The #publishingpaidme hashtag, initiated by L.L. McKinney in June 2020, aims to promote transparency among white authors regarding book advances and reveal biases in the publishing industry against authors of color, leading to significant engagement on Twitter. Analysis of over 65,000 tweets and a public Google spreadsheet highlighted disparities in book advances by gender and race, showing that women and authors of color often receive lower advances compared to their white male counterparts. The dataset also categorized titles by genre and provided median advance figures, emphasizing ongoing inequalities within the publishing landscape.

1. BEYOND THE ADVANCE:
American Trade Publishing and the
#publishingpaidme Hashtag
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2. #PUBLISHINGPAIDME
• Twitter hashtag begun by L.L.
McKinney in June 2020.
• Call for transparency among white
authors about book advances.
• Initial goal was to expose systemic
biases in publishing industry
against authors of color.
• Resulted in over 65,000 Tweets
using the hashtag including
hundreds of authors revealing their
book advances
• Also generated an open Google
spreadsheet where authors could
report their book deals and
advances. By December 2020 there
were close to 3,000 entries.
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3. THE AUTHOR ADVANCE
• Book advances are money the
publisher gives to authors against their
earnings.
• Initially meant to provide capital to
author to support the completion of a
book project.
• Became a way to lure and keep
profitable authors at a house.
• In-house the advance is often a self-
fulfilling prophecy. The higher the
advance the more marketing and
publicity generated in hopes of selling
books to earn more than advance.
• One of the most secretive areas of
trade publishing. Industry often talks
of author advances in coded language:
“major” deal.
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4. PROCESS
1. Clean set of 65,000 tweets down
to the 600 tweets that included
unique information on advances
and books from the author. (see
Chip Cheek and N.K. Jemisin
examples).
2. Expand and complete Google
spreadsheet to reflect all titles in
a series and other publicly
available information author did
not include (publisher, pub date)
3. Compare tweets to Google
spreadsheet and add new entries.
4. Split titles into genres.
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5. GENRE SPLIT
 72 titles in Graphic Novels
 176 titles in Mystery / Thriller
 279 titles in Romance
 479 titles in Literary Fiction
 583 titles in Sci-Fi & Fantasy
 584 titles in Non-Fiction
 647 titles in Children’s / Middle
Grade
 1,169 titles in Young Adult
Fiction
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6. RACE, GENDER, AND
GENRE
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7. 68%
24%
2%
1%
1%
4%
Titles in #PPM Dataset by Gender
Cis Female 68%
Cis Male 24%
Nonbinary/Agender 2.2%
Other .77%
Transgender 1%
Not Listed 3.9% By the Book 9

8. $27,500
$20,000
$18,750
$15,000
$13,900
$10,000
$8,000 $7,500
Median Advance by Gender for #PPM Dataset
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9. 76%
6%
5%
4%
7%
2%
Race of Authors from PRH 2021 Diversity
Audit
White 74.9% Black 6% Hispanic of Latino 5%
Multiracial 3.3% Asian 6.8% Other 2.1%
Indigenous <1 % Pacific Islanders <1%
79%
5%
2%
4%
7%
<1%
0%
0%
<1%
Titles in #PPM Dataset by Race
White 78%
Black 4.4%
Hispanic or Latino 2%
Multiracial 3.8%
Asian 7.3%
Other 1.2% By the Book 9

10. $32,584
$25,000
$20,000
$18,500 $18,000
$15,000
$12,500
$11,000
$7,500
OTHER BLACK MULTIRACIAL PACIFIC
ISLANDER
ASIAN WHITE LATIN INDIGENOUS NOT LISTED
MEDIAN ADVANCE BY RACE FOR #PPM DATASET

11. $11,000
$20,000
$15,000 $15,000
$3,300
$10,000
$17,500
$20,000
Median Advances in #PPM Dataset by Genre
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12. 72%
8%
1%
5%
10%
3% 1%
LITERARY FICTION AUTHORS BY RACE
White 71.6% Black 7.7% Latin American 1%
Multiracial 4.6% Asian 10.4% Other 3.1%
Indigeneous .8% Pacific Islander .2%
79%
5%
2%
4%
7%
<1%
0%
0%
<1%
TITLES IN #PPM DATASET BY RACE
White 78% Black 4.4% Latin American 2%
Multiracial 3.8% Asian 7.3% Other 1.2%
Indigenous .35% Pacific Islander .23% Not listed 1.8%

13. MEDIAN ADVANCES BY RACE FOR CIS MALES AND CIS
FEMALES
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RACE CIS MALE MEDIAN
ADVANCE
CIS FEMALE MEDIAN
ADVANCE
OTHER AMERICAN US $24,500 US $ 35,000
BLACK AMERICAN US $ 25,000 US $50,000
MULTIRACIAL US $85,750 US $21,250
ASIAN AMERICAN US $ 95,000 US $30,000
WHITE AMERICAN US $10,000 US $16,750
LATIN AMERICAN -- US $20,000

14. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
OTHER BLACK MULTIRACIAL ASIAN
AMERICAN
WHITE LATIN
AMERICAN
INDIGENOUS
TYPES OF PUBLISHERS FOR LITERARY FICTION
AUTHORS
Large (Big 5) Mid-Size (Scholastic, Disney, etc) Not Answered Small/Indie University Press
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15. THANK YOU!
John Rodzvilla,
Assistant Professor, Emerson College,
Author of Project Management for
Book Publishing, Routledge, July
2024
Email: John_rodzvilla@emerson.edu
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