in 2024, we ran our first ever survey, designed as a temperature check of the publishing industry

In collaboration with The Bookseller and The Women’s Prize Trust, we encouraged all individuals working in publishing to participate, providing an opportunity to voice their thoughts and feelings about their workplace experiences.

The survey aimed to:

  • acknowledge and celebrate the things that make publishing great;

  • provide a comprehensive and genuine understanding of the career experiences of publishing professionals across the UK;

  • identify and call attention to areas that need improvement;

  • provide ideas for potential solutions; and

  • following The FLIP’s mission, drive positive change within the industry to foster a more inclusive and rewarding work environment for all.

Over 700 people responded, sharing their honesty and experiences with us as well as their insight into how to make the industry better.

The results were fascinating, and showed not only the qualities that makes our industry great but also key areas where greater discussion and further action is needed. From the challenges of juggling parental leave and caring responsibilities to the high levels of burnout, we were able to ascertain incredible insights into the industry and to put numbers to the topics that come up again and again in our interviews. We are grateful that so many individuals had taken the time to not only fill out the survey but to do so in a way that showed how much they wanted to be part of the solution to these key issues that affect all of us, regardless of our demographic and the intersectionalities we identify with.

We then presented the results at our first ever event, hosted in The News Building and supported by Collins, joined by over 150 individuals.

Based on the feedback we got from the study, we were able to build our event around two expert panels - the first on ‘the second shift’ and the challenges of balancing a career with parental and/or caring responsibilities, and the second on the skills and conversations needed to empower the next general of female leaders.

We are incredibly grateful to our panellists for not only sharing their time and experiences with us, but also their honesty and insight. So many of the conversations that were held on stage came from a place of courage and compassion, and we hope that those listening were able to take what they needed from them in order to empower brave conversations of their own.

The Bookseller attended the event and ran an exclusive feature the next day, sharing stand-out statistics with the industry and summarising some of the key takeaways from the panels.

As mentioned on the night, none of this would have been possible without the vision, passion and drive of the three women who founded The FLIP - Ella Horne, Helena Gonda and Sophie Christopher who sadly passed away in 2019. We’re so honoured to be doing what we do in Sophie’s legacy and it will always one of the things that makes running The FLIP such a privilege.