as other poc have said, I really wish this piece actually was written by / consulted poc as we would've had a lot more to say. the solution is not just paying entry level employees a living wage. that would definitely help across the board, but also that's only the beginning. https://twitter.com/mariskreizman/status/1273277555555139584

"Imagine if employees could be paid a living wage from the very beginning of their careers. The pool of people who could afford to work in publishing would expand enormously, and we would start to see more diversity in race and economic background at higher and higher levels."

re: the previous tweet... so many of us have been doing A LOT of work to get poc into this industry and while better pay would help, thats not gonna be what gets us more diversity at higher levels.

i was actually paid a good amount, enough to live on as an associate editor. i left because of
-not being allowed to acquire poc books/the "there can only be one" mentality
-having to stay in nyc, far away from family
-too many microaggressions, racism, and homophobia

-feeling like my very identity wasnt welcome
-not feeling like i had any ability to change things / like any progress was being made
-tired of reporting to white people who dont actually care about "diversity"
-tired of dealing with racist cover designers
-i could go on forever

like we all know this. we been knew. we've been having this conversation.

thanks for flagging this, @gelrdrgz you're absolutely right https://twitter.com/gelrdrgz/status/1273282567068880897

i wouldve loved to read something like this on a platform like this by a young black assistant. and if someone wants to give an assistant that platform, i know several and im happy to connect y'all.

People don’t understand that making space for poc does actually mean declining some things, like this that would in fact be stronger written by a poc. Just as so many don’t understand that focusing on poc/Black struggles would make things better and safer for everyone not just us

If publishing focused on making it safe for poc, it would naturally include better pay for assistants bc guess what black people are also assistants who want better pay. If you focus just on the issues most pressing to white people, like better pay, that totally leaves us out.

People do not understand the toll of being, for example, a black queer editor in publishing. I had to deal with all the shit coming at me AND be barrier for my authors so that they didn’t see the homophobic copyedit. I was mentally and physically fucked over by the time I left.

And I was only an editor for a few years. I have friends and mentors who are TIRED all the time, but smiling for y’all to keep fighting for us. If y’all wanna have this convo, which some of y’all actually do, give us the spaces to have and lead it and dictate the terms.

Thanks to @C_Arreola, who used to always give platforms like this to POC when she worked at Bustle, I’ve talked about my struggles a couple times. Here’s a great piece by @wendyluwrites featuring several WOC working in publishing https://www.bustle.com/p/how-10-women-of-color-actually-feel-about-working-in-book-publishing-15867283