Publishers Weekly has unveiled results of a salary and jobs survey of publishing industry employees, the first such survey since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
Median compensation for all respondents was $72,500 in 2021, up from $67,300 in 2020. Of 577 total responses, 60% came from staff at trade book publishers.
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“Pay was up modestly since our last survey in 2019, but it is fair to say that publishing remains a very low-paying industry, as it has really always been,” notes Andrew Albanese, PW senior writer.
The gender makeup of respondents remained overwhelming female, at 77%. White employees made up 83% of all respondents, down one percentage point from 2019, according to PW.
“We have seen advances in diversity for published title, but in the publishing workplace, change is coming more slowly,” Albanese tells me.