Writers and Editors of Colour were part of the recent Independent Publishing Conference 2020 which brought together publishers, editors and other creators to think through ethics and representation.
‘Ethical publishing is like slow-cooked food; it’s the best thing for you,’ said Rachel Bin Salleh of Magabala Books, speaking on Publishing in Colour panel.
‘With any First Nations author or author of colour you’re not just publishing an individual, you’re also publishing the community so you’re morally obligated to consider that community. You’re obligated to publish those stories slower in order to do it right.’
Speakers throughout the day said publishing should be treated as a conversation. The role of publisher or editor is not to swing an axe of ‘expertise’ but to learn from an author – especially one whose lived experience the publisher doesn’t share.
When publishing the stories of First Nations people and People of Colour, the conversation on publishing responsibility can’t just be with an individual author either. It involves responsibilities to family, community and culture.
‘It’s about your position in the community as a publisher. But those relationships don’t finish when a book is produced. What are you doing to maintain those relationships as functional and not harmful?’ asked Bundjalung editor Grace Lucas-Pennington.
Publishers shouldn’t use an author and their community to just cook up a book, push it out into the world, let it be eaten up and then forget about those relationships. They have a responsibility to foster ethical, trusting, ‘slow-cooked’ relationships with authors and their community.
Rachel Bin Salleh speaking via Zoom at the Independent Publishing Conference. Image ArtsHub.
The conversation is also about who can speak from within the publishing industry. Space needs to be carved out for publishers and editors of colour to follow trailblazers like Bin Salleh, Lucas-Pennington, and co-panellist Hella Ibrahim.
‘Just go out and employ someone! It’s not that hard. And don’t expect them to have all the answers,’ said Bin Salleh on creating a more representative industry.
Small and independent presses which centre First Nations and writers of colour’s stories are championing representation and shaking up the industry’s all too blanched status quo, like Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher Magabala Books.
These presses also pitch outside of the whitebread readership. In mainstream publishing, Indigenous readers and readers of colour are still overlooked. Books are often pitched to the golden mean – the white median – of readers: middle-class, middle-aged Anglo women.
This can lead to the exclusion of particular stories or framing those stories always through the lens of trauma or as having only niche appeal.
Publishing houses have an ethical responsibility to shift and widen the scope of which books/authors are published, but also how they are pitched to readers.
Having more voices of colour and from First Nations in the publishing industry is crucial to shift this dialogue and to stop cooking the books towards whiteness.
Publishing in the grey areas
Attendees of the Independent Publishing Conference had the chance to break out into small discussion groups and examine the grey areas in the Ethical editing and publishing workshop.
Here, more questions were raised than answered, such as: is there sometimes a quandary between an author’s long-term and short-term interests?
It was also asked whether or not there is a tension between an author’s political, cultural or other interests and their sales interests? How might a publisher weigh these different interests up?
There was consensus that there is no hard and fast recipe for answering these ethical publishing dilemmas. Instead, the ingredients are trust, responsibility and dialogue, echoing the panel discussion. Publishers should let authors define their own interests.
It’s vital to have open dialogue with authors, asking what they want from – from the editing process, to book sales, to public appearances – instead of presuming what’s best or always putting sales first.
According to Lucas-Pennington, ‘The books I’m working on with First Nations authors are not for a white middle-class woman readership. These authors’ stories are for themselves, for their grandchildren.
‘These are burning stories on their mind which they have to get out. Often an ‘audience’ is the last thing on their mind.’
‘These are burning stories on their mind which they have to get out. Often an ‘audience’ is the last thing on their mind.’
Sales can force many unethical practices. Publishing or editing on high heat – too fast and without trust, burning through the author – to get the finished product on sale quickly. Or always pitching to majority (presumed white) audiences.
Within the dialogue between publishers/editors and authors, the former often have a great deal of industry knowledge. This knowledge should be shared transparently but not taken to be definitive.
There were myriad other practical takeaways and points for critical reflection across the two days of the Independent Publishing Conference for publishers, editors and writers to learn from.
Read: Shortlist announced for SPN Book of the Year award
The importance of codes of conduct and internal policies to publishing houses were discussed. These can provide ethical guidelines and accountable in a sector of blurry lines: between personal and professional, creative and commercial.
Transparency is also crucial. Hella Ibrahim described how most contracts stop publishers or authors from publicly disclosing their salary, serving to keep race or gender pay discrepancies invisible. Transparency is needed to allow the industry to speak frankly to itself and improve.
Any good conversation needs a forum, and the speakers at the Independent Publishing Conference didn’t mince its words. It provided an incredible forum for the publishing spectre to speak openly about ethics.
It was a day of slow-cooked thought, reflection and practical recipes to help shift publishing out of white and grey into colour – and out of blurry lines into sincere ethical responsibilities.
This article is based on presentations/a panel presented made at Small Press Network’s (SPN) Independent Publishing Conference 2020 took place on 26–27 November. ArtsHub is a co-sponsor of the SPN Book of the Year Award.
