Trade Secrets of Sensitivity Readers

A new exposé reveals why more publishers are using them but some say they go too far

How one of Roald Dahl’s books was edited / Screengrab NBC News

First, they came for Roald Dahl. Now they’re coming for you.

That’s only a slight exaggeration of a controversial trend in book publishing that has alarmed editors, literary agents, and, above all, writers.

Two years ago a furor erupted after a publisher removed every use of the word “fat” from Roald Dahl’s novels. Since then, changes like that have become more common in the work of writers at all levels.

But unlike the alterations to Dahl’s books, these changes tend to fly under the radar. Many result from publishers’ growing use of a group of self-styled experts to vet manuscripts before or after buying them: paid consultants known as sensitivity readers who look for anything that might offend anyone who shares their identity.

The trend took off about 15 years ago after the advance reader’s editions of Keira Drake’s novel The Continent infuriated some online reviewers, who saw it as a “white savior” narrative. Its publisher sent copies to sensitivity readers, whose comments led to changes before its release.

Most Big Five publishers today hire such readers at times, as do many smaller presses and literary agents…