This critical autoethnography aims to reveal how the cultural biases of a white majority industry impact the stories they select for acquisition and how they are edited. As an editor, I came to this topic from my personal desire to see if my own whiteness affects the way I view writers of color, their stories, and the audience that the companies market to. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explore the current conversations on the topic of diversity within the publishing industry and whether the conversation is making a connection between the lack of diversity in the workforce and the lack of diversity within the titles published. In addition to this exploration, I aim reflect on my own bias and editing process through a critical autoethnography of three major editorial projects. Thus, I hope this literature review and my reflection with encourage my fellow white editors to think about their own editorial processes.
","abstract_html":"<p>This critical autoethnography aims to reveal how the cultural biases of a white majority industry impact the stories they select for acquisition and how they are edited. As an editor, I came to this topic from my personal desire to see if my own whiteness affects the way I view writers of color, their stories, and the audience that the companies market to. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explore the current conversations on the topic of diversity within the publishing industry and whether the conversation is making a connection between the lack of diversity in the workforce and the lack of diversity within the titles published. In addition to this exploration, I aim reflect on my own bias and editing process through a critical autoethnography of three major editorial projects. Thus, I hope this literature review and my reflection with encourage my fellow white editors to think about their own editorial processes.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Medlin, Kelsey"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)","degree_level":"Capstone","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Regina Bradley","Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-07-26T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-07-26T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:26Z","subjects":["publishing","editing","diversity","race","equity","editors","Creative Writing","Fiction","Nonfiction","Technical and Professional Writing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/43","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Regina Bradley","Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Medlin, Kelsey"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-07-27T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Capstone"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["publishing","editing","diversity","race","equity","editors","Creative Writing","Fiction","Nonfiction","Technical and Professional Writing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/43"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This critical autoethnography aims to reveal how the cultural biases of a white majority industry impact the stories they select for acquisition and how they are edited. As an editor, I came to this topic from my personal desire to see if my own whiteness affects the way I view writers of color, their stories, and the audience that the companies market to. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explore the current conversations on the topic of diversity within the publishing industry and whether the conversation is making a connection between the lack of diversity in the workforce and the lack of diversity within the titles published. In addition to this exploration, I aim reflect on my own bias and editing process through a critical autoethnography of three major editorial projects. Thus, I hope this literature review and my reflection with encourage my fellow white editors to think about their own editorial processes.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reflecting on and Shattering My White Lens: A Critical Autoethnography on My Experience as a White Editor Working with Authors of Color"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Regina Bradley","Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton"],"dc:creator":["Medlin, Kelsey"],"dc:date.available":["2019-07-27T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This critical autoethnography aims to reveal how the cultural biases of a white majority industry impact the stories they select for acquisition and how they are edited. As an editor, I came to this topic from my personal desire to see if my own whiteness affects the way I view writers of color, their stories, and the audience that the companies market to. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explore the current conversations on the topic of diversity within the publishing industry and whether the conversation is making a connection between the lack of diversity in the workforce and the lack of diversity within the titles published. In addition to this exploration, I aim reflect on my own bias and editing process through a critical autoethnography of three major editorial projects. Thus, I hope this literature review and my reflection with encourage my fellow white editors to think about their own editorial processes.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/43"],"dc:subject":["publishing","editing","diversity","race","equity","editors","Creative Writing","Fiction","Nonfiction","Technical and Professional Writing"],"dc:title":["Reflecting on and Shattering My White Lens: A Critical Autoethnography on My Experience as a White Editor Working with Authors of Color"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Capstone"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:26Z"}