Once I discovered that this could be a career, there was nothing that was going to stop me. But it didn’t matter to me because I was very, very happy to be working with books. I used to make a joke that I was the oldest editorial assistant in the world. It took seven years of interviews for an editorial assistant position. ‘The only really painful thing about racism in publishing is the books that are not around.’ Here are their responses, which have been condensed and edited. They are seeing books about race and racism dominate best-seller lists, and several companies have committed to changing their hiring practices and the books they publish.Įight publishing professionals - working in different facets of the industry, including an author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers - told us what they are seeing now and what they’ve seen before, how being Black has affected their careers, and what they hope the future will bring. In publishing, that has included discussions of hiring practices, workplace microaggressions and publishing companies’ treatment of books by Black writers.

But the calls to diversify have intensified in recent weeks, as Black professionals have publicly shared long-suppressed frustrations about how racial prejudice has affected their work. The industry has long been criticized for hiring and retaining so few employees of color - according to a survey of the work force released this year by the children’s book publisher Lee & Low Books, only 5 percent are Black. She also interviewed authors and helped create content for Epic Reads, an online young adult book community with over 7 million followers across all social platforms and online as well as was the co-host of Why Not YA?, a monthly video series where she interviewed authors in the young adult space with Karah Preiss from Belletrist and the author of the forthcoming Love Radio.The nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice have set off conversations in nearly every industry about the treatment of Black workers, and book publishing is no exception.

Prior to, Ebony worked at HarperCollins where she worked with authors such as Ibi Zoboi (Punching the Air, American Street, and Black Enough), Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give, On the Come Up and Concrete Rose), Elizabeth Acevedo (Clap When You Land, The Poet X and With the Fire on High) and countless others. Ebony LaDelle Marketing Director, Brand Publishing, Penguin Random HouseĮbony LaDelle is a brand marketing director at Penguin Random House with over 10 years of book publishing experience, currently working on books like A Promised Land and Becoming.

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