2026 Publishers ON WATCH – as of 2/27/26 8am
Instagram as source: reviewed early 2026 for posts about black history month or ICE or anything really that relates to the current situation in the US.
I realized that I was following a lot of these on Insta (which I don’t use hardly), however I want to be even more intentional and selective and make sure I’m not supporting publishers that don’t support communities.
Boycotts work, so I would encourage anyone wanting to support bipoc and immigrant communities to not buy from the publishers that don’t support these in turn. I won’t be requesting ARCs anymore from such companies, nor will I be buying their books new on purpose, I can get them at the library or secondhand.
Publishers:
Kensington (Indie) – published blood slaves, clay cane (picked for feb book club), Feb 7 – first BHM post. 5 posts total about BHM recs or books. A lot of promoting other books (romance) in between. Nothing on ICE though or immigration. B-
TOR – one performative black history month post and then nothing after that. promotes white authors far more than black authors. andrea hairston got one post meanwhile sanderson and others are all over the page. gross. F
tordotcompub – same as above for TOR (same group). one post at the beginning of black history month and nary a mention after that. F
ORBIT – didn’t even post about black history month. they did post about valentine’s day. even worse than tor’s performative post. BLOCK
Del Rey – nothing about BHM or ICE but did promote Silver Elite and Alchemised frequently, plus they did have a valentine’s day post. BLOCK
Bloomsbury UK – Jan 14 promoting Harry Potter. UK/London based. Nothing.
Bloomsbury US – used Bad bunny to make memes. Feb 16 – 1st post on BHM. Lackluster at best. Nothing else. F
ACE Books (Berkley Pub (Penguin RH)) – nothing about BHM or otherwise. Do have posts on the Influencer Hub for underrepresented voices from Berkley. F
Berkley Pub – Feb 2 – celebrate BHM panel discussion (2 black women authors). another post later in the month on the same discussion. that’s all I saw. aside from the underrep influencer requests post. C-
Simon & Schuster – one post feb 2, referencing reading guide. that’s it. promoting a lot of other books though. C-
Avidreaderpress (imprint of S&S) – while may appear to lean left (?), post talking about obesity is a disease, promoting book ENOUGH by Ophrah – “what it’s like to be free” – feels SUPER icky. Far too many (more than the token one) old white men on here and no BHM post or other about ICE. F
Astra (parent – literary) – no BHM posts or anything.
DAW Books (joined Astra in 2022) – while their books may be more diverse than others, no BHM or ICE posts at all. F
Sourcebooksfire (YA imprint of Sourcebooks) – pinned post of books by black authors for every genre. JAN 27 – message from CEO on Minnesota speaking against ICE and things people can do to support. Class A. Mostly promoting other books though. A-
Sourcebooks – ICE post same as above but interestingly no BHM post on the parent’s page?? Why on YA imprint but not here? C
Aardvark – no posts about anything really, just their book box. dissapointing. F
Hanover Square Press – not many posts but nothing about black history month -OR- immigration or anything. F
Tachyon – frequent posts but nothing about BHM or ICE plus gross old men. BLOCK
Saga Press – Black History Month features posts (3). Nothing about ICE or anything else in their posts. Approved my requests until I put middle finger and block of ICE in my profile and then they declined saying it was due to info in my profile. F
Harper Voyager – nothing. nada. but heavily promoting Victoria Aveyard’s new book. Euck. to be clear – no black history month posts at all. of course nothing about ICE or anything else either. F
Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s) – one post at the beginning of the month and not a peep after that. post was also underwhelming with just a stack of books and refering to said stack – have you read our books yet? nothing about black history month. C-
Erewhon – no posts specifically about black history month or current events, but shared a couple of posts about black women authors and their books. do better. F
William Morrow – good daughtering book posts about unpaid labor of good daughters and how that adds up financially. Feb 8 first mention of black history month. two posts. posted more about julia quinn than about black history month. of course no other political posts. C-
Inky Phoenix (Bindery) – posted once on Minnesota in Jan, authors for minnesota. posted about bookshop, local stores doing more to support and protect neighbors than amazon is (duh). promoted book by/about obamas, mentions black history month newsletter of another creator, discouraged buying on amazon. B
Random House – posted about books on democracy with a vague message, not supportive but suggestive. one post later in feb about “must reads” for black history month. one on morrison. that’s kinda it though. C+
Underlined (YA imprint of PRH) – No ICE posts. Feb 2 – posted reading guide for black creators and characters. Feb 26 post about BHM recommendations. Features Azanta influencer. B-
Ballantine, Bantam (Random House Imprint) – post celebrating black history month with a giveaway. (Bantam) Choctaw author post on new book. Promoting crime and legal thriller by black author and civil rights lawyer ben crump. B-
Lanternfish Press – Indie publisher in Philly. Nothing about BHM or other. Last post was Jan 20. F.
Crooked Lane Books (indie publisher in NYC) – same as Alcove below. C.
Alcove Press (CrookedLane imprint) – one BHM post on FEB 10, on FEB 1 made a post about the ‘season of love’ – promoting primarily white during Feb/reviewed posts. C.
Feminist Press – #blacklivesmatter in their profile. ICE post pinned. NEA funding cancelled by the orange administration. Multiple ICE and BHM posts and recs. PROTECT AT ALL COSTS. Recommend following their influencers (in highlights). A+
Aunt Lute – intersectional. BHM posts but nothing about ICE. Interesting. Following but not Favoriting. B+
Angry Robot (SFF) – Based in London, no BHM or ICE posts. Promoting a lot of Amazon. Owned and run by Watkins Media Etan Ilfeld – American chess geek. Connection through Watkins to collectiveink, an interesting set of imprints including christianity, pagasism, mind body spirit, seems quite odd? mostly run by authors for authors? poss a hybrid publisher. Very into Philosophy and esoterica/spirituality…
Datura Books (Angry Robot’s crime imprint) - most authors are white. Promoting a lot of Amazon. Same as Angry Robot.
Repeater Books (Watkins Media) - ODD leftist? indie publisher? seems very man though…
C+ Overall…Atmosphere Press – nothing…Flunked out. F
Little Brown (UK Based) – nothing…promoting older white men and women but some diverse books here and there. C.
Quill & Crow Publishing (indie) – one post for supporting black women’s horror. Talked more about their other books publishing. C.
Mocha Memoirs Press – profile supports diverse voices. Not much activity on the gram but one very large post on BHM. Posts feature quite a few black authors before this year too. B
Skyhorse Publishing – BLOCK THEM IMMEDIATELY. Posted Feb 1 about Melania in support and published a book of BTS?? WTF??
Arcadia Books – UK based but nothing really in recent posts about anything. Pass. big F.