At MSB, Inclusion Is a Core Value

Last year, my assistant put together a slide that showed a photo of every entrepreneur and expert who had successfully landed a book deal with our help.  

And I immediately noticed something.

The photos were overwhelmingly female — and overwhelmingly white.

In fact, half of the people in the slide were white, blonde women (like me). 

This isn’t unusual. In fact, it’s the norm.

Between 2019 and 2021, 74.9% of the contributors at Penguin Random House —   including authors, illustrators, and translators — identified as white. That means only 25% were anything outside the “norm” that is white people dominating book publishing. 

When I was an editor, I saw firsthand how authors of color were ignored and marginalized by the people who made profit off their work. When I was an editor at Simon & Schuster, I had to fight for my authors of color to get anything outside of a stock photo on the cover of their books because it was assumed that the cover didn't matter as much for Black readers. (Say what?)

As a woman who identifies as queer, I know what it’s like to have to constantly fight for inclusion because of who you are. In high school, I was sent home because my classmates threw things and spat at me after I had been asked out by a female friend for a date. In my adult life, I stood out in my career because I am from a middle-class, rural background and went to a state university. (And yes, that’s what passes for “diversity” at traditional publishers.) I may not have all the intersections of race, class, and sexuality that my clients and audience have, but I do understand exclusion. 

Inclusion is important to me and my work. It’s a core value in my company. And I’m proud to say that in 2021, the majority of our clients who got a book deal — 63% — did not identify like I do (as a white, cisgendered, queer woman). 

Shockingly, this number is triple the industry average. 

Whether you are treated differently because of your ethnicity, sexuality, background, gender identity, lifestyle, education, or what you are brave enough to stand up and say publicly — I want to champion your voices, get you paid and your words published.