You see them everywhere in supermarkets and grocery stores. Easily forgettable books written by easily forgettable authors ranging from cheesy romance novellas to pseudo-sci-fi erotica. These are what I like to call “mom-books.”

While I admit to having not read all of this literary flea-market fodder, most books of the “mom-book” variety exist to decorate shelves in the Dollar General two blocks over. No one ever seems to buy them, but they are always there, taking up space.

Have you ever wondered why these “mom-books” are always in such abundance?

A recent survey of 34 American Publishing companies revealed that 79% of that respective workforce is white, while another 78% are female. White, female adults are also, not-so-coincidentally, the primary demographic targeted by mom-books.

Among the 34 publishing companies surveyed are pretty big names, like Penguin, Random House, and Hachette. Outside of the 79% margin of white staff members, Asians or Pacific Islanders made up roughly 7.2%, while Hispanics or Latinos made up 5.5%, and African Americans made up 3.5% of the workforce of these publishing giants.

Could the lack of diversity in staff directly correspond to a lack of diversity in content? The publishing company who ran the survey claims it was started due to very little hard data about staffing in the Book Publishing Industry. The majority of books published in America, today are by whites and about white characters. Of the 3,500 children’s’ books published annually in the United States, only around 84 are by black authors and 180 about black characters.

When literature predominately white, it definitely impacts the publishing industry.

Furthermore, as long as presumedly middle-aged, white women make up an overwhelming majority of the book publishing industry, expect mom-books to stick around.