With income inequality a focus of the current presidential candidates, workers in journalism, advertising and book publishing have anonymously posted salary information on crowdsourced spreadsheets, many of them hoping their efforts will lead to higher pay.

“Having salaries that aren’t transparent only benefits the people at the top,” said Sarah Kobos, a senior photo editor at the consumer products website Wirecutter, which is owned by The New York Times. Ms. Kobos started a spreadsheet for journalists last week.

The document, Real Media Salaries, has more than 1,400 anonymous entries, many listing sex, racial identity and years of experience in addition to salary information. It has given rise to several similar documents in the publishing and advertising industries.

On Tuesday, an Instagram account, Real Agency Salaries, linked to a spreadsheet that has more than 1,000 entries purporting to provide information on compensation in the ad business. The document states in an echo of the media spreadsheet: “Talking about how much or how little money you make feels taboo, and it shouldn’t.” Its existence was first reported by the trade news site AgencySpy.