The publishing industry has become less diverse and more needs to be done to confront the issue. 

Bobby Nayyar, who leads Equip (Equality in Publishing), a project to promote greater diversity within the industry, told Recruiter the situation was getting worse. “It’s on a downward trajectory,” he said. 

Nayyar cited a report by Creative Skillset, the sector skills council for the creative industries, which found that the percentage of people from BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) within publishing fell from 6% in 2007 to only 4% in 2011, less that half that of the UK workforce as a whole. 

Nayyar said that while publishing had traditionally been a graduate level entry industry, many publishing houses now expect entrants to have an MA. “This has raised the bar in terms of the cost of entering the industry,” he said. Unpaid internships, which can only be undertaken by those who are relatively well-off, continue to be a problem, he added.

Leila Dewji, editorial director of Acorn Independent Press, told Recruiter there was a danger the industry could “end up reverting to an old boys’-type network, which will be very difficult to penetrate unless you are one of the class.” She added that Acorn was currently looking to take on an apprentice. 

Equip, which is funded by the Arts Council and City University, aims to have 20 publishers signed up to its Equalities Charter by the end of May, said Nayyar. The requirement for this is that they carry out two actions a year to promote equality.   

The project also arranges apprentice-type opportunities, and builds and maintain its members network, 20% of whom are BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic).

Dewji said that despite being “a very un-diverse industry”, publishing’s growing digitalisation offered some hope. “There is a whole new breed of skill set that publishers need. They don’t need people from a typical literary background but people who can do html, for example. This should open up the industry to people from different backgrounds and skills.”

Claire Law, founding director of publishing recruiter Atwood Tate, told Recruiter she supported the idea of paid internships as a way to boost diversity. Her company also encouraged people to get office experience and temporary experience within publishing as a way of getting their foot in the door. She said she doubted whether apprentices would catch on. 

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