A lot of people are talking about how they got into the publishing industry and their privilege. So I wanted to talk about my experience from a working-class, northern background and as the first to go to uni in my family. (a thread) https://twitter.com/thebookseller/status/1273212543671037952

I did Graphic Design and Illustration at uni in Sheffield and loved it. I had created my own books and have wanted to work with books for years. I applied to be a Design Assistant at HC and after a few months I was invited for an interview.

I had two interviews and a task altogether and ended up spending over £100 travelling to London for them. It was a lot for me at the time, not long out of uni, but I had no other option with no family to stay with in London.

Then when I got the job, I moved from Sheffield within 3 weeks (which is so fast to pick up and change my life when I had never moved away from home). I had to move into a random flat share that I found online with people I didn’t know because I had nowhere else to stay.

My brother had moved to London just a few months prior to me moving down, but I couldn’t stay with him in his small room and his contract didn’t allow it. So I had to find somewhere else to live and fast.

It was a flat share from HELL and the worst/longest 10 months of my life - plus at £900 a month rent and bills, I was barely earning anything on my starting wage. But I did it because I wanted to persue a career that I love and have always wanted.

I was lucky enough to have a bit of savings that allowed me to pay for my deposit for my room. And yes, it wiped me out, but if it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t have been able to take the job. So I’m grateful and privileged that I managed to have that behind me.

Publishing is great if you know people in London and can afford to live there. But for people outside of London or those of lower-class backgrounds, it’s impossible to even volunteer for work experience to get a step up compared with the price of living.

And btw, even if work experience or internships are paid, it’s almost impossible to live in London on that money. Plus, barely anyone in London rents a room for a few month or weeks and they’re all long-term contracts. So it’s impossible if you don’t live near or know anyone.

Even now after 3 years, I’m still on basic entry-level salary and don’t earn much compared to what it costs to live with my rent, bills, travel and food.

Which is hard when you want to travel north to see family because London is SO lonely, but you can’t afford a £50 train ticket because you don’t have that spare every month.

Luckily, I do live in a nicer flat now with a lovely flatmate, which makes every-day life more comfortable. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that you can only afford to travel home 3 or 4 times a year.

I cycle to and from work so that I can avoid paying for the tube and try save some money, just so that I can feel normal and buy myself a T-shirt or even save for a holiday.

Nobody goes into publishing for the money and something needs to be done to open the pool of talent up for people of all backgrounds. Which is why it’s so great to see publishers slowly opening offices outside of London. Maybe then we’ll actually be able to afford to live.

This isn’t a dig at publishing or my employer for how much I’m paid. It’s just to shine a light on how difficult it is to survive when the price of living outweighs the price an industry pays their staff.

Ultimately I do it because I love working on so many amazing books. That’s what gets me through the bad days. But eventually, beautiful books aren’t going to pay my bills and help me set up a life for myself in the future.

Transparency on salaries is needed and they need to match the high price of living in London.
So YAY for those publishers trying to make a change and advertising their salaries and to those moving out of London, allowing more talented individuals to pursue a job they love.

And YAY to those fellow lgbt, BAME and minority backgrounds that are paving their way into publishing by working fucking hard. Amen.