Toolkit Scope
The big UK publishing houses like Penguin Random House and Hachette UK, as well as the British and Scottish governments, have noticed the need to be more writers from working-class backgrounds in their books. This has become a significant issue. This problem is about more than just books; it also affects other creative businesses like theater shows and movies because these things matter to the economy and culture. Even though the UK is only a tiny part of the world’s people, it sends out more books across the globe than anyone else (Shaw, 2020). This helps boost the UK’s economy in areas like commerce, production through mass publishing, and informing of new releases. However, the lack of working-class authors is a significant social and economic problem that publishers and officials know about.
The UK publishing business, which gave £3.2 billion directly to the economy in 2016, faces problems with equality in society, but they are highlighted as the most different creative field in the country (Frontier Economics 2018). A study by the London School of Economics introduces a seven-category system that shows how ‘class barriers’ stop social movement over a long time, making it hard to understand social classes today (Stephen, 2018). Problems in the industry are highlighted by reports such as Literature in the 21st Century from Arts Council England in 2017 and concerns raised by UK Authors’ Salaries and Contracts Society in 2019 (Sandra van Lente, 2020). Reports from 2021 to 2022 show little change in socioeconomic diversity for the UK publishing world. They do not fully consider race, class, or gender (Shaw, 2020; ACE; ALCS; Publishers Association). They also miss links between these factors and other parts of identity. This widespread lack of different people needs big, all-round plans to handle the many ways it makes it hard for everyone to be represented in the UK book world.
Annotated Glossary
Class: A made-up way that sorts people based on money, work, and learning. In the book world, class bias can show up in unfair chances to put out books, money help for authors, and showing them in published stories.
Socioeconomic Diversity: Covers differences in money, social position, and ability to get resources due to Class, skin color, gender, and past. A wide range of publishing companies show the facts about society and make it more welcoming to share stories.
Inclusion: Creating a place where everyone feels special and can fully join in, regardless of their history (Inclusio.io, 2019). In writing, being inclusive means ensuring that voices from various groups are heard. It also means bringing in many types of people and giving opportunities to writers who often need to be listened to.
Intersectionality: Understands that different kinds of unwanted treatment can mix, creating more problems for people. Knowing many things can make it hard for intelligent people from poor backgrounds to get chances.
Structural Inequalities: Important limits in the public view make obvious connections about race, orientation, and Class. In sharing things, significant differences can happen when some control the flow of guessing games and unfair plans are made in leadership jobs.
Social Mobility: A person’s or group’s ability to increase their social position based on learning, experience, and hard work. Making society fair in distribution means breaking barriers and giving people from all backgrounds a chance to be successful.
Meritocracy: A system that was getting better is all about skills, work, and talents. Even though it is true, fairness based on ability can worsen things when people from different backgrounds have to gain entry in unequal ways.
Deficit Thinking: Understanding that small businesses or individuals need skills, expect help to win. In sharing, handling shortages can appear by ignoring good writers from various groups or putting useless pressure on them to show their talents.
Annotated bibliography
The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf (2022). The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EbS5Tq9teapPP8WwXp7rSpK90b5JnXLD/view. The UK’s Equality Act of 2010 is a big part of making things more equal and including everyone, especially in areas like publishing. This critical law creates the base for creating an area where people are not treated differently because of who they are. The act makes clear rules against unfair actions and stops them. This helps make fair policies possible to put into place. People working in the book business need to understand this law to do things right and include everyone. The law’s importance comes from stopping unfair treatment and, as a leader, making the ground for fair and right actions better. By knowing and following the Equality Act, professionals help to make jobs that respect different people. They like everyone being part of it all while standing for treating everyone fairly.
Shaw, K. (2020). Common people: Breaking the glass ceiling in UK publishing. Creative Industries Journal, pp.1–14. doi https://doi.org/10.1080/17510694.2019.1707521. Her work, “Common People: Katy Shaw’s “Breaking the Class Ceiling in UK Publishing,” is a big study of class issues in the UK book world. The book explores the work of sociologist Mike Savage. He builds on Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas by adding social status, culture, and money power to his study. Savage’s model of class difference gives a detailed look at the long-lasting separations in modern British society. Shaw’s smart thinking talks about the tough stuff in social movement over big distances. His writing shows there is a barrier called the ‘glass ceiling.’ Publishers can use his book to understand better the obstacles faced by people of different backgrounds, so they know how to help them more. “Common People” helps us think deeply about how classes work today. It raises awareness and sets a plan for breaking down these unfair barriers in the publishing world. This will make it more accepting to everyone.
Savage, M. (2015). Social Class in the 21st Century. Penguin UK. Mike Savage is a sociologist who has written many articles about the subject. His work helps us understand how different classes divide people in the UK today. Savage’s idea, which expands on Pierre Bourdieu’s theories, goes beyond standard measuring methods by combining the value of money with cultural and social power. This broad view shows us how differences in money and income become normal, keeping class gaps going for a long time. Savage’s work is constructive. It shows how rich people can pass on their advantages to others like them, making it hard for poorer people to move up. They do this through connections of importance and high status. It needs a significant change, telling people who are part of it to be active in making a place where many different voices can succeed. This will improve the Literature (ACE, Report on Literature in the 21st Century, 2017).
Create.ac.uk. (2018). UK Authors’ Earnings and Contracts Society 2018: A Survey of 50,000 Writers – Create. [online] Available at: https://www.create.ac.uk/uk-authors-earnings-and-contracts-2018-a-survey-of-50000-writers/. The 2018 report by the UK Authors’ Wages and Contracts Society (ALCS) points out increasing worries about favoritism in the British writing world. The report showed an extensive study with 50,000 British writers. It shows that average pay has been the same for many years, which is worrying. A troubling finding shows that the top 10% earns the most income. This represents a big difference in money between rich and poor people. This focus not only continues income differences but also brings a significant chance of exclusion, possibly making writers from poor backgrounds miss out. The report is a sad reminder for writing workers and people involved, urging them to scrutinize these money differences. There is a significant need to change the money systems of writing jobs to stop these patterns. This will make it an excellent and accessible place for writers from all backgrounds (ALCS report on Author Earnings in UK 2018).
Examples of good practice
The Common People Project is an excellent example of a way to promote diversity in the UK book publishing business. In her article, Katy Shaw explains how classes work, and the extensive report on New Writing North’s website shows how the project tackles different aspects (Shaw, 2020). The plan not only admits that gaps exist; it also tries hard to break down obstacles faced by authors from the working class (Saha and Van, 2020). The book “Common People” uses findings from sociologist Mike Savage. It gives a broad view of social differences and how they affect the book world. It concerns the problems of moving up in society over long distances and a continuing ‘class barrier.’ This gives helpful suggestions to workers about obstacles caused by policies (Editorial, 2022). Getting different opinions is very important and helps Common People move forward. By creating special collections of stories and writing classes, the project offers a place for tales that might need to be noticed. Familiar People shows how teams working closely with writers from poor backgrounds can change how books are written and read. This can help make books more inclusive.
In 2018, Arts Council England started a big project to fix the need for British working-class writers in books and publishing. The Common People writing program that started in August 2018 and lasted until August 2019 was a team effort between Local Writing Development Groups backed by big literature companies. It also included the publisher Unbound. This teamwork showed a bright promise to fight the wide class limit in British book publishing. The initiative aimed to identify and provide opportunities for new working-class writers, comprising a printed anthology, “Common People: A Book Collection,” with a unique program to develop writing skills for new writers. The Common People project got money for its printed book by asking many people to help (South West 1, 2023). It reached the goal in eight weeks with more than 750 donations. The book, published in 2018 by Unbound, had short stories and poems. These were written by people who do different jobs all over Britain. Some are famous writers, while others were unknown before this story collection came out. Importantly, all the helpers got paid the same amount of money. This made everyone equal in the project and showed how different voices from people who work for a living can be found in books.
The Common People assignment’s second thing, the Writing Development Program, was pivotal in empowering emerging working-class writers. Over a year, contributors benefited from one-to-one mentoring, expert development days, and help with expenses associated with the booklet, which included meetings with retailers or publishers. The application also supplied free access to writing improvement activities via the seven RWDAs (Smart, 2019). Participants underwent complete checks at the venture’s initiation and, finally, generated 360- reports on changes in their relationships with the publishing enterprise (Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre, 2022). Despite its exceedingly modest funding, the Common People assignment yielded vast influences. The anthology garnered critical acclaim, trending on social media with the hashtag familiar people, and became praised for illuminating the richness of variety within the UK. However, the genuine fulfillment lay within the Writing Development Program, where 100% of contributors stated increased self-assurance as writers. Seventeen new writers described themselves as newly published or rising, with many securing marketers or publishing contracts. Networking opportunities progressed for 83% of individuals, highlighting the program’s function in enhancing enterprise understanding, confidence, and writing practices (Reportlinker.com, 2023). The coordinated merchandising campaign exposed writers to stay literature events and industry publications, elevating the assignment’s profile and emphasizing the urgent undertaking of sophistication in UK publishing. Peer support and network-building emerged as profoundly impactful aspects of this system, demonstrating its holistic success in nurturing and empowering rising elegance writers.
The Common People project was a considerable teamwork effort for all seven Regional Writing Development Agencies (RWDAs). This marked the first time these groups worked together to solve a problem nationwide. The RWDAs thought this project could be an excellent example for future teamwork. It helped make talking easier in the UK’s writing industry. The test scores showed that 100% of RWDAs thought the program helped their business and were happy with how well it worked (Tagholm, 2015). The teamwork also helped national exposure for local writing, increased company reputations, and promoted efficiency by using shared resources and working together in marketing efforts. People who work on the Common People project said it had two effects. They discussed how they could help new writers recognize fresh talent more efficiently. The teaching experience made them think about how to help new people grow in a way that lasts. The teacher survey showed 100% happiness, with teachers noticing significant improvements in their student’s writing and career growth. The Common People project had a significant effect on UK government policy.
Practical ideas
Unbound’s Innovative Impact and Business Transformation
The Common People project, led by publisher Unbound, is a new and essential idea. It changed how books are made and shared with readers. The central part of this effort was the intelligent use of crowdfunding, a way to sell goods quickly. This helped easily start the Common People (2018) collection and broke publishing rules. This move away from standard models gave a new way to raise money. Also, it broke down old blockers that stopped working-class writing in the UK from being accepted (Caffeine Nights Books, 2023). Unbound’s job in the Common People project did more than help money-wise. It also had a lasting effect on how people see and talk about their brand name. The project was a strong example of why the UK’s publishing businesses should be local. It showed how much you can do if your company is in one area.
Joint Recommendations for Industry and Government Action
In 2020, Shaw studied the Common People project. He gave helpful tips for the UK entertainment and government to encourage more growth and diversity, especially outside London. These suggested actions show a complete way to fix the big problems working-class writers face in the world of books. A vital suggestion is that writing help groups (RWDAs) should work with Arts Council England (ACE) to set up special teaching programs for new working-class writers. The plan is to put money into programs made for new writers. The aim is to help them get the help they need to succeed in an industry that certain groups of people have usually controlled. This way recognizes how vital guidance is to make promising writing careers and aims to give more people a chance at these opportunities. The big idea is to create special money only for helping others. This focuses on building a culture of talking, connections, lasting power, and healthy living. This advice shows the value of making a group and helping each other. It shows a promise to solve problems individually and create a sense of togetherness in the writing community.
Suggestions suggest that new industry rules require unconscious bias training for critical roles in UK book and publishing sectors to fight deep-rooted biases in the business. This exceptional help is designed to remove blocks that stop fair chances, ensuring those in charge know how to spot and deal with unconscious biases. This might affect groups who are less powerful or left out more often. The plans want more money and help with local writing prizes. They should highlight the work of everyday writers from working-class backgrounds (LSE Business Review, 2022). This gives essential praise and shapes ideas of what is excellent in writing, breaking old ranks. It also promotes a more friendly place for everyone with different backgrounds. The advice also stresses the need for better teamwork between higher learning places, business partners, and arts-related groups. This teamwork aims to create new facts, guide decision-making, and solve the problem of class ceilings in UK writing and publishing businesses. These partnerships bring together ideas from schools, companies, and art. The goal is to create complete answers that tackle the many problems faced by writers who are workers.
Addressing Future Prosperity through Collaboration
A paper from New Writing North says the excellent future and health of the country depend on understanding how creative industries can change things. To help the country win, giving money for local writing skills and encouraging spreading out where publishers live is very important (Frontier Economics, 2019). The study shows that the public and private sectors should work together to improve representation in book publishing and creative areas. Understanding that education, non-profit groups, and businesses are connected is essential for getting good writers from uncommon backgrounds that are rare. This helps them all be successful together. The paper suggests investing money into new buildings outside London to help long-term change and build fresh ways for all.
Recommended Steps for Transformation
The writing group New Writing North made a simple plan for starting good changes in the world of books by stating that it is essential to be inclusive and reach out wide. The system suggests a two-pronged method involving both government and businesses. The main suggestion is to ask for more public and private finances to make products and back publishing projects outside London. This critical step is planned as a way to bring more different people into publishing, remove location limits, and make the industry more welcoming—the focus on being fair and critical shows a break from having all literary activities in the capital. The paper calls for more money to be put into local writing schools (Guest Contributor, 2015). This aims to ensure that these places get a fair chance and that the new talents are well-supported. Understanding these groups as essential spots for finding, encouraging, and helping talent, the plan wants to make a fair interplay between writers from different areas. The suggestions indicate that literary agents need to grow outside the capital city. The plan wants to make big publishers think more about working together and connecting with local writing groups. This will help break down the idea that everything comes from one central place, making it easier for all kinds of stories to be heard.
The decentralization subject maintains a name for the United Kingdom publishing enterprise to diversify its staff. It provides a vision where activity opportunities are transparent, accessible, and open to individuals from socio-monetary backgrounds. This shift in workforce composition is crucial to changing the enterprise’s security profile and fostering greater inclusive and consultant surroundings. The file’s last advice facilitates embedding the focus of boundaries for beneath-represented writers in the design of guide schemes. This technique advocates for programs that provide proper and sustained engagement, ensuring that help initiatives pass beyond tokenistic gestures and actively contribute to the latest writers’ long-term improvement.
Collective Responsibility and Benefits of Diversity
The final recommendation encapsulates a name for collective duty and collaborative action to uplift and amplify the voices of new operating-elegance writers. It emphasizes that the advantages of developing and supporting such writers make more considerable past writers embody the entire enterprise and society (The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2021-FINAL, 2021). A central tenet of this recommendation is the perception that the enterprise, at the side of governmental bodies, has a shared duty to grow the profile of working-magnificence writers. This entails now not simply dismantling existing obstacles but actively promoting new function fashions, fostering an experience of visibility, and challenging current norms that could contribute to underneath illustration by leveraging the strengths of both sectors; it turns viable to create a more complete and sustained support system for writers from various backgrounds. The document concludes with a resounding call for the UK publishing industry to embrace new approaches to working and undertake initiatives that bring about lasting alternatives (The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf, 2022). This encompasses fostering a diverse team of workers, ensuring transparent activity opportunities, and redefining the profile of industry gatekeepers. The transformation is now ethically vital for equity and equality and a financial necessity for the industry’s long-term quality, profitability, and competitiveness.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Caffeine Nights Books., 2023. Part One: The Missing Voices: Underrepresentation of the Working Classes in the UK Publishing Industry. https://caffeinenightsbooks.com/blogs/news/part-one-the-missing-voices-underrepresentation-of-the-working-classes-in-the-uk-publishing-industry
Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing, 2022 Class in publishing and print: ceilings, inequalities, diversities (pp. 1-10). University of Reading. https://research.reading.ac.uk/centre-for-book-cultures-and-publishing/wp-content/uploads/sites/138/2022/04/Class-in-Publishing-and-Print-Conference-Document_NW-BEST-1.pdf
Create.ac.uk. 2018. UK Authors’ Earnings and Contracts Society 2018: A Survey of 50,000 Writers – Create. [online] Available at: https://www.create.ac.uk/uk-authors-earnings-and-contracts-2018-a-survey-of-50000-writers/.
Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre., 2022. National Statistics on the Creative Industries. Available at: https://pec.ac.uk/news/national-statistics-on-the-creative-
Editorial, 2022. The Guardian views the book publishing industry as no one-size-fits-all. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/04/the-guardian-view-on-the-book-publishing-industry-no-one-size-fits-all.
Frontier Economics., 2018. The contribution of the publishing industry to the UK economy. https://www.frontier-economics.com/uk/en/news-and-articles/articles/article-i4330-the-contribution-of-the-publishing-industry-to-the-uk-economy/.
Guest Contributor, 2015. Three Strategies to Improve Diversity in Publishing – Publishing Perspectives. Publishing Perspectives. https://publishingperspectives.com/2015/07/three-strategies-to-improve-diversity-in-publishing/.
Inclusio.io., 2019. Classism – Meaning & Definition – inclusio.io. https://inclusio.io/glossary/classism.
LSE Business Review., 2022. The ‘class ceiling’: tackling barriers to social mobility in UK television. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2022/06/13/the-class-ceiling-tackling-barriers-to-social-mobility-in-uk-television/.
Onwuemezi, 2017. Publishers contribute £3.2bn to the economy, the report reveals. https://www.thebookseller.com/news/industry-contributed-32bn-uk-economy-2016-683916
Reportlinker.com., 2023. Publishing Industry 2023. https://www.reportlinker.com/market-report/Publishing/6134/Publishing?term=publishing%20industry&matchtype=b&loc_interest=&loc_physical=1006886&utm_group=standard&utm_term=publishing%20industry&utm_campaign=ppc&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=paid_ads&utm_content=transactionnel-3&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD19yGdFKyZvo4T2i6TWSqbaRPEbE&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgqGrBhDtARIsAM5s0_m_hKosS6uKriqJFKwcFmqVSx9eKPJj1eD-yLc3CrhZgTx52GcToEAaAq06EALw_wcB.
Saha, A. and Van Lente, S., 2020. RE: THINKING ‘Diversity’ in Publishing. https://www.spreadtheword.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Rethinking_diversity_in-publishing_WEB.pdf.
Savage, M., 2015. Social Class in the 21st Century. Penguin UK.
Shaw, K., 2020. Common people: Breaking the glass ceiling in UK publishing. Creative Industries Journal, 13(3), pp.214-227. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17510694.2019.1707521
South West 1, 2023. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Publishing Hiring – The Society of Young Publishers. The Society of Young Publishers. https://thesyp.org.uk/2023/07/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-in-publishing-hiring/.
Stephen, A., 2018. The psychology of social Class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behavior. British Journal of Social Psychology, [online] 57(2), pp.267–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12251.
Tagholm, R., 2015. Diversity in Publishing Still a Challenge for UK. Publishing Perspectives. https://publishingperspectives.com/2015/07/diversity-in-uk-publishing-still-a-challenge/.
The Arts Council England’s (ACE) report, “Literature in the 21st Century,” was commissioned in 2017.
The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2021-FINAL.pdf, 2021. The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2021-FINAL.pdf. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q78zPjBakd4JncPMA9M0KeyA6Y3zoBZW/view.
The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf, 2022. The-UK-Publishing-Workforce-Diversity-Inclusion-and-Belonging-in-2022.pdf. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EbS5Tq9teapPP8WwXp7rSpK90b5JnXLD/view.
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