Racial Diversity is severely lacking in the romance publishing right now with 10% of all romance novels being multicultural, demonstrating just how crucial it needs to change. However, the term whitewashing comes into this, with publishers purposely covering up or placing a white person on the cover despite the heroine being of colour. Which has had a severe impact on the progression for diversity in romance genre. A prime example of this would be through Bloomsbury’s publication of Liar by Justine Larbalestier. This novel held countless debates about its cover design, which was originally a cover of a white female, despite the fact that the heroine was black, which brought a lot of criticism and outrage by the readers.
The publishing industry started to change in 2012 as a result of the evolution of self-publishing. This had a particular impact on the romance publishing industry as it has allowed for a more diverse range of romances narratives to appear, catering to a more diverse taste. As traditional publishers operate using very broad and basic subcategories on romance, it can be extremely difficult for readers to find a specific form of romance. Even though Young Adult books are put in subcategories such as romance, sci-fi and crime they are still clustered and intertwined together. This makes the categories very general for readers who desire a very particular and specialised narrative.
In traditional publishing outlets, arbitrary publishing definitions are used to categories all titles within the division and the subgenre. This ensures that all books are organised efficiently for readers and wholesalers. However, there is one vital flaw in this model, with many titles often subcategorised broadly to capture multiple markets, which is often insufficient for readers, who have to scroll endlessly to find a specific title. However, self-publishing eradicates all confusion, as a more specialised range of subgenres incorporated, that speak more clearly on the diverse range of subcategorise available of both fiction and non-fiction.
Racial diversity has been an on-going battle within the publishing industry over the last several decades, but only until the very last few years has diversification truly been recognized as a significant issue within romantic fiction especially, becoming increasingly mediatized by publishers’ authors and readers.
With the world wide web becoming ever so more advanced and innovative by each day, the question of whether or not you buy printed recipe books is becoming more and more unknown, with websites, videos, podcasts, blogs, and vlogs available on such a massive spectrum for free, it is not impossible to assume that maybe these answers are changing.
In today’s day and age, with the number of books available on Amazon; do you think it is okay to judge a book by its cover?
