Coincidental to the racism discussion whirling about us in recent weeks; one thing leading to another, to another and so forth … then to Jesmyn Ward (see my last post), her picture in The New York Times today almost jumped out upon me.
In short, a #PublishingPaidMe has been making an impact (hesitate to say “gone viral” [sic]) highlighting as it does the disparity in advances given to white and black (and minority) writers in the United States (only the US?). Many writers are risking the ire of their publishers (and maybe even agents) and shining a not terribly flattering light on apparently inequitable structures in an industry that generally speaking tends to the liberal side of things. In respect to Jesmyn Ward the NYT reports:
Jesmyn Ward, a critically acclaimed novelist, said on Twitter that she “fought and fought” for her first $100,000 advance, even after her book “Salvage the Bones,” for which she said she received around $20,000, won a National Book Award in 2011. After switching publishers, she was able to negotiate a higher advance for “Sing, Unburied, Sing” — for which she won a second National Book Award, in 2017 — but, she said, “it was still barely equal to some of my writer friends’ debut novel advances.”
A spokeswoman for Bloomsbury Publishing, which published “Salvage the Bones” and Ms. Ward’s memoir “Men We Reaped,” said that the company does not comment on advances paid to authors, but that it was honored to have published her books.
The New York Times, June 8, 2020.
Love that:“…honored to have published her books”! So they god damn should be!