Jazzmine Breary
We spoke to Jazzmine Breary of Jacaranda Books about the realities of being a Black woman in publishing and working at an independent publisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jacaranda is an inclusive independent publisher based in London which recently won Small Press of the Year 2020 at the British Book Awards.
Jazzmine Breary is Sales, Marketing and Publicity Manager at Jacaranda Books, where she has worked closely with founder Valerie Brandes since early into the company’s inception. Although Jazzmine was always known as ‘the book nerd’ at school, publishing was not a career that she had ever been told about. ‘My mum is a huge literature lover who passed on to me her love of reading.
Looking back, it is crazy that publishing was never mentioned because my teachers and school librarians were always recommending books to me and encouraging me to do reviews and literature projects .’ In her final year studying Spanish and Linguistics at King’s College London, during some work for small online press Holland Park Press, Jazzmine started to learn more about publishing and decided to use Twitter to reach out to people for placements. ‘I would basically stalk publishing Twitter accounts and say you sound like you’re having a busy week, can I come and help?’ Replies online from Suzanne Collier of BookCareers.com and publicists at Transworld and Pan Macmillan began a series of short placements, before longer paid internships at Profile Books and David Higham Associates. ‘That was when things really started to change, because those internships were paid jobs where you were properly in the industry and learning about the business of publishing.’
'One thing I wasn’t prepared for when I entered into publishing was that I would stand out a lot of the time, sometimes not to my benefit.'
Your first permanent role in publishing was as a Digital Assistant at Pan Macmillan. How did you get from there to where you are now?
I had really great experiences in my first role; I loved it and I really admire Pan Mac’s publishing. But one of things I wasn’t prepared for when I entered into publishing was that I would stand out a lot of the time and that was sometimes not to my benefit. Also I don’t drink, I don’t tend to go to pubs and don’t like to handle alcohol – things that you typically have to do in a publicity role or for networking. Publishing is a friendly space, but sometimes people wouldn’t understand or even think to consider it. Plus I was new, I wasn’t as vocal as I am now and back then diversity wasn’t a word that was out there as much as it is now. I wanted to find where I would be comfortable, so I went freelance and worked in digital marketing for a while but found I really missed publishing.
I ran into Valerie Brandes, the founder of Jacaranda Books, literally in the street. I had known her and worked closely with her during my internship at Profile Books, but then over a year after I left we met by accident and she told me about this new independent publishing house she was starting, centred around diversity, and asked if I wanted to be involved. It was an instant yes for me and I joined right at the beginning in 2013.
'Jacaranda is about legacy, following in the footsteps of amazing Black publishers who came before us and building something that will endure.'
Why was it so easy to say yes to Valerie, and join this new venture?
Once, back when I was an intern, I sat in on a day of back to back meetings. I didn’t see another Black person the whole day and I remember thinking, ‘is there no one Black who needs to be in these meetings?’ It hit me hard. I’m a Londoner and I’m used to seeing a mix of people so it really stuck with me. I’ve had so many experiences of being ‘the only’ since then. People who knew me online as @jreadsalot would meet me at publishing events and once someone actually said to me, ‘oh, I didn’t think you were Black!’ At a conference after-party during work experience, I was asked about my ‘costume’ by a somewhat drunk publishing founder; I was dressed in formal wear like everyone else, but with a headscarf. It happened enough that I would deliberately not introduce myself in real life to people I knew from Twitter, and never use my photo online. I’d had difficult experiences when I lived in Spain for my degree, but I compartmentalized; that wouldn’t happen in London. But then to have that same experience when I was starting my career… I felt I was in a strange place even though I was at home and that made me feel lost.
At Jacaranda, I am just me. I haven’t looked back: opportunities have come up but I feel like I’m doing something really worthwhile. Any sacrifice I have to make is worth it, because it’s more than a job. I’m doing something so that others won’t feel the same way I did. Jacaranda is about legacy, following in the footsteps of amazing Black publishers who came before us and building something that will endure.
'I’m skeptical about the schemes... to keep going, it has to be based on more than a shock or an upset.'
The recent Black Lives Matter protests have prompted publishers to release statements of intent around inclusivity. As an inclusive publisher celebrating diversity, how did Jacaranda respond?
I saw on Twitter a lot of Black people in the industry that were disappointed or concerned about the silence, especially that first week. It was one of many moments where I have been so happy to be at Jacaranda; we talked, we shared, and then we discussed the message to our followers which was take care of your mental health, it’s a painful time, think about what you need to do to get through it. There was no question of trying to work out our stance. I can’t imagine being in a work environment where I’m not seen or I’m the one who has to bring up the issue, feeling uncomfortable at a time when there is so much trauma on every single medium.
Now lots of publishers and brands have made their statements, it all comes down to what happens next. I’m skeptical about the schemes because I really believe they are created with the best intentions, but to keep going it has to be based on more than a shock or an upset. It has to go beyond that moment, on the basis that what you are doing matters. It has to be something that is recognized as having commercial, cultural and financial value as well as being morally right; otherwise it won’t last. This is not the first time we've had the Black Lives Matter movement at the forefront. It's not the first time we've had people on the streets protesting something, but I think the fact we’re in lockdown — which is something that has affected all of us — has made people more empathetic.
'When you’re a small publisher, things are already tough. Add to that a global pandemic and it really puts our future in danger.'
You had a fantastic response to the Inclusive Indies fundraiser, raising £174,561 in partnership with Knights Of. Can you tell us about the challenges you have faced as a small independent during COVID?
This year has been really, really tough. When you’re a small publisher, focused on trying to grow the platforms of writers who are mostly underrepresented, things are already tough. Add to that a global pandemic that can crush the biggest companies and it really puts our future in danger. It requires cash to keep us going, which is why we were never going to hide the fact that we needed money. We don’t have a big backlist or big financial reserves to fall back on, and we couldn’t afford to furlough people. If we had, we wouldn’t have just lost the time out of the office, we would have lost months of sales on books we hadn’t been able to present to our external sales team to take to retailers.
We had to decide what our priorities were, and for us our priority was proceeding with Twenty in 2020. It is more than a publishing scheme to make money – of course you do want to make money for your authors and the company – but it’s also an inspirational message for other authors and for Black British people to see themselves represented. We knew that, one way or another, we were going to publish the books, but at the time we didn’t know what that meant for the future of Jacaranda. The Inclusive Indies fundraiser has enabled us to keep going.
The Inclusive Indies fund is open for applications until July 20th..
'If a company this small can publish twenty books by Black British authors, then there are huge, amazing publishing companies that can do a lot more.'
Tell us a bit more about Twentyin2020: what do we have to look forward to from Jacaranda?
In 2015, Crystal Mahey-Morgan of OwnIt! brilliantly highlighted the fact that only one book published in the UK that year was written by a Black British male. Jacaranda is a tiny company: we do have a lot of Black authors, but many are from the US or the African continent so when we heard that shocking statistic, we decided to really focus on homegrown talent. That is the ethos behind Twenty in 2020, a publishing programme focused on publishing twenty individual works by twenty Black British writers this year.
We allowed an open submission process, because there hasn’t been enough support for Black British writers specifically and we wanted them to feel confident enough to submit. We now have a list of ten fiction, five non-fiction and five poetry books and the idea is that going forward twenty will not be seen as a big number but as a bare minimum. We knew it was a big number of books for us as a company but we didn’t know it would be a big number for the industry. If a company this small can publish twenty books, then there are huge, amazing publishing companies that can do a lot more.
Coming up we have If I Don't Have You by Sareeta Domingo, which is a steamy romance set in New York; The Long Way Home by DD Armstrong, a retelling of Of Mice and Men set in London; and Black History Walks by Tony Warner, which is a book format of the walking tours he does, highlighting African and Caribbean history which is totally visible in London but we don’t hear about. Every one of the books and authors on the programme is incredible, and we have amazing partners: Words of Colour Productions, founded by the great Joy Francis; Audible UK; Foyles; the London Library and the Words Weekend Festival.
'If you go into publishing with nothing but passion the reality of the working space can hit you quite hard.'
What advice would you give to the person reading this interview?
If you’re coming into the industry, I would say educate yourself about the business of publishing. Passion is great – and it’s necessary – but particularly if you are coming from any sort of minority background, passion is not enough. You need to be prepared for what you will experience and be able to argue your case, particularly if you know you’re not going to be visually represented in the industry. Also, that knowledge will better prepare you for what you really want to do. If you go in with nothing but passion the reality of the working space can hit you quite hard, because the process of publishing is quite hidden from the outside. You might dream of being an editor but if you get a role as an editorial assistant then one of the last things you’ll be doing is editing books.
If you’re already in the industry, learn about data: how to understand it, how it relates to how books are sold and how your book will be seen in the market. Just learn about data! I think it’s an area that has been siphoned off to a few departments, like sales, which gives them a lot of power. For small indies, data is one of the few ways you can attempt to level the playing field because the online space can be more democratic. If you understand algorithms and metadata, you can make your books more discoverable to readers.
'If all the schemes come to an end, and diversity is no longer a buzzword, Jacaranda will still be there caring about inclusion and offering jobs.'
Can you tell us about another woman in the industry who inspires you?
It’s an obvious one, but it’s obvious for a reason. I have been by Valerie Brandes’s side through the Jacaranda journey and I’ve seen how incredibly hard it’s been at times. Val’s vision is about creating a successful company so that other Black and other underrepresented people in this industry can have opportunities. If all the schemes come to an end, and diversity is no longer a buzzword, Jacaranda will still be there caring about inclusion and offering jobs. It’s really important to know that there is someone who cares on that level and whose goal is to create continuity in publishing. Val recognizes everyone else who is doing the work, whether they came before us or are doing it now, such as Margaret Busby, Verna Wilkins, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Rosemarie Hudson and Sharmaine Lovegrove to name only a few. She is building Jacaranda so there will be a space for future generations of people to continue doing the work.
Thank you to Jazzmine, who was hugely generous in taking the time to Zoom with us during a very busy time for the company. If you were inspired by the interview, you can buy or pre-order the books of Twenty in 2020 from Jacaranda's website here.
