She Brings Diverse Voices to Book Publishing

New York Times

07-03-2025

When Sally Kim started in the publishing industry more than 30 years ago, in her experience, 'only editors could sit at the table,' she said. 'The assistants would stand behind them, listening.'
'I remember pitching a book I wanted to buy in a meeting where I wasn't allowed to speak,' she said. 'I was too junior. They were doing me a favor.'
Ms. Kim isn't silent anymore. Nor is she standing behind anyone. Her seat is at the head of the table, as president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company, one of the oldest publishers in the United States, which consists of six imprints and falls under the Hachette Book Group umbrella.
A Korean American whose parents immigrated to the United States, Ms. Kim is the company's first Asian American woman to hold that position. Previously, she was senior vice president and publisher at G.P. Putnam's Sons.
She said she had spent the past year at Little, Brown and Company inviting everyone, regardless of their position, to pull up a chair and find a seat at the table.
'Giving everyone a voice is a priority,' Ms. Kim, 51, said, 'so is reading projects together, weighing in and sharing their perspectives.'
Ms. Kim grew up in Los Angeles. She now lives with her husband and two children, 12 and 14, in Westchester County, N.Y. During her career, she has acquired more than 100 books, including Kiley Reid's 'Such a Fun Age,' Robert Jones Jr.'s 'The Prophets,' and Gillian Flynn's 'Sharp Objects.'
This interview, done in person at Hachette's office in Midtown Manhattan, has been edited and condensed.
What is it like to be the first Asian American woman president and publisher at Hachette?
Ten years ago, they never would have hired someone like me for this position. Coming up in publishing, I had no one who looked like me, especially in editorial. I didn't use that as a discouragement. I had to make my own reality. I'm now approaching this job as a huge right, and it colors everything I do, and every decision I make, and every person I hire. I spent my early years trying to conform, to play by the rules or make up for what I felt was lacking in my background, connections and education. I realize I cannot extract my identity and my Asian Americanness.
What have you learned about yourself over the past year as president?
That not fitting the mold and being a woman of color are my greatest assets. I learned I'm cut out for this job. I've learned to embrace my unique perspective because that's how I make change visible in what I do.
What are some specific examples of changes you've implemented?
I canceled our big standing acquisitions meetings, along with other reports and forms, as they didn't serve our purpose of connecting more books to readers. Marketing and publicity directors came to editorial meetings, which before were only editorial. I hired 24 new people, which is reflected in every different department including art, marketing, publicity and editorial. Meetings are now structured so everybody gets a turn to speak. We're buying more books as paperbacks to make them more affordable to readers.
What results are you seeing from the changes you've implemented?
Because we are a year or two out in terms of bringing a book to a reader, those results aren't available yet. But the changes I've made have shifted the culture, the energy and vibrancy here. We're starting to see the new DNA reflected in the people who are here and in the lists we are building. We're buying new books with diverse voices in different categories. Our covers, copy and the way we market, even talk about our books, have changed.
How are you investing in diversification?
My commitment to diversity is not just about race, it's about class and subjects of genres. And whom we hire, which are editors from diverse backgrounds like Nadxieli Nieto, who is the editorial director at Algonquin. Her mission is to lift up undiscovered voices who were being ignored — Southern voices, Latinx and writers of color, different forms of identity and orientation.
How will you guide the next generation of women entering publishing?
By helping them identify who they are, the space they want to create, and helping them see their diversity as an asset. By encouraging people to use their uniqueness as their superpower, and helping them find what their superpower is. That was not the message I got in publishing. It was all about conforming. Having people see an Asian woman in this position, especially since I didn't see any people who looked like me, is helping other people realize they can achieve this, too. I'm also teaching them how to be a good editor and how to think like a publisher. And by giving people, especially other women, positions of power and the opportunity to buy books that they believe in, that will amplify underrepresented voices and authors.