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Abstract
This article considers sensitivity readers—not as part of a woke mob controlling creative writers, but instead as a largely hidden, contingent, underpaid workforce. Based on interviews with sensitivity readers, it describes their understanding of their work as emotional labour that is badly compensated but rewarding in immaterial ways. It situates their practices within a broader economy of competition for dwindling resources, which encourages people to turn experiences and identities into monetizable assets.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 See Harris Citation2021, Campbell Citation2021, Benedictus Citation2019, Waldman Citation2019.
2 We are living in the golden age of diversity metrics for the publishing industry, with the trade itself regularly churning out statistics and accompanying commentary. For the UK, see UK Publishers Association Citation2020. For the US, see Lee & Low Books Citation2015, 2019.
3 Flatiron Books, the publisher of American Dirt, apologized for the novel’s cultural insensitivity and changed its marketing strategy considerably, shifting from promotional events to town hall conversations. Spurred on by this very controversy, in commercial terms the novel was undoubtedly a hit (Sánchez Prado Citation2021).
5 There is a connection here to a deep history of uncredited or un- and undercompensated behind-the-scenes editorial work building the reputations of successful authors. See for example Benstock’s groundbreaking work on the unacknowledged role ‘literary midwifery’ played in producing revered works of modernist literature (Benstock Citation1986: 20).