Industry Survey Finds Struggle to Diversify

Independent publisher Lee & Low has released a survey on diversity in publishing employment.

Multicultural children’s book publisher Lee & Low surveyed nearly 200 companies of all sizes, including publishers, university presses, and literary agencies. More than 8,500 people replied to questions about race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability.

“The topline finding: white workers made up 72.5% of the book business in 2023, barely down from the last survey in 2019, which found that white people accounted for 76% of publishing industry employees, although down from 79% in the previous survey in 2015,” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly executive editor.

“By contrast, the proportion of Black people was unchanged from the last survey in 2019 at five percent, while the number of Latino employees fell from 6% to 4.6%,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

Those lackluster numbers have led the New York Times and other outlets to question whether publishing companies have, “faltered in their pledge to prioritize racial diversity.”

Every Friday, CCC’s “Velocity of Content” features the editors and reporters of Publishers Weekly for an early look at what news publishers, editors, authors, agents, and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.