The number of women-owned businesses has been steadily rising throughout the years. However, a majority of businesses are still mostly owned and/or operated by men. When it comes to publishing houses, a majority are operated by women but are still owned by men. A lack of diversity in the workplace has led to centering certain people’s stories over those of underrepresented communities. Publish Your Purpose (PYP) is proud to be women-owned and operated by a diverse team that is committed to telling the stories of underrepresented communities and uplifting their voices.

Number of Women-Owned Businesses

A recent statistic puts women-owned small businesses at around 36% of all small businesses. While this is an increase from 4.6% in 1972, there’s still a long way to go before the workplace is equal in terms of gender identity. It’s great that the numbers are steadily increasing but raw statistics don’t necessarily account for things like workplace culture, pay equality, or the commitment of these businesses to diversity. It’s not enough to simply have one women in a higher up director position in a room full of men and consider a businesses diverse. 

Publishing houses are a prime example of this. Publisher Weekly’s annual salary survey found that 74% of the publishing industry is comprised of women in 2015 to 2016. While that’s great, the pay gap between men and women in the publishing industry is a wide margin. Men average about $96,000 and women average about $61,000. This is largely because men hold higher executive-level positions while women are editors or marketers. Breaking through the mold and advancing into those executive management positions is difficult for white women and nearly impossible for women of color. 

 

From Personal Experience

PYP’s founder and CEO Jenn Grace has had her fair share of experiences trying to navigate a job market dominated by men. Being apart of a male-centered job environment gave her future perspective on how she would run PYP.

“When I was 19 I took a year off between high school and college. During that year off I found myself with an opportunity to work on the assembly line of a hot water tank factory. In this role, I was one of four women in a factory of over 100 men. This role prepared me for life in countless ways. What it taught me was—how to navigate a working world dominated by men, the true meaning of hard, grueling, physical labor, and my assertive view on how to succeed in your career. Over the course of that year, I started working in the packing department, where all women were relegated and slowly moved my way through the entire assembly line (except painting). I learned that if you work your ass off, and do your job well, you can succeed despite the odds not being in your favor. Working on a job getting metal sliver splinters in your hands on a daily basis deeply teaches you what you will and won’t tolerate in your professional and personal life. It also taught me that at our core, we are all human, and looking for the same things in life, regardless of what path we are on, or path we plan on taking. Humanity is the core of our commonalities in a world where we focus too much on our differences. This experience taught me to focus on the here and now and enjoy the company of those who are very different from us. I will be forever grateful for the many life lessons this job taught me.”

Providing a Platform for Diverse Stories

This experience and others have led Jenn to create a diverse publishing team. PYP is a women and LGBTQ+ owned with a majority of the team either being women and/or LGBTQ+. Note: When we say LGBTQ+ we are referring to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. PYP commits itself to helping tell and uplift the stories of people that traditional publishers won’t take on. 

Many publishing houses have a specific demographic that they market to. If the executives believe that a story or book idea won’t sell well to their specific market then they reject the author’s idea. Many of the authors that get rejected are people in underrepresented communities. This is why it matters that PYP is women-owned and operated. PYP actively works to tell these stories and help authors reach the audience that they want to reach. Many of the authors that PYP has worked with has been women, helping them grow their business and their brand. 

Women have been leading the charge in creating a more diverse workplace and in giving diverse people the opportunity to share their stories. While there has been a growth in the number of women-owned and operated businesses there is still a long way to go. We are proud to be a part of that wave providing a platform for women and underrepresented people. PYP is also a proud member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

PYP firmly believes that the more raw and real stories that we can tell —the deeper the connections we can experience. We work with purpose-driven authors who have a story to tell. If you have felt or feel that you have a story to tell and aren’t sure where to start contact us today or check out our Getting Started for Authors program.