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I was hounded out of publishing - I was persona non grata for publishing Material Girls

86 replies

IwantToRetire · 09/03/2025 01:42

In September, I will appear as the claimant at an employment tribunal, in which Hachette is the respondent. I resigned in April 2024 because I had found it impossible, for various reasons, to do my job.

Over the next few years, this kind of abuse became routine. I was called a terf, a transphobe, a bigot, a far-right conspiracist, a vicious bully, a racist; accused of having been radicalised online as though I were an 18-year-old incel, not a fiftysomething female book publisher; and told I was widely despised by my colleagues and everyone in the industry. These posts would copy in my employers and various staff networks at Hachette. They came from all sorts of people in and around publishing, some anonymous, some not, some who had themselves complained about being bullied online, and some with tens of thousands of followers. One of my most persistent critics was a self-styled publishing commentator who continued to be platformed by the industry at the London Book Fair and was appointed as a judge for the British Book Awards. She was in addition an enthusiastic advocate for a group of young people in publishing who set up a social media account, The Young Refuseniks, which they used to advertise their curation of a “blocklist” — crucially different from a blacklist, you see — which identified all the “transphobes” in the industry, so that people could be kept “safe” from us (because of course, I was on the list). After they realised that blacklists, sorry, blocklists, are considered somewhat problematic, the whole thing disappeared, but not before it had garnered a great deal of support from many in the business.

In May 2021, three days before the publication of Material Girls, the Bookseller published an “open letter” from a group of anonymous people in the industry who claimed that “transphobia” was rife in publishing. The three-page document was titled “The Paradox of Tolerance”: “If we are tolerant but ill-informed, tolerant with no limit and no moral compass, then the intolerant destroy inclusivity and persecute minorities. To maintain a tolerant society that moves with new understanding and broadens its language to include rather than exclude, we must be intolerant of prejudice.”

Start of a much longer article at https://thecritic.co.uk/how-i-was-hounded-out-of-publishing/

How I was hounded out of publishing | Ursula Doyle | The Critic Magazine

“I am going to dissect every word of this toxic TERF-y trash fire and call out the sheer irresponsible cruelty of platforming a notorious bigot with a release like this. @Docstockk is a [sic] infamous…

https://thecritic.co.uk/how-i-was-hounded-out-of-publishing/

OP posts:
Abhannmor · 10/03/2025 08:58

Did a bit of digging yesterday. Hope it results in a nice crop of blooms 💐 for Ursula. Is publishing even worse than film or theatre? Sounds pretty toxic.

Yorkshirelass04 · 09/03/2025 21:48

PachacutisBadAuntie · 09/03/2025 19:38

I don't think links to crowdfunders are allowed, so instead we search for the garden of 'Hounded out of my job in publishing by Ursula Doyle' and plant some veg of your choice.

Show quote history

Thank you will go and support.

PachacutisBadAuntie · 09/03/2025 19:38

Yorkshirelass04 · 09/03/2025 19:28

Support this thread wholeheartedly. Can anyone explain what is meant by gardening and seeds so I can also join in? Thanks

I don't think links to crowdfunders are allowed, so instead we search for the garden of 'Hounded out of my job in publishing by Ursula Doyle' and plant some veg of your choice.

Yorkshirelass04 · 09/03/2025 19:28

Support this thread wholeheartedly. Can anyone explain what is meant by gardening and seeds so I can also join in? Thanks

SaltPorridge · 09/03/2025 17:52

One of the most important books to be published in recent years.
Breathtakingly shocking that so many people have attacked public discussion.

Theeyeballsinthesky · 09/03/2025 15:58

@suladoyle sending unmumsnetty hugs - you are so brave & we are with you 💐

washingsomuchwashing · 09/03/2025 15:49

I've been watching this unfold with horror, Ursula. I've always had so much respect for you (you were also particularly nice about one of my submissions), never more so than now. Will stick money in the pot and very much hope you'll win.

SidewaysOtter · 09/03/2025 15:06

I’m so sorry this has happened to you, @suladoyle I’m flabbergasted that an industry whose central tenet is the exchange of ideas can be so closed minded.

I’ve done some gardening, I hope you win Flowers

UtopiaPlanitia · 09/03/2025 14:38

RoyalCorgi · 09/03/2025 10:02

You do wonder how these people justify their bullying behaviour to themselves. Since when was hounding a good person out of their job an admirable way to behave? If you work in publishing, how is censoring ideas you don't like considered the right thing to do? These people are just nasty, malicious, cowardly bullies, and too stupid to realise that one day they might be on the other end of mob hate.

These managers are cowards, and feel shamed by the bravery of people like Ursula, so they justify their cowardly behaviour any way they can because they don’t want to feel ashamed and the only way for them to feel better about themselves again is to force the brave person to leave. It’s pathetic and childish to see grownups engaging in playground politics.

Have gardened and I am glad to see that Ursula’s crowdfund is growing.

suladoyle · 09/03/2025 13:23

Hello 👋 and thank you. You are absolutely spot on there.

suladoyle · 09/03/2025 13:20

Thank you! I am sorry you can’t express your views freely - my hope is that my case will change that. Publishing is entirely captured, and one of the worst things is that I very much doubt that management actually believe a word of mantras like TWAW. It is pure expediency.

frogshat · 09/03/2025 13:16

I worked for Hachette for most of my career and remember you, Ursula (although our paths never crossed). I left in 2019, so this was all starting to bubble up as I left. The double-standards with how they 'supported' JKR but for everyone else just toed the line certain vocal staff members set out does not surprise me in the least.

I hope JKR has held them to the coals over your treatment, and I hope you wipe the floor with them. Spineless arseholes.

bubblerabbit · 09/03/2025 12:57

I've namechanged for this as I'm involved in publishing - Ursula, I hope you paste the wall with them. I know who the publishing commentator is and her online behaviour has been at best utterly unprofessional. I can't speak publicly on this issue - my career is too vulnerable and I literally can't afford it. It's been really hard.

Lovecleansheets · 09/03/2025 12:52

Seeds planted. Hope she wipes the floor with the fools.

Sortumn · 09/03/2025 12:52

I'm glad you are here on this thread. I want to add my support and gratitude and I will be contributing.

Zebracat · 09/03/2025 12:39

So sorry this happened to you. I don’t see why the authors can’t be named. I think if you have such strong convictions that you don’t even want to be on the same imprint as gender realists, then why would you worry about being named. They should be proud. Do they worry it would affect sales? I’m not much of a one for boycotts, I believe in freedom of speech, but I had to read Material girls and Jk Rowling in secret, so as not to fall foul of my homegrown gender zealots. I’m sure if they were asked, the authors wouldn’t want bigots like us reading their books anyway.

suladoyle · 09/03/2025 12:04

They asked for anonymity, and the judge refused it at the case management hearing last August.

verysmellyjelly · 09/03/2025 11:51

I am so curious who the authors were who insisted on leaving Fleet. Obviously I realise that Ursula Doyle can't share that info, but can anyone guess or figure it out independently? What an awful thing to do.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 09/03/2025 11:42

Publishing fgs. Ideas, thoughts, beliefs and opinions the foundation of the bloody industry. Oh, but not the words or thoughts of some women it seems. Such regressive bullies more fit for life in a fascist state rather than a democracy.

Edited to welcome @suladoyle. Yet another woman of immense courage standing up for free speech and women's rights. Flowers

suladoyle · 09/03/2025 11:37

Hi everyone, thank you so much for the supportive comments. They do help to alleviate my sense of isolation and anxiety. I am v grateful 🙏

Pratincole · 09/03/2025 11:09

On the upside, the prospect of some more fun days in court with NC but on the more weighty downside, how many more women have to go through the lengthy persecution of (alleged) harrasssment and discrimination before this pernicious ideology is wiped from the face of private companies and public institutions?

Ereshkigalangcleg · 09/03/2025 10:54

So therefore we can conclude that it’s ok to kick down to protect yourself from young staffers but when the company turnover and your own job is on the line, then free speech is where it’s at.

Unprincipled slime.

🎯

KnottyAuty · 09/03/2025 10:25

Ereshkigalangcleg · 09/03/2025 08:53

Also Hachette, in 2020:

Yesterday morning at publishing house Hachette, several of those involved in Miss Rowling’s new children’s book, The Ickabog, are said to have staged their own rebellion during a heated meeting. One source said: ‘Staff in the children’s department at Hachette announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book.

They said they were opposed to her comments and wanted to show support for the trans lobby. These staff are all very “woke”, mainly in their twenties and early thirties, and apparently it is an issue they feel very strongly about.’

Another insider said: ‘It was a handful of staff, and they are entitled to their views. If they were being asked to edit a book on domestic abuse, and they were a survivor of domestic abuse, of course they would never be forced to work on it. But this is a children’s fairy tale. It is not the end of the world. They will all be having chats with their managers.’

Hachette is the parent company of Virago Press, a London-based company who publish women's writing and feminist books. Notable published authors include Maya Angelou, Beatrix Campbell and Angela Carter.

The first two chapters of The Ickabog, which were released online in May, had five million views in its first 24 hours, with visitors from more than 50 countries visiting The Ickabog website, Miss Rowling's representatives have said.
Last night Hachette issued a statement backing Miss Rowling’s right to express herself. It said: ‘We are proud to publish JK Rowling’s children’s fairy tale The Ickabog. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That’s why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view.

We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech.’

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8424029/JK-Rowling-publishers-revolt-Workers-publishing-house-Hachette-threaten-tools.html

This is the sickening part. The power imbalance. Inside the company one woman with a personal view and limited reach is put on a block list and hounded out of her job. The same people try that on J K Rowling without understanding that her book is paying their wages in an industry that’s generally in decline - the management realise they cannot bite the hand that feeds them - so suddenly they’re all about free speech.

So therefore we can conclude that it’s ok to kick down to protect yourself from young staffers but when the company turnover and your own job is on the line, then free speech is where it’s at.

Unprincipled slime.

HaveYouActuallyDoneAnyWashingThisWeekMum · 09/03/2025 10:09

I imagine they’re very young, have so far lived sheltered lives surrounded by similar people, have grown up using smartphones and communicating via text in very black and white terms, don’t consider the impact of the strong language they use and are very ignorant of wider historical and world affairs where the strong language they use so freely is more appropriate. Persecute minorities FGS

RoyalCorgi · 09/03/2025 10:02

You do wonder how these people justify their bullying behaviour to themselves. Since when was hounding a good person out of their job an admirable way to behave? If you work in publishing, how is censoring ideas you don't like considered the right thing to do? These people are just nasty, malicious, cowardly bullies, and too stupid to realise that one day they might be on the other end of mob hate.

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