Watching a bubble burst

We’ve spent the last sixteen months bubbles, living bubble, isolation bubble, friends/family bubble, slowly bursting as living with COVID become a norm.

The most persistent bubble of all might even burst. ‘Might’.

The last week or so has been difficult for publishing as an award-winning author refuted then turned fire on those who’d highlighted clear evidence of racist tropes in one of her books. Ok, just someone dealing with a bad situation for her badly.

Then a large and high-profile sect of the publishing industry tooled up and went for her those who had asked the question, with the inevitable conclusion of abuse, threats and intimidation hailing down on three women of colour.

What drives such a visceral reaction to an unarguable situation? A sense of personal injury; this book and author can’t be racist, it was published by a reputable company, seen by a squad of people, and then won a prize, seen and commended by another group.

If it were racist it would have been spotted and changed, because publishing people are decent, liberal, educated, defenders and champions of culture… yes?

‘Publishing People’ can be almost hermetically sealed, samey schooling, samey career paths, backed by samey institutions, live in samey neighbourhoods.

The London-Oxford-Cambridge triangle is part of the problem. If the book had come from ‘the outside’, an author from an ‘other’ school, a publisher from the provinces, the defence would not have been so venomous, if it had come at all.

Groupthink is a helluva drug, as people enter the industry, the requirement to fit in is never explicit, but it runs right through every action, interaction and structure. Sure, be passionate about our books, have an opinion, but only one of these opinions.

Improving access for marginalised communities to the industry has been an existential issue for years. If you build an industry that requires patronage to just survive long enough to become senior then this is where you end up.

Ask yourself, if it is difficult for primarily white, middle-class, university-educated people to make ends meet in London publishing, how does that work for people not granted the privilege of race, gender, neuro-diversity and class?

Being in locations where people from all communities can think of publishing as a viable career, and bring with them diversity of thought and experience, is beyond a necessity now.

And it is up to the big corporate publishers with cash in the bank to actually lead. ‘Game-changing’ moves out of London are at least a decade behind the curve, the game done changed already.

For once, it would be nice if it weren’t up to indies to burst a bubble.