Changing the Story at HBG

At Hachette Book Group, we believe strongly in sustainable business practices and doing our part to create a better world. Our standards and policies are intended to make us a diverse and inclusive company, to protect the natural world and promote the responsible use of its resources, and to support the growth of a literate community. Together with our employees and our external partners, HBG works constantly to advance these concerns through our Social Impact programs.

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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our Commitment to Diversity

As a leading book publisher, we believe that including and representing diverse voices in all aspects of our business is fundamental to what we do. Our staff and our publishing programs must reflect the broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and ideas that shape our society. We are committed to working together and with all our partners to foster diversity and a culture of inclusion, so that HBG can provide a truly welcoming and fulfilling environment for all employees and publish books that appeal to all readers.

Diversity Reports

At HBG we are committed to reporting publicly on our progress toward our DEI goals. You can read our updates here:

• April 2026 update
• April 2025 update
• April 2024 update
• April 2023 update
• March 2022 update
• May 2021 update
• September 2020 update

From the April 2026 update:
CEO David Shelley said, “HBG’s mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment, and opportunity. Changing the Story is a key strategic pillar supporting this mission, and it aims to align our publishing and organization with the diverse perspectives of the readers we serve; it is imperative that we publish for all, especially those historically underserved by the industry. Through superb leadership by Chief People Officer Carrie Bloxson, DEI Director Sara Munjack, and collective effort across HBG, we made progress in 2024 and I’m proud of this growth. There is still a long journey ahead for our business but HBG’s commitment to this work is unwavering. We will do everything possible to realize this vision.”     

Sara Munjack, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Hachette Book Group added, “Our annual reporting, launched in 2020, is one way we hold ourselves accountable to building a more inclusive, responsive, and representative publishing company. Changing the Story is about creating a publishing ecosystem that aligns with the richness of our readership and empowers our teams at every level. This is not just a values-driven commitment—it’s a strategic one, and we’re in it for the long haul.” 

Highlights: Staff, Career Advancement, and Publishing

1. Overall staff diversity among employees of color remained flat year over year at 36%. Over the past ten years, representation of employees of color has increased by 35%, reflecting meaningful long-term progress.
2. In 2025, 44% of our new hires identified as POC.
3. Representation at more senior levels is also showing modest gains. In 2025, we saw slight increases in representation by employees of color at the director and manager levels, following gains at the VP+ level in 2024.
4. We are also seeing progress in acquisitions by authors of color. Contracts with authors and illustrators of color have increased by more than 30% over the past five years. In 2025, they accounted for 26% of all acquisitions, up 3 percentage points from last year, so there is steady progress in how we’re building more representative publishing lists and support new voices over time.

Partnerships 

• We are continuing our partnership with Latinx Kidlit Book Festival to bring back their Latinx Storytellers Conference for a third year in a row in NYC for hundreds of Latine children and adult book writers in September as well as fund and support 20 school visits for this school year featuring HBG authors and illustrators. Visits include a free classroom set of books for the participating schools. 
• We’re also a major sponsor in supporting the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Impact Awards, celebrating those who have had a positive influence on the Latine community. 
• This September we’ll also be our second year of the in-house Changing the Story Festival which brings our Changing the Story pillar to life through engaging panels and activities celebrating our diverse publishing catalogue and initiatives, as well as ways we can learn and improve. We include Hachette voices from all over the world as well as our authors and industry professionals.  
• As a part of our Right to Read program, where we aim to get books into the hands of incarcerated, we are furthering our partnership with Bard Prison Initiative to furnish prison libraries across the country, as well as continue to lead prison book clubs.  
• We’re continuing our partnership and support of Inkluded, nonprofit dedicated to fostering diversity in publishing, by offering tuition stipends and in-kind support (such as speakers and event space in our NY headquarters) for Inkluded’s participants and programs. 

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

HBG’s Employee Resource Groups form around a shared identity (ethnicity, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, etc.) and offer a space for employees to connect with each other, speak freely and share experiences.

• Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)
• AgeWise
• Black
• Employees of Color
• Employees with Disabilities
• Pride
• Latine
• Interfaith
• Women in Publishing
• Working Caregivers

DEI Subcommittees: Specific diversity subcommittees focus on recruitment efforts, and creating a supportive and inclusive office culture.

Hachette Book Group’s Diversity Advisory Board

Hachette Book Group’s Diversity Advisory Board is a volunteer committee of employees across HBG, whose mission is to support and further HBG’s DEI initiatives in the following ways:

• Advise and support the growth of innovative diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives to improve the company culture, community, and experience of working at HBG.
• Develop an inclusive publishing environment by bringing together and retaining employees with different backgrounds, viewpoints, and experiences to best serve our readership.
• Recommend the DE&I initiatives to address, track and prioritize to ensure we’re taking an inclusive approach.

Environmental Sustainability

Our Commitment to the Environment

Hachette Book Group’s environmental policy demonstrates our commitment to the environment, to the responsible use of natural resources, and to sustainable business practice. The company’s environmental policy includes progressive goals on recycled fiber use, greenhouse gas emissions, responsible paper sourcing, and other initiatives.

We are committed to transparency through reporting annually on our progress toward our environmental goals.

Highlights:

• In 2022 and 2023, 99% of HBG’s overall paper usage came from FSC (Forest Stewardship Certified).
• In that period, 100% of HBG’s overall paper usage came from FSC combined with SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) fiber.
• Recycled fiber represented 8.6% of our overall paper usage in 2022 and 5.2% in 2023. The primary cause for the decrease is the significant decline of recycled paper availability in 2023.
• We remain committed to sourcing recycled papers when they are available in the marketplace and to push our suppliers to integrate recycled fiber into more paper products.
• The most significant area for carbon impact for a book publisher is from paper – its manufacture and usage in the books we publish.
• HBG is committed to transparency through our public annual reporting of progress on our environmental targets.
• Rainforest Action Network ranked Hachette Book Group in the “Leader” category among publishers.

Charitable Giving & Community

Our Commitment to Charitable Giving and Community

HBG supports organizations dedicated to promoting literacy and a love of books and reading. We are wholeheartedly devoted to fostering a robust publishing industry, to attending to the serious issue of illiteracy in this country, to protecting freedom of expression, and to supporting efforts for equity and social justice.
 
We focus our philanthropic efforts primarily on the following areas: 

• Trade organizations, which keep the book business healthy and reading central to our lives.
• Literacy organizations, which help teach an invaluable skill.
• Author assistance groups, giving authors in need the support to practice their craft.
• First Amendment rights groups, which help protect free speech and expression here and around the world.
• Equality and social justice organizations, to help create lasting change in our communities and our society.
• HBG authors’ causes and those championed by HBG staff are very important to us – this can range from a local library’s fundraiser to an author’s favorite worthy organization.
• Cultural organizations that help spread the word about books and reading.

Book Donations

We donate more than 100,000 copies annually, from a single signed copy for a fundraiser to large quantities for a struggling school district or library system. We focus on donating books to communities in need.

All requests for financial and book donations are handled by HBG’s Communications department. If you feel that your organization or cause is in line with our goals of supporting literacy and a love of reading, please send all requests to donation.requests@hbgusa.com.

Community Outreach 

Hachette Cares is a way for HBG to give back to the community by providing company sponsored volunteer activities, support for employee’s existing volunteer activities and time off from work to engage in those activities.
 
Hachette works with a wide array of organizations to provide volunteering opportunities. Some of those organizations are shown below:

Our Industry and Community Outreach Partners