Conclusion: ‘Until There Are Enough People Like Us in Books, Writing Books, in the Industry, It’s Not Going to Change’

Abstract

The conclusion will bring together the key themes and ideas of the book, assessing the barriers and enablers for British YA authors of colour entering and progressing in the publishing industry and evaluating what this trend means for publishing, the cultural industries, and authorship more broadly. Authorship is a profession that is characterised by the polarity in authors’ earnings: very few authors earn a substantial amount, while the majority live below poverty level. This does not deter many aspiring authors from writing, or seeking publishing deals, because writing can be a way for authors to articulate their vision of the world (as Baldwin expresses in the above quote). Although the authors, interviewed for this book, had faced barriers in their publishing careers, many continued to write for the same reason that Baldwin did: to, in their small way, change the world. In publishing, it is a world that is in dire need of change. This book paints, alongside the complementary database analysis, a bleak picture of ethnic diversity in YA publishing in the UK during 2006–2016.