A wave of hires is set to pick up where the reckoning left off.
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Each of the executives pictured here has a slightly different approach to their new role.
Krishan Trotman at Hachette, too, is pushing to expand genres.
How many Black self-help or business authors do you see hitting the New YorkTimesbest-seller list?
Are they not good at business?
Do they not have advice?
Her own includes publishing more conservative authors, although there are limits.
Of course, change at the top doesnt change everything right away.
It was refreshing to hear This sounds great and not Maybe you being Black is enough, she said.
I really like to use my platform for other people.
Im not Kate Winslet on that door at the end ofTitanictaking up all the space.
I wouldve made so much room for Leo.
I havent ever been professionally upset like that before.
Jesmyn Ward was talking about fighting for $100,000 forSing, Unburied, Sing.
Thats the book that won her hersecondNational Book Award.
It felt to me then that I could only do so much work at the award level.
I needed to get in where the sausage is made, where the money is.
I dont have an expectation that everything will be super different the moment I take this job.
Now I must make the hire, now I must think about how I compensate entry-level staff.
Its hard to know if the industry is changing, but my instinct is that it is.
Not every writer is going to have access to an MFA program.
Maybe its a matter of going to community colleges, the way editors and agents visit MFA programs.
Its also a matter the kinds of media that youre consuming.
So you read the major publications, but you also read various substacks.
The greatest challenge is ensuring that everyone gets a fair shot.
Im doing that here as well.
I was happy that the discussion was happening, but I knew that it could just go away.
Thats where the name of the imprint comes from to create a new legacy, something that will last.
There arent a lot of us working in this industry.
The standard path is that you come on in an entry level position in New York.
But thats a low salary job.
If people dont have a certain level of privilege, they just cant do it.
What we need to do now is bring people in and teach them publishing.
We have to look for them in different places than we normally would.
When I started in 2004, I was an editorial assistant.
I basically was asking her, do I need to whitewash my look?
She told me absolutely not.
I was asking her because I just didnt know if this was a place for me.
She was someone who helped me see that I did belong here, even though I was different.
I remember when we were shopping aroundYou Cant Touch My Hairin early 2015, and so many editors passed.
They told my agent, this isnt relatable.
we would have published it!And he was like, I did.
This is what happens when people allow their biases to get in the way.
Ive kept that experience at the back of my mind.
My first advance was $25,000, which is literally LOL.
When I was writing my book, I was working full time.
I was brought on by Flatiron as part ofthe conversation that followedAmerican Dirt.
Those of us from marginalized communities often dont get perfect opportunities.
Part of what I thought about when I was approached was: what can I do there?
What are the things I can change?
Can I be useful?
And the answer to me was, yes.
Did it feel great to spend an entire year talking aboutAmerican Dirtwith every agent and author I spoke with?
Not really, but it was a conversation that needed to be had and still needs to be had.
Any time youre dealing with a white institution, theres naturally going to be a culture clash.
It took me a second to answer, because its so expected that I almost dont feel them anymore.
That was really compelling.
And that gives me a great amount of hope.
Youre also working with agents, to help them understand the shift.
I first heard about the opportunity in the late summer.
Thats too much for one person to carry.
David:The Halloween Tree,by Ray Bradbury.
We never saw ourselves in books, especially in romances and love stories, when we were younger.
Well see how much support we get.
So far theyve been terrific, but the proof is in the pudding with these things.
David:Our pitch was super simple.
Its the thing that everyone wants.
And a lot of kissing.
I think that changes and that can really change a person.
Its always hard to know whether something will be lasting while youre still in it.
And then it just sort of went away.
David:Its the same way I felt after I sawCrazy Rich Asians.
I looked at that movie with a mixture of joy and also wary suspicion.
I thought, enjoy it while it lasts.
It was romantic, it was cute, but I didnt learn a lot about the Korean culture.
Once we get past that, we can start considering these characters on purely universal human terms.
The industry, like so many others, including journalism, was heavily white.
And of course that influenced whose voices got amplified.
But I dont focus on the legacy.
I focus on the work we have to do.
I focus on where were going and becoming a part of the new legacy.
I will be holding them formally accountable for that, and they should hold me formally accountable, too.
Im looking right now to hire a conservative editor to acquire books by and about conservatives.
Theres an opportunity in the marketplace to fill something of a void.
There are others who do publish conservative books, but we need to do more of that.
I want to do more books on religion, too.
And then the results will speak for themselves.
