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

[IwantToRetire]

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/

Pleased to see NC is representing Ursula Doyle.

Gorgeous day out there. Perfect for gardening.

Just shocking. Thanks for bringing this to wider attention. Very happy to plant a couple of seeds.

Thanks for the reminder, I've donated again.

Thank you for this. Have planted a seed.

Thanks, off to look for my shovel.

I’m horrified at how far this has gone in society, and horrified at how many women have enabled it.

If only the publisher in question have even one page of policy about their role and responsibility in the maintenance of free expression?

Without which all publishers are simply a marketing machine for the given rulers.

I wonder if Hachette do have any mission or vision statement or policy on free speech etc?

All the very best to Ursula in her upcoming tribunal. I'm in awe of how she stood up and spoke out in what was/is such hostile times in the publishing industry. I can only imagine what a lonely voice she must have been. It is truly shocking how so many sectors were captured and turned upside down with ridiculous policy.

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

Gardened (again). Interesting to read that a lot of what's going on right now is bundle preparation, after hearing about how particular NC is about bundle preparation! (Now someone's going to ask where that was and I don't remember... an article aimed mostly at lawyers, I think, about the practicalities of preparing a good bundle? Google does find me this:

https://etclaims.co.uk/2008/09/sedleys-laws-of-documents/

with a comment by her!)

Yes, couldn’t agree more. It’s hard to imagine what Ursula has suffered in simply doing her job and voicing very reasonable concerns. In contrast her publishing “colleagues” sound like a pack of rabid witch hunters.

I wish her every success 🌻

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.

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

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.

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.

🎯

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?

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 🙏

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.