Publisher's Synopsis
The empowerment of Roxane Gay, the sensibilities of Zadie Smith, and the strength of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie come together in a provocative and polarizing--yet often deadly funny--look behind the scenes of the publishing industry.
God forbid you be female, black, gay, or any other version of -not a straight white guy- and pick up a pen today because gender, race, and the politics of power will shroud your words in obscurity.
By all appearances, publishing is an open-to-all endeavor. But for female authors and authors of color and LGBT authors, for authors who write about women or people of color or individuals in the LGBT community, entry is all but barred.
Writing While Female or Black or Gay, written by a publishing professional with twenty years of experience, considers the depth and breadth of the problems. The issues include how the books women write are treated differently from representation through to marketing and remaindering, how authors of color are not allowed to write what is dearest to their hearts, and how LGBT authors are ghettoized. And then all of us, authors and publishers and readers and reviewers, are invited to fix the problems.
If you're a writer--even a straight white male author--you need to read this book. If you're a reader who cares about diversity in the books that are available to you, you need to read this book. Inside you'll find:
- An unflinching description of the lack of diversity in publishing today.
- Studies and statistics about the lack of support for books by and about women, people of color, and LGBT people.
- How the adult and juvenile markets parse underrepresented authors and characters into inaccurate categories simply because of gender, race, or identity.
- Ways that even blind judging of awards is impacted by inherent prejudice.
- The twisted logic behind higher numbers of female authors in the juvenile market...and the shocking segregation in support that flows primarily to white male authors.
- What authors and readers can do right now to reverse engineer the publishing industry from the ground up.
