Bookshops want to be about 90% sure that they can sell a book before they buy it, so that means that you have to give the bookshop a quality product. Something that stands out qualitatively and fits in beautifully genre-wise.
We have just seen the release of the publishing associations annual diversity survey.
Don’t get me wrong it is good that the publishing industry continue to put this survey out, but the lack of progression really does say that they are not doing much about the results.
We sell books not because we want to make a quick buck. (In fact, most people will tell you there is very little profit in books, we just about break even.) We sell books because we want to change the world. I believe that with every fibre of my being. If we can get these books, books of tears, books of laughter, books of the future and of the past. Books that go from the cradle to the grave.
These books create an expectation for all the books that they will read in the future. Young children who have diversity in their books have different expectations about the world around them than those who don't.