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17th May 2008

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Low salaries lead to Facebook revolt

16.11.07 Katherine Rushton

Concerns over low pay in publishing have led to the creation of a Facebook group entitled "I work in publishing and I'm underpaid". The group has attracted 654 members, and comes amid a fierce debate about publishing pay prompted by a Society of Bookmen event, where senior industry figures spoke of their fears that publishing was losing talent to other industries because of poor pay.

Junior publishing staff, responding to a Bookseller Blog on the subject, said they often think about leaving publishing because of the low pay, and many added that they depend on family for accommodation and handouts. One worker, aged 25, at HarperCollins, said: "People who have massive student loans, who are not from privileged backgrounds, or who just don't want to take handouts from their parents are at a severe disadvantage."

Most major London publishing houses offer starting salaries of around £18,000, while independent publishers offer jobs to new graduates from around £12,000 to £15,000. Many new entrants also spend time working for free before they secure their first paid role.

But senior publishers are divided on whether low pay is a problem. "We get a very high quality of people in the industry," said one senior player. "The reason is not because we pay as much or more than private equity firms but because we offer an interesting career." Bloomsbury executive director

Richard Charkin added: "It's a market driven by supply and demand, like any other. Publishing is full of 'Emmas', but lots of these Emmas happen to do a very good job."

However, others worry that publishing is losing out on key talent. "Certainly in terms of diversity we've got a lot of work to do," said Penguin m.d. Helen Fraser. "Most publishing is based in London. The London population is 30% ethnically diverse but you would be hard-pressed to find a publisher who could say that they were 30% ethnically diverse." One acclaimed black author, responding to Charkin's comments, added that it is having a knock-on effect on the range of books offered in stores. "If you're a black writer you have to tick certain boxes if publishers or
Emmas--from booksellers who decide on three-for-two promotions to marketing and publicity Emmas--are going to push you."

People Katherine Rushton Facebook salary survey

Comments on this article

By 007sgirl

I totally I agree I work in publishing and yes its interesting, but not well paid - and i'm not in London - and the cost of living where I do is high!

By NotcalledEmma

Stop calling us "Emmas". It's degrading and classist.

By Tarquil Campbell-Howes

My name is not Emma. My name is Tarquil.

By Gurdeep

I'd agree with NotCalledEmma - classism seems to be an okay form of social discrimination. I'd expect more from someone in Charkin's position. Also, to the author at the end -- either that quote is mistranscribed, or it's no wonder they aren't being pushed. Learn to write clearly and use en dashes properly...

By A.N. Alyst

I've worked in two publishing houses now, one large, one small, and have many friends in other houses. An alarming number of people I know (or people who know people) are leaving publishing - to become teachers - a damning indictment or what? Some I know left because of nightmare bosses, but mainly it's the lack of fluidity in the industry. I know for a fact that the only way I'm going to get a pay rise or promotion is by moving to another company. Publishing is an industry where people stay a long time in their job roles meaning that people coming in at the bottom really struggle to move up. It's pretty much expected these days that your first job in most industries of choice is going to be a bit of a bum deal, but you put up with it for the knowledge you attain, the experience you accrue and the contacts you make. If you can't move up, however, especially in a company you love, you start to become despondent and give up on the industry as a whole. While pay is most certainly an issue, you have have to look at the wider picture - when people are unhappy in their jobs the first thing they whine about is pay - let's look at other types of recognition too, and be more transparent within the publishing industry about what exactly it is one needs to do to get that promotion and all the bells and whistles that come with it

By debater

Interesting that Charkin calls typical worker "Emma" and not "Paul". Isn't it time we faced up to the fact that a key factor in the continued low pay is that women form a huge part of the publishing workforce, often under a disproportionately male management. It is precisely because the Charkins of this world think that is is acceptable for women - "Emmas" - to be low paid (often earning less than their male colleagues in identical jobs) that overall salaries are kept down.

By Anon

Charkin seems to come out of this badly on most fronts.

By Emma

We are all Emmas now.

By Hilary Johnson

What about, 'I work for a bookseller and I'm underpaid'?

By Anon

How about, 'I work for *The* Bookseller and I'm underpaid?'

By anon

Publishing isn't well paid? I suggest these folks try life as a bookseller before complaining about pay.

By Emma Potter

Interesting comment from the Bloomsbury executive about offering an interesting career - one where helping publish the biggest book ever can lead to a round of redundancies at the lucky publishing house.

By Anton

Publishing is not particularly well-paid relative to other desk-bound office jobs. Retail in most forms is poorly paid relative to office work. Bearing that in mind it's true that *both* bookselling and publishing are not lucrative professions, especially for junior staff. But A.N. Alyst is absolutely right - pay is only one issue contributing to a wider sense of unease. If it's true that the industry is disproportionately made up of privately educated people, both men and women, then perhaps that unease can best be summed up as the spectre of the possibility of proletarianisation.

By NotcalledEmma

anon, most of us have been booksellers in the past. I think that just adds to the frustration - this is my second job and I'm still in the teens salary-wise.

By Anon

Of course there are careers that aren't as well paid as publishing - but bookselling positions aren't usually advertised as graduate jobs, though I know that bookshops are often filled by graduates. Publishing attracts well-qualified, intelligent people *despite* low pay. The interest of the job may offset the low pay for some, but many other potential applicants for jobs will be put off by the pay. And there are plenty of other interesting careers out there. Teachers start on £20000 a year in England and Wales, and £24000 in London. I never thought, as a student, that I'd one day be considering a career change to teaching because it is more lucrative.

By Matthew Perren

The debate about pay is a non-starter. This industry is like journalism - there are ten (at least) applicants for every job. Employers only have to pay the going rate. All of us in the booktrade are replaceable tomrrow by an army of keen 21 year olds. What interests me is the acceptance of a structural status quo within the industry. Senior jobs in publishing and bookselling are largely based in the south of England. Look at the Bookseller jobs listing for locations: if you live outside London, SE England or Oxfordshire it's pretty slim pickings.Richard Charkin refers to the Emmas saying that "a lot of them happen to do a very good job". So what he seems to be saying is that the gold standard in the industry is set by applicants from a very small demographic. London is a minority demographic in UK terms anyway. If most of the posts are to filled by a small percentage of a small percentage then how does RC know what a pretty good job is? It's only a pretty good job to the standard that has come to be accepted within that group. Now, if the booktrade could quit it's preposterous addiction to London and start to base it operations elsewhere then I'm quite sure that the majority of book trade employees who live "out here" would be glad to fill the posts and show what sort of job the Jacks, Jills, Jimmys and Morags could do. Arguably this could lead to higher standards within the industry not just of Emma-work but of publishing out-put overall.

By June Austin

If you really want to know about low wages tryn writing the books !

By Emma Shaznay Latisha Abdullah-Carstairs

The reason publishers pay peanuts is because they know that for every 24 year old Emma who leaves the industry to work for more money in a Labour think-tank, a trendy PR company or a public sector non-job, there will be ten 21 year old Emmas lining up from Bristol, Durham and St Andrews willing to take their place. Quite what ethnic minorities have to do with the matter I don't know, but as it seems to be a current obsession with bien-pensant publishing types I suppose it had to crop up sooner or later. Since you are about as likely to meet a racist in publishing as an African in the KKK, I can only assume that most ethnic minority people avoid the industry because they are savvy enough to want to earn a decent salary in a proper profession instead of being patronised by north London liberals in what is essentially minor clerical work with a 'literary' gloss. Oh and I think the 'acclaimed black author' needs a new editor - his or her sentence makes a Henry James paragraph look legible!

By Emma

I'm a mid-40s Emma - there's nothing new in the name, there were five in my school year alone. My first two jobs out of university were in publishing, and it was abominably paid and largely female then, too: I think OUP's starting salary (we're talking 1986) was about £4,500. The difference is that we weren't paying off student loans, and rents and house prices in London meant it was just about possible to live within reasonable distance of the office, and all without parental subsidies. The trade may still attract good people, but it would be wise for CEOs to have a long, hard look at how well their people work if they feel exploited. It's not as easy as saying anyone who grumbles can be replaced: they may begin by making the tea, but they learn fast, especially in the slushpile, and experience is worth a lot. And finally, I gather that the majority of graduates of publishing courses now say they want to become agents. I do wonder if the stereotype of the deal-cutting shark is particularly attractive to young men who ten years ago would have automatically gone for publishing - whose lower echelons therefore becomes ever more female.

By Quite happy

Just some numbers from when I started in publishing three years ago, sharing a flat in Finsbury Park (north London): £15,000 salary… around £11,250 after tax I guess… = £216 per week minus £80 rent minus £20 food minus £50 bills = £66 left over I didn’t have any other source of income, I was working in publishing, maybe I’m forgetting some other cost but I was certainly pretty happy with having that much to spend (especially after student life…). £15,000 isn’t too little to live on in London, unless you want more luxury in which case I guess you weigh up how much you like publishing and make the decision – stay or go – on that basis…

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