The Problem
A large publishing house and ecommerce platform sought to foster equity and inclusion across their business platform and the publishing industry at large for authors and readers of content that is historically and systemically marginalized in publishing based on race and ethnicity, gender & sexuality, ability status, and socio-economic status. The client sought to improve access to (and ease of) publication for these authors through their publishing platforms and improve the discoverability of these books.
The Solution
Using qualitative methods we developed a journey map of the steps to and through publication for marginalized authors and delivered insights with actionable solutions. Solutions focused on increasing user engagement with marginalized content on their platform and increasing support of available to marginalized authors on their platform.
Key Outcomes
- 1,500+ minutes of 1:1 interviews and focus groups with authors and readers
-Global research in the US, UK and Canada
- 10 research-backed recommendations
Tools
- Vendor Recruiter
- Guerrilla Recruiting
- Virtual Focus Groups Video Calls
- Miro
- Adobe Illustrator
Timeline
Engagement 1: 6 weeks
2 weeks of research planning, stakeholder interviews, hypothesis summary, 2 weeks of data collection, 2 weeks of synthesis and delivery
Engagement 2: 7 weeks
2 weeks of research planning, stakeholder interviews, hypothesis summary, 2 weeks of data collection, 3 weeks of synthesis and delivery