When I think back to the time that I was researching the postgraduate publishing course at Edinburgh Napier University, the work placement module was the most exciting but simultaneously, daunting prospect. How could I, with my incredibly limited knowledge of publishing, blag my way through 10 weeks in a real life office without making a complete fool of myself? Would I even be able to secure a placement?

A recent study this year by Professor Katy Shaw at Northumbria University has highlighted the difficulties faced by people from marginalised backgrounds, including working class, into getting published. This follows on from similar research, like that of Professor Claire Squires at Stirling University, and yet the Arts Council and other publicly funded bodies responsible for the arts appear to be doing very little to address a continuing diversity deficit in publishing.

George is a member of Bristol Reclaim Independent Living, which gets supported by Arkbound Foundation. He constructed the first poem on the evening of the Sunday after hearing in the afternoon of  the statue being pulled down and placed into Bristol Harbour; the second was on the morning of Thursday having learned that the statue had been fished out by the Bristol City Council.

The regional, social, cultural and economic disparities in the publishing world are overwhelming, as the publishing industry remains dominated by a white, middle class, privately educated cross section of British society. According to ONS figures, 47% of British authors, writers and translators had professional middle class parents, in contrast to just 10% whose parents had worked in routine, manual professions…

The impacts of COVID-19 on all sectors have been immense, but perhaps one of those hardest hit is the independent publishing industry. Already heavily reliant on events to garner income, as well as book sales, with no dedicated financial support from the government, many small publishers across the UK are on the brink of closure.

Disability representation in publishing is on the rise. The Publishers Association stated in their 2020 diversity and inclusion report that the proportion of people within the workforce with disabilities has risen from 5% in 2018 to 8% in 2020. Despite this increase, disability remains under-represented: according to the Publishers Association, there are 13.3 million disabled people in the UK – just under one-fifth of the population. This disparity, however, can partly be explained by the difficulty in definition…

Publishing is a notoriously underpaid industry, and this is only emphasised by the current cost of living crisis, with many young publishers unable to afford to live in the cities that employ them, but are required to come into the office due to strict hybrid working. More flexible and remote options allow for better employees at all stages of their careers, but more so when still trying to start out in the industry.

Put simply, BookTok, short for ‘Book TikTok’, is a subcommunity on TikTok formed by users who specifically make book-related content. Long are the days of going to a bookshop to see the latest reads, now it is as easy as opening an app on your phone. BookTok has become a place for readers to share book reviews, recommendations, bookish memes, and funny videos using trends seen on the app.