Time for change

In the summer of 2019, I gathered a group of author friends, who were people of colour and had some experience in the industry, and set up a mentorship programme that I would go on to name The Avengers of Colour Mentorship Scheme. Each of us chose an Avenger from the Marvel Universe that would represent our team as we selected unagented writers from a pool of over 100 applicants to guide through the industry.

I knew that there were mentorships that already existed which did a brilliant job of helping writers with revising their manuscript, but they did not always focus on what came after revisions or being agented. As someone who had been through the querying and submission process, I always wished for someone more experienced to hold my hand through it all, give me advice and answer the questions that are so often buried in exclusive whisper channels. 

Change comes when we actively look for the gaping holes in any situation and simply decide to do something about it

Avengers of Colour

The Avengers of Colour Mentorship Scheme focuses on support for writers of colour throughout their career. We assist editorially with the query package, but most of our work focuses on the one-on-one advice we give our mentees even when they get agented and face the problems that come with entering the industry as a person of colour. It might not seem like much, but I have seen and experienced first-hand how demoralising it is to be in an industry where you are not represented at all, not only in the books that are published but also in the people working on them. I have seen how racist or prejudiced rejections can completely ruin a writer’s sense of worth and it is heartbreaking to think of the number of writers of colour who have had to give up this career before they even get a start because of the deeply problematic responses they get.

A few examples of common responses writers of colour receive are:

“We already have a similar book on our list” = we are publishing someone with the same identity as you, and can’t have more than just a few of you.

“I couldn’t relate to your story or characters” = I am not marginalised. The world is tailored to me and my cultural ideas and language, so I don’t want to learn a new language of existing.

“I loved this story, but I don’t think there is a market for this” = I don’t want to take a risk on a type of story that hasn’t been published before because of how incredibly white the industry is.

And so on.

Offering some guidance

I have always believed that change isn’t as hard as we make it out to be. Change comes when we actively look for the gaping holes in any situation and simply decide to do something about it. Too often, white people—who make up the majority of the publishing industry—won’t do something unless there is some kind of reward system or praise involved. An example is the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the amount of industry support there was initially, followed by an abrupt end to that support when people felt as though they no longer had to show off how much of an ally they were. Too often, white people sit on all-white panels with little to no discomfort, or even acknowledgement. Too often, gatekeepers do not evaluate their own positionality. Instead, they tell us that there is no market, or that there is not enough room for all of us, or that our stories have to teach them something. Instead, they continue to buy the same kind of story, to allow only one or two of us into a very white room, and they continue to mostly acquire stories where our humanity is called into question, rather than stories that just allow us to be.

The Avengers of Colour Mentorship Scheme exists to help writers of colour regain confidence and have a support network while they navigate this industry. I hand-pick each mentor in order to ensure that the people I choose genuinely value the ethos of the mentorship scheme and will make the time and the effort to do right by agented writers of colour. Having time to support these writers is so important, which is why after running this programme for three years, I have decided to end it. With the increased workload that both myself and the other mentors have had in recent years, our time is more limited now.

However, I still believe in the importance of guidance and transparency in this often gatekept community and so this year, and hopefully for many years after, I will be hosting an online meeting where a panel of experienced authors of colour speak to unagented writers of colour about their experiences and answer any questions about the industry. This will be called The Avengers of Colour Conference and it will take place this year on the 20th and 21st August. More information about this can be found at: www.avengersofcolour.com. 

To end, I wanted to reiterate the importance of change through a quote from Reni Eddo-Lodge: “Solidarity is nothing but self-satisfying if it is solely performative.” 

It is time we finally do better.