How to Change Publishing for Good with Amy Baxter from Bad Form
Make it stand out
In 2019, editor Amy Baxter founded Bad Form - a books magazine featuring reviews, reading lists and opinion pieces about the publishing industry. But Bad Form is not just another literary magazine composed of white pages filled with white writers; its central thesis is to platform writers of colour and put their stories to the forefront.
Vowing to create something that changes the inaccessibility of the industry, Amy emphasises the importance of actively seeking out and promoting diverse voices. Not only that, but she offers concrete steps for creating a more inclusive publishing process. Here, we sat down with Bad Form’s editor-in-chief to discuss useful tips for anyone who’s interested in writing, wants to work in publishing, and is wondering how we can celebrate those who have previously been shut out.
If It’s Broke, Fix It
It’s not through lack of trying that books with inclusive representation within the pages and on the bylines are hard to find - it’s a systematic lack of prioritisation that specifically alienates minority groups. Although she was already aware of this disparity,
Amy tells me the issue truly became clear to her after specific time spent looking into it: “I was trying to apply for this Penguin training diversity scheme and to prepare I started researching and trying to find brown authors to read - but I couldn't find anywhere to access that information. In 2016, a quarter of a million books were published in the UK that year, and less than 100 were by British writers of colour. That’s a day and a half worth of publishing out of the year, I couldn’t believe it.”
Instead of being dissuaded by the lack of representation, Amy started Bad Form to shine a light on books by writers of colour that were being snubbed and not reviewed in the bigger publications. Because Amy couldn’t find a platform providing these needs for her community, she created one herself, and she encourages everyone else longing for spaces that do not exist to do the same - if you feel there’s a need for change, then it’s highly likely others are feeling that need too.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
After 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement shined a light on the unacceptable inequality that runs rife across society, Amy noticed that the publishing industry started paying extra attention to writers of colour that was previously lacking. “People were suddenly all over Bad Form to review their books.” Amy explains. “It’s gross that we grew massively out of trauma and a horrible situation, but we've been able to use that - hopefully - for good.”
Amy notes the importance of not being performative and having heart and soul behind what you do. It’s pretty transparent otherwise, babes! “There's a real issue with publishers picking up Black and brown authors and not really putting the effort into publishing them properly.” Amy disparages, “And then authors are getting dropped by publishers for their second books or struggling to find a home for their stories. It is just so disheartening, and definitely not a reflection of them as creators - but this is the danger of lifting someone up too high to begin with.”
In short, if those working in publishing truly want to action change and create a better industry for writers of colour, the processes of care as well as literal funding need to be properly assigned to this project. By only uplifting their books in order to tick corporate boxes about diversity and inclusion, rather than a genuine passion for the work of minority authors, the point of publications like Bad Form are lost. The onus is not just on those like Amy to push for change, but for publishing houses and the higher ups in these spaces to enact it thoroughly.
Technology is Your Friend
Book influencers love to tell us to turn off our phones, hide them in another room, and go full Do Not Disturb mode when trying to read - there are even literal ‘phone jails’ you can buy you put yourself in time out from your device - but Amy recommends doing the opposite. Embracing technology has helped to improve her passions for reading and writing: “Getting an e-reader app on my phone really changed my ability to read. I love physical media but being able to just buy a book for like 99p and then have it on the go is much more cost efficient. Then you can have a little scroll through your book!”
As well as embracing digital reading, Amy also finds Squarespace invaluable in running Bad Form. “I used to use another site for uploading blog posts to the Bad Form site, and we then had to use another site to sell the zines and it was just a nightmare!” She explains, “I came across Squarespace and even just migrating the Bad Form content onto Squarespace was an absolute dream. I'm not naturally very aesthetically minded, but it made it so easy to make something really beautiful. I found it super useful for someone like me who's not the best with technology and aesthetics!”
Push For More
Amy has noticed, and wants us to celebrate, the progress being made in the publishing world. She enthuses, “There are more books written by writers of colour in 2023 compared to 2016 and they’re easier to find too. I can only give anecdotal evidence but I get four or five proof copies a week whereas before I was struggling to get one a month.”
Still, Amy notes that it’s important to acknowledge that this uptick in production numbers isn’t the only solution necessary to solve the insipid disparities in how publishing treats writers of colour. “We’re making progress in terms of the amount of books getting published, but how many of those have you seen on the Sunday Times best sellers list? Are they getting reviewed in the big papers?” Amy adds, “We're still a long way off equity and the way these books are published and marketed sometimes is still incredibly disappointing. We've come far but we've still got so far to go. A bit depressing but some progress is better than none.”
Photos: Lewis Vorn | Makeup: Georgia Hope | Hair: Sky Cripps-Jackson | Words: Eden Young
