#Publishingpaidme: authors share advances to expose racial disparities
Authors from Roxane Gay to Matt Haig have been sharing what they were paid to write their books in order to highlight the disparity between what black and white writers earn from their publishers.
Started by black fantasy author LL McKinney, the #publishingpaidme hashtag called on white authors to share what they had been paid by publishers, with many major names weighing in with their advances.
White British author Haig said it was “seriously uncomfy”, but revealed that he received £5,000 for his first book but had steadily earned more since, securing £600,000 for his 10th book.
Malorie Blackman, the UK’s former children’s laureate and author of the Noughts and Crosses series, wrote that she had “never in my life received anything like the sums being posted by some white authors”.
“My latest contracts contain NDA clauses so I can’t say what I earn but it is NOWHERE near what some white authors are getting for their nth book where n is a single digit. I make a living but I’ve had to learn to cut my cloth to fit my income,” wrote Blackman. “And I’m in a better position than a number of my BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of colour] peers. I’m not having a pity party for one, not even a little bit, but if we give up, nothing changes. Our stories are worth telling and need telling.”
The white American science fiction author John Scalzi wrote that “to the best of my recollection” he had received $6,500 for his first two books in 2005 and 2006, then several five- and sixfigure advances before a $3.4m deal for 13 books in 2015 (£2.2m at the time). In comparison, Hugo-winning black science fiction novelist NK Jemisin revealed that she received $40,000 for each book of her Inheritance trilogy,
$25,000 for each book of the Dreamblood duology, and $25,000 for each book of the Broken Earth trilogy, each of which won a Hugo award.
“For folks comparing my advances against those of white male SFF writers and wondering at the disparities … uhhhh, yeah, I’m guessing that’s the point of the hashtag,” Jemisin wrote.
Black American author Gay revealed she was paid $12,500 for An Untamed State, $15,000 for Bad Feminist, $100,000 for Hunger, $150,000 for Year I Learned Everything and “a significant jump” for her next two nonfiction books
“The discrepancy along racial lines is very real. Keep your day job,” wrote Gay. “I like my publishers quite a lot but this is why all those corporate statements about diversity are nonsense. A little Instagram post doesn’t make up for racial disparities in everything else.”
Black American literary novelist Jesmyn Ward revealed she wrote her second novel, Salvage the Bones, before securing an advance. It sold for around $20,000 once it was finished, she said, and later won the National Book Award.
“Even after Salvage the Bones won the NBA, my publishing company did not want to give me 100k for my next novel. My agent and I fought and fought before we wrestled our way to that number,” she wrote. She switched publishers to publish Sing, Unburied, Sing, for which she was paid $100,000 and later also won a National Book Award. She added: “While that new sale was a healthy increase on the old deal, it was still barely equal to some of my writer friends’ debut novel advances.”
McKinney said that the discrepancies revealed by hundreds of authors sharing their advances, from big names to smaller voices, showed that “publishing literally does not value black voices”.
“When books by white authors don’t perform, they’re likely to get another chance and another 100k advance. When books by black authors don’t perform, the ENTIRE demographic gets blamed and punished. Black authors are told our books don’t sell. No one wants them,” she wrote.
“We’re here because publishing, like so many of these other industries and companies, only has something to say when shit pops off,” McKinney added, pointing to “the performative posts from publishers we’ve seen following protests and the loss of black life”.
A survey earlier this year by children’s publisher Lee & Low Books found that 76% of workers in US publishing identified as white.
As the hashtag was widely shared over the weekend, Blackman urged black would-be authors and illustrators to persist, despite the stories emerging.
“Your voice, your work, your stories matter. The situation will improve. It has to,” she wrote. “Yes, it’s off-putting, and yes, it’s dispiriting but please don’t stop writing. We might not win at this game but to not play is to definitely lose.”