After releasing its annual Salary Survey, PW followed the news of the results with a panel of publishing industry insiders discussing the survey findings, their reactions to them, and asking the panelists to recount their own experiences in the industry. The panel discussed what is working and what needs to be focused on more in terms of changing the face of publishing–who works within and what products are coming out.

The great thing about the event was that those who attended were obviously the people very much invested in seeing change. Audience members and panelists, alike, contributed much to the conversation. As a result, some of the audience members, including Quill Shift’s founder, along with other industry professionals were canvassed for their thoughts on what actually is being done, and what could be tapped into to make publishing more representative in the PW article Six Hacks to Improve Diversity in Book Publishing written by Diane Patrick and Calvin Reid.

Of the six hacks, the last really resonates:

Hack #6: Start Today

Although Ayanna Coleman said, “A lot of the press about diversity is such a downer!” she and the other professionals responding to our questions made it clear that there is no shortage of committed people working behind the scenes to chip away at the industry’s diversity disparity.

Nothing will ever be accomplished if people don’t start doing.