Diversity in Romance Fiction

My special topics paper focuses on diversity (the inclusion of underrepresented characters and authors) within the romance genre and the barriers to discovering, collecting, and promoting diverse romance titles in the library. 

What follows is a concise summary. 
 
Throughout its billion-dollar history romance fiction has marginalized authors and characters of color and failed to represent the diversity of society. The Ripped Bodice, the West coast’s only all-romance bookstore, annually releases the “State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing” report. According to their data, 91.9% of romance books published by major imprints in the past five years were written by white authors (Ripped Bodice, 2020). 

Bestselling novelist Jasmine Guillroy told Oprah Magazine (2020): 

The problem has not been that Black women haven't been represented in romance, but that publishers weren't doing enough to lift those voices up. You see a difference in the way Black and other writers of color's books are promoted and marketed by publishers, versus the way white authors are promoted and marketed. 

The Rita Award, presented by Romance Writers of America, is the romance genre’s equivalent to an Oscar and an important promotion that impacts bookseller and library purchases. According to RWA’s website Black authors represent less than half of 1% of Rita finalists. No Black romance author has ever won a Rita.

Publishers and marketing strategists often claim that white readers “can’t relate” or don’t want to read diverse characters, ignoring ample evidence to the contrary not to mention the huge audience of readers of color in the genre. Sales at the Ripped Bodice bookstore support broad reader enthusiasm for diverse romance: in 2017 six of the store’s ten bestsellers, and seven of 10 bestsellers in 2019, were written by authors of color. 

Reader’s advisors can only promote or suggest titles held in the library’s collection but the landscape for diversity in romance publishing presents a challenge to building inclusive collections. A recent study revealed that only 62 of 304 professionally reviewed Romance novels were written by authors of color, with only 40 different authors represented (Simkiss, 2019). Additionally, only three books by authors of color received more than one professional review (Simkiss, 2019). It’s no wonder that Bradford stated, “I don’t rely on reviews, and if I did, our collection would be very small because a lot of things don’t get reviewed at all, anywhere” (Simkiss, 2019, 14th para.). Bookseller Allison Senecal scans the professional reviews but stated, “If it wasn’t for bloggers, I’d have no clue about 90% of the diverse romance titles out there” (Simkiss, 2019, 19th para.).

Historically, libraries tended to only showcase aspects of diversity in their collection during predictable heritage months thereby inherently making those titles “other.” Overton (2016) cautioned: 

All diverse books should be represented throughout the year, no matter how small the percentage of the minority race is within that community. Librarians should not decide against displaying certain books throughout the year in fear that they won’t circulate or be well-received by the majority simply because they feature a character of a different race. For a librarian to entertain or act on that very thought is bias, bordering on censorship. 

Libraries need to learn from the mistakes of publishers and booksellers, and their own misguided efforts, and refrain from separating or labeling books by diverse authors or about diverse characters from the rest of the collection under the assumption that they aren’t widely relatable. 

Awareness of the issues that have marginalized romance in general, and diverse romance in particular, will help librarians examine their own bias and aid their efforts to offer patrons the chance to read from the full spectrum of human experience in their favorite genre.




References:

McKenzie, J.P. (2020, Apr. 29). After the RWA controversy, romance authors say publishing needs to address racism. Oprah Magazine. https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/books/a31139140/black-authors-romance-writers-association-controversy-racism/. 

Overton, N. (2016, Apr. 16). Libraries need diverse books. Public Libraries Online. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/04/libraries-need-diverse-books/. 

The Ripped Bodice. (2020). The state of racial diversity in romance publishing. https://www.therippedbodicela.com/sites/therippedbodicela.d7.indiebound.com/files/2020%20Diversity%20Report%20MASTER.pdf. 

Romance Writers of America. (n.d.) Board Commitment to RITAs and Inclusivity. https://www.rwa.org/Online/News/2018/Board_Commitment_Inclusivity.aspx. 

Simkiss, C. (2019, Jan. 16). Open the gates: A call for inclusivity in romance reviewing. VIDA women in literary arts. https://www.vidaweb.org/open-the-gates-a-call-for-inclusivity-in-romance-reviewing/.

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