Black Americans in Publishing call for action - News - Brief Article

Black Issues Book Review, Sept-Oct, 2002 by Angela Dodson

Black professionals in book publishing are pressing for new initiatives to increase their ranks in the field. "African Americans and other ethnic groups continue to be underrepresented in the book world by an alarming degree," warned Black Americans in Publishing, Inc. in a press statement in July. The group urged the industry to refine its hiring and recruiting practices to become more inclusive.

A 1999 study by the Association of American Publishers found that among the six major publishers reporting, African-Americans constituted just 2.4 percent of the 974 editorial employees. AAP, the principal trade association for U.S. book publishers with some 300 members, emphasized that it has taken major steps to address the gap. One harbinger of change may be in entry-level management. In 1999, African-Americans made up 7.9 percent of the 380 professionals in that category.

"I don't know how much the data have changed since 1999," says Ed McCoyd, who runs the diversity committee of AAP and is its director of digital policy. "But everyone agrees that publishers really need to focus more on it. I think it will be a process that takes some time, and at some point we are going to want to measure again."

While more books are being published by African-American authors and targeted to the black community, BAIP said, "the hiring of black employees remains on the backlist" for many publishers. BAIP, a nonprofit volunteer organization of about 70 members, was founded in 1979 as Black Women in Publishing. BAIP called for more recruiting at historically black colleges, promoting careers in publishing, more fully integrating human resources staffs and promoting talent at publishing houses. After releasing its statement in July, BAIP said at least one publishing company asked for a list of the black schools to add to their recruitment efforts.

LaTasha Stewart, the president of BAIP, who is specialty wholesale sales manager at Harper Collins Publishers, said the group was exploring projects with AAP's diversity committee.

The group applauded such efforts as the Publishing Certificate Program at City College of New York. AAP says it is focusing on increasing awareness of publishing as a career. After the 1999 study, AAP distributed a video and a brochure promoting the field to 330 colleges. The association also pays for internships through the CCNY publishing program and at Howard University Press. It has a pilot outreach program at Howard, CCNY and Hofstra University and is creating a jobs website (www.bookjobs.com).