On diversity in the publishing industry.

From PW:

The lack of minorities in top publishing spots is only one reason there are not more books for people of color. Another factor that appeared over and over in responses to the PW survey was a perceived lack of demand for such books. “The greatest obstacle has to do with the desire of the five largest conglomerates to reach the widest sales figures, so they prefer formulaic titles that appeal primarily to middle Americans,” one respondent wrote. A second respondent commented, “If a publisher branches into a new subject, they may not have the expertise to best market/publicize it and sales may suffer, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy that these books don’t sell as well.” That seemed to be borne out by the experience of a third respondent, who noted that “low sales in the past have meant that we do not pursue diverse books.”