out, the answer is almost always no’ (2022). In light of this, publishers also need to adequately reward the free promotional material that comes from black influencers.  

Perhaps another reason as to why Booktok fails to articulate a diverse range of books is because it seeks to appeal to a small segment of society. The majority of videos are made for teenagers or young adults and are predominantly targeted towards women. This is largely due to the nature of social media: TikTok in particular was only launched in the UK in 2018, so is a fairly new and youth oriented way to receive book recommendations. Additionally, a lot of the books that trend on the site tend to conform to the genres of either romance or fantasy. Although the growth of diversity on the app is stunted by it having such a specific target audience, it could be argued that this is what makes BookTok such a close knit community. Commonality between influencers and their audiences creates closer and more personal relationships. The drawback of this is that a whole range of people feel neglected and unwelcome to participate in BookTok culture.   

Like most areas of the publishing industry, BookTok could be more diverse. There are, however, steps that publishers and TikTok users alike could take in order to encourage diversity across the platform. It feels important to acknowledge within this article that there are already voices on BookTok who are celebrating marginalised authors and a less narrow snapshot of contemporary literature. If you are interested in supporting a more diverse Booktok, these are some pages that are worth a follow: @the_caffeinatedreader, @kimmybookss, @justgreggy and @bookishbytammi. BookTok can provide success for overlooked authors through its broad reach and accessibility – its marketing capabilities just need to be applied in a more inclusive way. For further discussions of diversity within online book communities, be sure to check out our upcoming podcast on Spotify.  

McCall, T. (2022). ‘BookTok’s Racial Bias’ The Cut (November). Available at:  https://www.thecut.com/2022/11/booktok-racial-bias-tiktok-algorithm.html (Accessed 12th March, 2024).  

Oulton, E. (2024). ‘The best Booktok books to read in 2024’ Pan Macmillan. Available at: https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/general/best-booktok-books (Accessed 19th March, 2024).  

Sharee. (2022). ‘How do I get on a Book Publishers Media List?’ The Sistah Girl Next Door Blog, 8 February. Available at: https://shareehereford.com/latest-updates/how-to-get-on-book-publishers-media-lists/ (Accessed 20th March, 2024).  

Turner, E.E. (2023) ‘Colleen Hoover’, Current Biography, 84(5). Proquest, Available at: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2811273582/abstract?accountid=10342&parentSessionId=AxISvBLfDiNHfmkmBJkuk9o%2FU2PLqYlQw74Hp8YlY40%3D&source=fedsrch&sourcetype=Magazines# (Accessed 13th March, 2024).  

By Lottie Armitage

When you think about your favourite book growing up, it’s likely that the book was relatable to you. The main character might have had similar experiences to the ones you lived through – a similar family, the same cultural background, shared hobbies and fears. They might have looked like you. They might have even shared your name, or had friends whose names were familiar. They might have been a doctor, or an astronaut, or an explorer. The message of these picture books is clear: here are the things you can do; here are the things you can be.

The secondary message they are sending is one adults might not pick up on, but one children subconsciously latch onto. Here are the things you can do and be – provided you look like me. With this in mind, consider how an overwhelming 80% of UK children’s books published in 2021 did not feature any characters from a minority ethnic group (CLPE, 2022). Consider how, in the same survey, the percentage of children’s books with a non-white main character was found to be 9%. Consider how – using the example of a story about an astronaut – less than one in ten picture books would show their readers a non-white person setting foot on the moon.

Some of these books might show a supportive friend from a minority ethnic background, or they might use only animal characters. But the main character, the intended reader-insert for children to project their hopes and dreams onto, is rarely visibly diverse. Even where the character is an animal this becomes an issue: on a visit to the library, I come across Leo the lion, Emily the elephant and Brian the bear, and am reminded how many of my classmates had names deemed strange or unpronounceable. I wonder if their peers and teachers would have had such difficulty saying their names if they’d grown up associating them with beloved characters. How can we accept children being teased for their names when it’s perfectly normal, apparently, for a character to be called ‘Winnie the Pooh’?

A lack of diverse role models in picture books has led to what Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, a well-respected researcher of children’s literature, has termed ‘the imagination gap’ (Thomas, 2016). It’s obviously important for all children to be able to empathise with those who are different from them, but this comes at a later stage of imagination development – the first stage is learning to think about your own opportunities. Thomas has noticed that children from minority ethnic backgrounds can fall behind in skills such as creative writing, because they are not prompted to exercise their imagination by picture book representation during this crucial early stage. Of course, fewer writers of colour leads to less representation in the mainstream. Publishers instead push their white authors to include a nonwhite side character for sometimes problematic last-ditch diversity. The resulting lack of authentic role models brings the issue full circle.

To break the cycle and bridge the imagination gap, publishers must ensure that their output of picture books reflects the diverse nature of modern British society. For context, 18% of those who completed the 2021 UK Census recorded their ethnicity as other than white – already double the 9% of children’s books featuring a non-white protagonist, and set to increase (Census, 2021). The solution is to platform writers and illustrators from diverse backgrounds, allowing for heartfelt and accessible celebrations of culture. From befriending a dinosaur to braving the dentist’s chair, no experience should be off-limits for any child’s imagination.

Sources

CLPE Reflecting Realities – Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature 2017-2022 (November 2022). https://clpe.org.uk/research/clpe-reflecting-realities-survey-ethnic-representation-within-uk-childrens-literature-2017#:~:text=Annual%20reporting%20shows%20an%20increase,low%20at%209%25%20in%202021.

Ebony Thomas. ‘Research & Policy: Stories “Still” Matter: Rethinking the Role of Diverse Children’s Literature Today.’ Language Arts (November 2016). https://www.jstor.org/stable/44809887

UK Government – Ethnicity Facts and Figures (2021). https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/#:~:text=Government%20data%20about%20the%20UK’s,group%20(2021%20Census%20data).