“Write what you know,” goes the old saying. Perhaps it’s surprising, then, that there aren’t more books about publishing. Because there’s nothing authors know better than the often-fickle world of publishing – the rewrites, the pressure to sell, the ying-yang of the artistic vs. the commercial experience.
But when writers do write about publishing, how much do they get right? Where’s the line between information and entertainment? Can a writer without publishing experience trust what they read in a novel about the industry? We spoke with four authors who’ve written recent books set in publishing to get their answers.
WHAT BOOKS ABOUT PUBLISHING GET RIGHT
1 Publishing remains very white
Newsflash: The publishing houses’ supportive Juneteenth tweets do not change the makeup of the industry. It is still not diverse. The most recent Lee & Low Diversity in Publishing study found that 76% of those working in the industry (from the executive level to interns, covering all departments) are white. Just 5% are Black, 9% are disabled, and 19% identify as something
