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“I Hired Them. They Reported Me for Missing a DEI Meeting” – Oliver Malcolm

October 17, 2026 • 1h 8m

Summary

⏱️ 9 min read

Overview

This episode features Olly Munson, a publishing industry veteran who worked at Random House, HarperCollins, and Hachette, now launching his own publishing house, Highline Publishing Studio. He discusses the monoculture that has developed in publishing, his experiences publishing controversial authors, what happened when Francis Foster's book was nearly cancelled, and evidence of anti-Semitism emerging in the industry post-October 7th.

The Publishing Monoculture and Industry Transformation

Olly explains how the publishing industry has evolved into what he describes as a monoculture, where despite different publishers existing, they all operate with remarkably similar editorial perspectives. He compares this to newspapers which maintain distinct ideological positions, whereas publishing has become uniformly left-leaning. This shift has occurred partly organically through market forces (the rise of romanticy attracting predominantly female staff) and partly through leadership appeasing younger staff on cultural issues rather than maintaining editorial independence.

  • Publishing has become a monoculture - essentially 'the Guardian, the Guardian, the Guardian' - unlike newspapers which maintain a spectrum of viewpoints
  • Publishing is now approximately 68-69% female staff due to chasing the successful romance market, potentially making it less representative of the broader reading public
  • Senior publishers find it easier to appease younger staff on cultural issues that have no commercial bearing rather than saying no and protecting their own compensation
  • Books can be subtly cancelled through the value chain - poor jacket design, missed on-sale dates, reps not presenting to retailers - making success nearly impossible
" It is a problem when the publishing industry and the thoughts and teams within that are almost like an Islington dinner party. "
" What I really rage against is when there's a suppression of ideas. "

The Path Forward: Highline Publishing Studio

Olly explains his motivation for founding Highline Publishing Studio as a transatlantic publisher designed to break the monoculture. He wants to publish across the full spectrum of ideas, trusting readers to make their own decisions rather than making premeditated publishing decisions based on ideology. The conversation touches on how education comes through synthesis of perspectives, and how being 'well-read' used to mean engaging with an eclectic range of views from Eric Hobsbawm to Alan Bullock.

  • Highline Publishing Studio is being set up as a transatlantic publisher to combat the monoculture in traditional publishing
  • The approach is to publish completely across the spectrum and trust readers to make decisions for themselves, rather than premeditated ideological curation
  • Education and knowledge come through synthesis of different perspectives - reading Eric Hobsbawm alongside Alan Bullock and Anthony Beevor
" I'm sick of the monoculture of publishing. What you have is no matter who the owners are, you have the Times, you have the Telegraph, you have the Daily Mail, the Express, the Independent, the Guardian. You do have a spectrum of ideas. But publishing industry now is almost in effect the Guardian, the Guardian, the Guardian, the Guardian, the Guardian. "
" The best ideas come in environments where you have to synthesize different perspectives. I obviously embrace the dialectic. I like an open forum for debate. I don't mind antagonism. "

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