Publishers 'struggling' to address regional diversity

London-based publishing houses are “struggling” to work out how to “address the problem of regional diversity” the head of an organisation supporting writers in the north of England has said after revealing she has been “overwhelmed” by requests for help.

Claire Malcolm, chief executive of New Writing North, has told The Bookseller major publishing houses should consider moving outside of London in a bid to get “much closer” to their audiences.

Two of the top four houses and a major independent are among those that had got in touch after she gave speech at a Foyles event in London last year calling for publishers help bridge the regional divide after Brexit.

However, the c.e.o. admitted she was “sceptical” about whether the dialogue wiould turn into “action”.

“Last year, I gave a talk discussing how post-Brexit, we need regional voices to be recognised more than ever,“ Malcolm said. “Ever since then I’ve been overwhelmed with publishers asking to help... We've been having very interesting conversations. However, I’m a little sceptical about the gap between dialogue and actual action. Publishers are really struggling to work out how to address the problem of regional diversity.”

Malcolm urged the publishing industry to look to its counterparts in television, who are “much closer to their viewers” and are “making drama which reflects their audiences".

“TV industries are doing better on regional diversity", Malcolm said. "We work with broadcasters such as Channel 4, on development schemes for Northern writers and they're very good at giving regional writers production credits. They really know how to help them. They’re much closer to viewers and are making drama which reflects audiences. I think publishers are very complacent with their audiences and who they are engaging.”

However she added that she was “heartened” by the conversations she was having with the book trade. “There's a genuine desire to change things," Malcom said.

Malcolm was speaking to The Bookseller a year after the Northern Fiction Alliance was formed, between Manchester-based Comma Press, Leeds’s Peepal Tree Press, Liverpool’s Dead Ink, and Sheffield’s And Other Stories. The alliance has since expanded to include Bluemoose Books, Tilted Axis Press, Mayfly Press, Route and Saraband.

“There’s definitely a lesson there for larger publishers,” Malcolm said. “It would be good to see one move out of London.”

Nathan Connelly, director at Liverpool-based Dead Ink said the North was where the "really exciting" work is happening. "If you want to lead the industry, then you’re not going to be able to do that [solely] from London", he said. "We’ve had the same conversation in New York with many publishers there – the traditional centres of publishing are now acting as a barrier to entry due to rising costs. Experimentation, innovation and radical thinking can’t exist alongside a soaring cost-of-living. If the industry wants to be inclusive and adaptable then it needs to begin diversifying and dispersing.”.

Kevin Duffy, founder of Bluemoose Books, argued there was a business case for publishers having better regional outreach.

"There are so many readers out there whose reading tastes are being ignored and in a competitive entertainment environment there is a massive market we are missing out on and therefore losing book sales,” he said.

Several publishers have launched schemes to reach out to regions outside London following the Brexit vote.

The Publishers Association has set up the Spare Room project, which offers accommodation to those who live outside of London and don’t have somewhere to stay during an internship or work experience placement.

Since it started in January, The Spare Room Project has helped thirty two aspirant publishers from outside greater London find accommodation, enabling them to take up internships and work experience, according to project founder James Spackman.

He told The Bookseller: "I've always thought that regional and financial barriers to entry to our industry were as harmful as any, creating an unfair and unhealthy homogeneity. It was certainly a lot easier for me to get into publishing, staying at a parent's house in central London, than it would have been for someone from elsewhere in the country with no contacts in town.

"My hunch was that publishers felt this too, and could see the benefit to their own organisations of a more mixed intake. I also thought they'd appreciate being able to 'give something back' in a practical, personal way."

Emma House, deputy chief executive of the Publishers Association, which supports the scheme, said helping to increase regional diversity within the industry was an important part of its commitment to ensuring a representative publishing workforce.

“We have been delighted by the fantastic uptake of the Spare Room Project so far and the number of our members who have been willing to offer students a place to spend a week in London,” House said. “It is great to see this project continuing into its second year and I hope it plays a part in helping to ensure that students from whichever part of the country are able to get onto the publishing ladder.”

Meanwhile Penguin Random House’s Write Now scheme, launched last June, hunts for writers from “under-represented” backgrounds. Malcolm said: "PRH has shown serious commitment and demonstrates that it can be done.”

Earlier this year, the Arts Council England revealed that several independent publishers in the North of England would receive boosts in their funding during 2018-22 after the organisation announced a “significant increase” to investment outside London for its National Portfolio.

Connelly said about the government body: "The Arts Council has been fundamental in establishing publishing outside of London and it should receive praise for all the work it has done. Without the Arts Council much of this great work [from the NFA] wouldn't be happening."

A spokesperson for the Arts Council told The Bookseller that is committed to supporting independent publishing outside of London: "The UK's publishing industry is one of the strengths of its cultural sector, but its deep roots in London have meant, over the years, that authors who live outside of the capital have spoken of struggling to gain access to it. In recent years, however, the flourishing of the independent publishing scene - which has largely taken place beyond the capital, where overheads are lower - has created the space for a broader range of voices, and stories, to be heard."