March 28, 2024

In Publishing, ‘Everything Is Up for Change’

Some of the people who have been brought in as replacements for those senior positions have markedly different sensibilities than their predecessors. Ms. Arthur at Knopf and Amy Einhorn, the new publisher of Henry Holt, are both known for having a strong commercial sense, an eye for what sells and for knowing what women want to read. While the ranks of the publishing industry skews heavily female, and women tend to buy more books, men have often held the top jobs.

Ms. Lucas’s new role comes on the heels of another big hire in publishing’s executive ranks. Last week, Simon Schuster brought on Dana Canedy, a former New York Times editor and the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, as the new publisher of its namesake imprint.

Ms. Canedy, 55, will become the first Black person to lead a major publishing house. She said she’s aiming to acquire books that are “completely out of the box.”

“The most obvious element of diversity I bring is being a Black woman, but I also grew up in a small town in Kentucky. I’m also of a military family. I’m also a single mother,” she said in an interview. “I think I will be more open, perhaps, than some to taking a chance on unknown authors.”

Ms. Lucas and Ms. Canedy, both newcomers to publishing, are now poised to become two of the most powerful Black women in the literary world, with the ability to alter the culture of the divisions they lead and shape the landscape. Both are taking on roles that give them discretion over who and what gets published, and the ability to recruit new authors and editorial talent, at a moment when the publishing industry is struggling to diversify both its work force and the titles and authors it champions.

They join a small but influential group of Black editors and publishers at major publishing houses, including Dawn Davis, who heads the 37 Ink imprint at Simon Schuster; Tracy Sherrod, editorial director of the Amistad imprint at HarperCollins; Erroll McDonald, the longtime executive editor of Pantheon; and Chris Jackson, the publisher and editor in chief of the Random House imprint One World.

Publishing employees often toil for decades as assistant editors and vice presidents, gradually working their way up the ladder. The fact that both Simon Schuster and Knopf appointed leaders who had never worked in the industry suggests that companies are prepared to overthrow old hiring practices that rely on insider networks and paying your dues over the decades.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/books/book-publishing-leadership.html

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