I joined Twitter on 4th June 2020. I know that because the first post I retweeted was from Guardian Books; it was an article advocating for further promoting of "anti-racist books for all children and teens". Many other individuals retweeted this post too; those who were within and outside of the publishing industry.
I am relatively new to the publishing scene. I am only beginning to get a grasp on the dynamics of the industry. I didn't realise until recently how important the Twitter platform was to the community. It holds a wealth of knowledge and a vast span of connections which I probably never would have been aware of, had I not joined recently.
My Twitter journey is still short, but it has been invaluable to me so far. I have been able to attend many industry panels with the best of the best; they spoke on a multitude of topics.
For example; a lack of diversity within the industry, current tensions on BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity) authors to write and advocate for their books to exist, seminars about how to get into publishing.
It has been eye-opening to follow people that are well established in the industry, observe how the industry is taking shape each day and watch the exposure of new books rise and fall with time.
It is a fast-paced industry that is consistently maturing and at times, setting the curve. They have definitely proved that during this lockdown season by adjusting to the new temporary normal. It included a need for an enhanced social media presence, a conversion to virtual events and a few more Zoom calls.
In the most recent edition of The Bookseller's editor's letter, Philip Jones sourced from a publisher about the state of the business; they called it "the golden period." From where I'm sitting, I would have to agree with them. We are in a time of racial awareness and a period of educating one another on this topic. As a result, we are turning to books now more than ever to do this. Moreover, we can now see on Twitter and many other platforms that the industry is also beginning to take internal steps to become as racially aware as the books they publish.
And I think it's excellent!
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@GrantMaiya
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