What do publishers say?
We asked some of the biggest UK publishers if the results of our survey appeared accurate, and asked them to disclose their entry-level salaries and policies on pay transparency.
A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster, told The Bookseller: “At S&S UK, our full-time staff entry-level salaries begin at £27,000 per annum. We are committed to the inclusivity action plan and, where possible, are providing starting salaries on our job adverts. In addition to this, we regularly conduct a benchmarking, ensuring every person at every level is being paid competitively, taking into account inflation.”
A spokesperson for Pan Macmillan told The Bookseller: “At Pan Macmillan, our minimum starting salary is £26,500, with apprentices being paid £24,000 per annum. We advertise salaries on our job postings and are working towards publishing salary banding to help colleagues better understand how pay is determined and routes to progression. We employ 345 people in a wide variety of roles and so salaries do vary. While we cannot disclose individual salaries, we can confirm our median full time UK salary is higher than the Office for National Statistics (ONS) median full-time UK salary of £37,430 (April 2024). We also offer a strong benefits package, including a generous pension scheme, enhanced family leave with 26 weeks full pay available for parents irrespective of gender, flexible hours, summer hours and free breakfasts.”
Bonnier Books’ human resources director, Anna Maclaren May, told The Bookseller: “Pay transparency is a priority for Bonnier Books UK and we ensure our job adverts reflect this commitment. We improve our entry-level salaries on an annual basis and set a minimum salary level year-on-year, which aims to address the rising cost of living and encourage junior salaries to be competitive within the industry.”
A Penguin Random House (PRH) spokesperson said: “The starting salary at entry-level position for London-based roles at Penguin Random House is £27,500 per annum and £23,562 for colleagues in other locations. All colleagues are eligible for a non-contractual bonus, as well as a wide range of benefits.
“We recognise the need to attract and retain talent from a broad range of backgrounds and, as such, we are committed to offering competitive and equitable pay at all levels. We use independent benchmarking data from across multiple industries for all roles across the company, which helps us ensure our policies align with comparable roles in the market.”
The PRH spokesperson added: “Publishing has made important progress with the introduction of pay bands – which also help us benchmark against other industries and demonstrate that salaries are competitive with multiple industries across all roles. We recognise, however, that it will take time for this perception to shift.
“We support colleagues to understand how our pay structure works by providing a range of resources, including transparent pay principles and pay bands, as well as guides to support performance, development and pay conversations. We also publish pay information when advertising roles.”
The Bookseller understands that HarperCollins’ entry-level salary in London is £28,500.
Bloomsbury, HarperCollins and Hachette declined to comment.
What do the survey results tell us?
The salary ranges reported by our respondents varied hugely which, in and of itself, reveals that benchmarking in the industry is not easy.
The largest cohort of respondents (184; almost 20%), are being paid £30,000 to £34,999 a year.
At the lowest end of the pay scale, 11 survey respondents say they are being paid under £18,000 a year.
While at the upper end of the pay scale, six respondents said they earn more than £120,000; and 10 respondents said they earned between £100,000 and £109,999.
Our survey also included the opportunity to specify what you earned, and we were particularly interested in salaries above and below the thresholds stipulated.
At the upper end of the scale, some specified that their salary was well beyond the £120,000 threshold. One said their salary was £155,000; another said it was £125,000 to £150,000 “depending on annual bonus”.
Of those who indicated they were paid below £18,000 a year, some explained that they were part-time, while others stated that they were paid £15,000 for a full-time role.
What does the survey tell us about fairness and transparency?
Publishing professionals were asked if they feel the salary they receive is fair for the work they perform and the majority (59%; 440 responses) said “no.”
Almost 27% of respondents (199) said “yes”, their salaries are fair, and 14% (103) said they don’t know.
We asked respondents if they feel publishing salaries are in line with other industries and the answer was an overwhelming “no” from 90% (676) of respondents.
Almost half of those surveyed said their salary was enough to live on “comfortably” (49%; 368 responses); while slightly more respondents (50%; 375) said it was not enough.
A spokesperson for the Publishers Association said: “Publishing is an incredibly varied industry – not just the different sectors and size of businesses, but the wide range of roles from production, editorial, marketing, distribution as well as administrative and support staff who all contribute to the success of our sector.
“It is important that we can have conversations about salaries and the Publishers Association’s Inclusivity Action Plan encourages members to work towards pay equity, including salary transparency. We have seen progress in recent years with more businesses ensuring salary information is included when recruiting to roles as well as a step change in areas such as payment of interns and work experience.
“As all sectors and business continue to evaluate working practices post pandemic, publishing remains a flexible industry in terms of opportunities for hybrid, remote or part-time working compared to some other sectors.”
Within the survey, there was an option to give any further comments, and The Bookseller received 175 comments from respondents. Not all the comments have been included below, but instead we have chosen examples, which include sentiments reflected widely by respondents:
“Publishing is like all creative (and all) industries – it tells people that they should be so lucky to work in it, while mostly not offering a proper wage to live in London, the city that it requires you to live in to work in it.”
“The gender pay gap is given constant focus for poor pay in the industry. In a trade dominated by women – many with obvious power – I remain sceptical about this. There are many unexplored, or unaddressed factors, such as the impact on earnings from maternity leave and childcare, women being less likely to ask for pay rises or vie for the top job. Also, I can live comfortably on my salary for now, but not retire comfortably.”
“It’s taken a while for me (12 years) to find a role where the salary on offer is in line with both my expectations and what I feel is fair. I have been underpaid in previous roles at other Big 5 publishers including when managing a team.”
“The pay disparity in publishing continues to be so disappointing and hard to understand especially as someone from an underrepresented ethnic group or below senior level. Many are struggling with juggling workloads which clearly require additional staff and, as a result, mental health/stress levels sore. Yet we are still not paid enough to at least live comfortably especially in London. It’s a disgrace that is too often swept under the carpet.”
“After working at two traditional publishers I moved to a new career path developing and editing fiction as opposed to acquiring for traditional publishing. This gave me a higher than typical salary due to the nature of the parent company. Additionally, I did 15 years in bookselling before entering publishing.”
“I think employers should remember that people in publishing work an enormous number of unpaid extra hours out of ’goodwill’. In the face of vastly increased housing and travel costs, goodwill is wearing extremely thin. In recent years, pay rises have not kept pace with inflation, yet profit targets continue to go up significantly every year. I no longer accept that there isn’t the money to give non-exec workers proper pay rises – the money is there, businesses are just choosing to pay bosses/owners/shareholders more, rather than pass on a fair share of the profits to pay ordinary employees properly.”
“Publishing salaries have not kept up with inflation in the vast majority of cases. There is also a mid-level salary squeeze due to the (very welcome) rise in entry-level salaries with managers on very little more than those they manage. The increase in entry-level salaries was the most vital, but it has left inequalities in the system which see many diverse employees leave the industry mid-career as they cannot afford to stay. If we as an industry want to have diverse employees at every level of publishing, this must be addressed. I am only able to continue in publishing as I have had inherited wealth to fall back on (my parents contributed massively to enable me to buy a house/have a small enough mortgage to manage) and my husband is in a better-paid industry, and this should not be how the industry is run.”
“It took nine years in publishing before I stopped constantly worrying about money and I feel very lucky that the promotions came at the right time to enable me to have children. I’ve seen some amazing people leave London/delay having families because they couldn’t say the same.”
“My salary was fair five years ago when I joined. The business has grown and so have my responsibilities, so it is no longer a fair reflection of my contribution. However, there is so much I love about my job and I know I have a degree of flexibility when required in my day-to-day working pattern I might not necessarily receive elsewhere.”
“I’ve always had to move jobs to get a pay increase – in 12 years my salary has gone from £18k to £43k, but if I’d not moved around it wouldn’t be anywhere near that.”
“Even though the salary is very poor compared to other industries, the role of a cover designer is so specific – that is what I really enjoy doing. Moving to ad-marketing agencies or brand design doesn’t interest me so much. That is what keeps me going here.”
“Publishing industry workers at entry, junior or mid-level can only really afford to live comfortably on a publishing salary if they can be supported by someone they’re living with (dual/multiple income households) or can rely on family support, money and assets to get them to a place where they are comfortable before joining the industry. We all work hard, but only some privileged few can really make a life out of working in publishing all on their own.”
“I left a well-paid job in the technology sector to return to my first love – publishing – despite having to take a £12,000 pay cut to do so. My productivity and output is far higher in this role as, importantly, is my happiness and fulfilment. But publishing gets away with lower salaries because it is competitive and everyone wants to do it. And it is staffed in the main by women.”
“My salary is fine, but the work I do for it isn’t fair. Long hours, regular overtime but no overtime pay, workloads only increasing and pay not going up. The industry relies heavily on emotional labour of (predominantly) woman and a love of the industry and creating books. Our pay is competitive with other publishers, but the entire industry pays too low for what it expects of its employees.”
“The ’live comfortably’ question is hard to answer… Can I live comfortably as long as I have at least three housemates? Sure! Would I have thought that I could maybe have a shoebox studio all to myself by now? Yes, but that’s still out of my reach for now.”
“The industry needs to change how it compensates workers if it intends to recruit and retain top talent. ’Passion’ doesn’t pay the bills. The rinse-and-repeat cycle of recruiting bright young things, paying them the bare minimum, exploiting them to the point of burnout and breakdown, and then replacing them is utterly exploitative and repugnant.”
“I worked in several other industries pre-publishing, and publishing salaries are significantly lower (particularly in terms of the degree to which salaries rise as you become more senior). My salary feels quite generous compared to others at my level, but even then it’s the same amount I was paid at my first-ever entry-level role post-university (undergrad) back in 2019. I think it’s pretty universally agreed that this is a particularly big issue when considering how London-centric publishing is – if I didn’t split my rent with a partner, I don’t know if I would be able to afford this career. I’m currently the only state-educated person working in my team, and one of two people not born/raised in or near London.”
“I had to tick yes for ’enough to live comfortably on’. It is if you’re not also saving. In order to save money, I have to cut activities and spending, and I’d say I’m living quite minimally.”
“Pay bands are a step forward to salary transparency – however, very wide bands and overlapping with other levels make it very difficult to renegotiate salary, so more needs to be done to make sure pay bands are actually helpful. Also, it feels so disappointing that UK publishing is not doing more to embrace hybrid working, and decentralise from London offices. If there was more opportunity to work away from London, the costs of living would be more achievable on current publishing salaries.”
“I live in a much cheaper city than London so I find my pay very easy to live on (and I am currently up for a promotion), but I would be much worse-off if I lived in London. However, my salary is higher than equivalent jobs in other arts sectors in Scotland and, coming from a working-class background, I never expected to earn a lot, so I feel comfortable.”
“Salary bands are published yearly at my publisher (one of the Big 5), but we have been told multiple times that those of us in children’s [publishing] are on a different scale relative to one another and can’t expect to be high up in the band for our job titles, even with lots of experience. This is explained as being due to different publishers in the federalised structure using different titles for different stages, and having slightly more ’inflated’ salaries on occasion.”
“Although as I am based in London, I could theoretically live on this salary (£30,000) by living in a cheap flat share. I am very much propped up by my partner who earns over twice my salary and therefore I only pay 1/3 of my rent and bills. Even then I struggle to save any money each month. I feel that my responsibilities go beyond my job title and salary as assistant editor (which is above ’editorial assistant’ in my company) – I am part of a three-person team with the most senior person on maternity leave, and I have taken on all her books while she is away with minimal support. I love my job, hence wanting to stay in this role, but I worry about progression and pay rises, as I know my manager really fought for her promotion and has still not received a pay rise for it months later.”
“We have a serious issue retaining junior editorial staff because of poor pay – there is no way of getting by without relying on support from family or a partner. Especially in London! This is why senior editorial staff are often from privileged backgrounds. They are able to stick around on awful salaries for years until they get significant raises and then stay in their positions forever. We need reform.”
“While entry level salaries are increasing – a little – there hasn’t been the knock-on increase for those in lower to mid-level roles. So people above assistant level find themselves earning only a few extra £1,000 than those just joining the industry. There needs to be better and clearer pay brackets, so if entry-level salaries go up, then so do the rest of the levels. This also should be reflected across the industry – I have been head hunted for sales manager roles listed as £35,000 at one publisher, whilst earning £45,000 as an account manager role at another. No way would I take a £10,000 pay cut for what is meant to be a promotion. Not in this economy! A lot of publishers also need to have clearer guidelines on how promotions and pay rises can be achieved. Explaining what is expected of each level and what needs to be demonstrated to achieve the one above. This would help put an end to favouritism. I’ve seen too many senior manager’s favourites placed into roles they are not qualified for or experienced in.”
One respondent, who has worked in the industry a long time, said: “I have worked in the book trade for over 35 years, starting as a bookseller. I’ve been a buyer and a sales manager. I’ve enjoyed all my jobs, but salary has always been the biggest drawback. Living and working in London on a publishing salary won’t help you save (unless you’re in the big bucks pay brackets) and not having much, if any spare at the end of the month isn’t great. If I had to do my time again I’d very likely still have done some bookselling, but I’d have made the choice to go into a better-paying profession. I used to say I did it because I loved books. But that sadly doesn’t pay the rent.”
“While I’m not on the breadline and appreciate that there are many less well paid than I am, I know from friends in similar positions in different industries that our pay is generally significantly lower. I fear that jobs in the arts and culture sector generally are at risk of being even more exclusive than they already are.”
And finally, one respondent said: “There’s disparity across similar roles in publishing, often ranging between £5,000-15,000 for the same role, from manager, to head of, to director level, and this applies to all departments. Of course, different publishers choose where to invest their money, and it’s not always in staff salaries. However, having worked for a range of big and indie publishers, it’s clear that underinvesting in staff, both in terms of remuneration and team size, does negatively impact upon business success and staff wellbeing.”
