I had never heard of the term and occupation “sensitivity reader” before, I don’t follow the literary scene in any way. But it makes sense to exist indeed, when writing books is treated as a business first. And it makes sense in this world indeed, to try and know (or guess) how the work you put out will be perceived " five, 10 or 15 years in the future". Sadly, it does also seem like a scam, in the sense that you “use” a bunch of young people, pay them almost nothing (relative to your revenue), to basically add credit to your product and be able to say “see ? we did our work !”

But mostly, in the end, I believe that what makes a good author is the capacity for empathy and sensibility to the issues of others. Just as a good author may have to know how to describe the “dark and stormy night”, he may have to describe how different people feel about different issues and react to different situations. If that person needs a lot of input from others, he may not be an author worthy of being published.

Or maybe, if he does needs this input (because despite flaws in his writing he has really good ideas), the work itself should be treated as collaborative ?

I enjoyed the article, thanks!

Paywall :\