DesiLit Daily

While 7.9% of the UK's population is of ethnic minority origin, only 50 (1%) of this year's top 5,000 bestsellers are by BME writers, despite the high profile of award-winners Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy and Monica Ali.

The report points the finger at publishers who are reluctant to commission books targeted at an ethnic minority group or to tailor books to appeal to a specific audience.

However, publishers who responded to the survey tended to emphasise the importance of the quality of the writing above the cultural setting of a book or the author's own ethnicity.

Jason Arthur, editor of Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal's Tourism (Vintage), commented, "It's probably a lie to say that what is in an author's background has no influence. But the first consideration is always the story and how it's written. "

Another, anonymous, respondent from the publishing industry said, "Colour is a dazzling irrelevance that simply sucks up to the PC brigade. If a submission is good, it's good".

The report is critical of the lack of monitoring that takes place in the publishing process, with 58% of publishers unsure whether the number of submissions received from BME authors has risen, fallen or stayed the same during the past year, but acknowledges that accusations of tokenism can also be damaging.

"There is obviously a wealth of excellent Asian writers out there," said Poorna Shetty, editor of Asiana magazine, "but, inevitably, there are some books that get published because of the ethnic tag, rather than because they're actually great books."

Booksellers do not get off the hook either. The report says that it is surprising how few bookshop promotions are designed to appeal to specific groups, given that BME readers appear to be an active group of book buyers.

The majority of bookshops ran no such promotions last year, nor did they run any events with a BME author. Fewer than one in five bookshops has a dedicated section for black and ethnic minority customers. The result is that these customers are turning to online shopping. "There is a much stronger network of black writers in America than there is here. I buy these books online," said one member of the survey's focus group.

In contrast to bookshops, libraries are more directly in touch with black and ethnic minority readers than much of the rest of the book trade. Levels of library use by these readers broadly reflect the composition of the UK population as a whole.

Books for All is the second report commissioned by decibel and the Bookseller. The first, In Full Colour, in 2004, looked at the under-representation of BME groups in the publishing industry. Decibel has also initiated a British Book award, or Nibbie, given to the African, Caribbean or Asian writer who is deemed to have made the greatest contribution towards literature during the past year. This year's decibel Nibbie was won by Diana Evans for 26a.

Courtesy the Guradian Unlimited