28 of the Hottest Romances of 2020

I just want to put this out there as food for thought: less than 5% of Americans identify as LGBT+, so it stands to reason the vast majority of romances will be based in straight love because it represents a much larger percentage of the American population. White Americans account for at least a 3/4-majority of the country, with 63% being non-Hispanic whites.

The big issue I tend to notice is these groups are largely not represented in traditional publishing, which leaves them to seek out indie/self-publishing means. As a brand new, white female romance author who is self-published, I can tell you this: it doesn't necessarily matter your race, sexual preferences, religion, etc.... If you are not being pushed by large publishing houses, your exposure is severely hampered. It's not misrepresentation but rather lack of exposure that destroys those authors' dreams of making it big in the writing community.

When readers take it upon themselves to plug for their fave indie authors on sites like GRs and BB, no matter their demographics, it will make a big difference to indie authors in general and a game-changing difference to those individual authors.

If we want to see under-represented groups more often, we as readers need to band together and start plugging for those who have made an impact on our reading. Recommend, nominate, share, review... The true power rests in the hands of the readers.

And just to add onto the food for thought: should we really be seeking out authors who can check certain boxes on a demographics checklist OR should we as readers be seeking out talent? Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Amy Tan are all widely considered amazing writers. Their demographics had/have nothing to do with their talent. They were/are just insanely talented writers who had/have unique stories to tell. They brought fresh perspective to writing as a craft.
We should always seek out true talent, no matter their background or demos. When we do that as readers and throw our support behind those true talents, THAT's when you'll start to see more of what you want to read. It will be the quality of the writings that matter, which means writers of all backgrounds with true talent will rise to the top of the pile. 😉

I totally agree with Kali, same for me. I'm straight and only read MM romance. I'm bored to death with MF romance, after reading it for years and years. Thank god there is something new.

How about some time travel romances?

KC Bookreader, a few things...

1) I wasn't responding to you in specific. I was talking to everyone who said, "Where are all the ________ books?", so I'm sorry if you felt like I was addressing you in specific.

2) The reason I shared those demographics is because purchasing demographics traditionally drive any business market. Look at the statistics of romance readers. The biggest portion of romance readers are middle-aged white females. What do traditional publishing houses do? Study the market like any business would and use the data to anticipate what people will be spending their money on, which if they go by the statistics, the industry assumes the average reader wants to read about people who look like them. It's crappy, but the traditional publishing industry is notorious for that kind of assumptive thought process because they are first-and-foremost a business who wants to make more money. I think a more inclusive community would be wonderful and we should seek to make the market reflect that.

If people want more of a certain type of romance to be in the market, they have to speak up and let their voices and wallets be heard. Readers have to band together to shift market output. If authors think that a certain type of romance won't sell as well, they won't write it because they need to make money too to support their writing careers, so they'll write something that is guaranteed to sell. If they see that people are willing to read and purchase books that deal with topics that aren't as widely written, they'll crank them out if the support is there to back all of that investment of their time into those books.

3) I NEVER once insinutated that people who fit into certain demographics are less talented and that's unfair to assert that I was. Please go back and reread my original post. I gave multiple examples of writers who were from various demographic groups because that was the point: talent happens across all demographics and talent should be what we seek first. I'm white but I read a lot of literature by people who are white as well as BIPOC because those authors are talented. Please make sure you are responding to what a person actually said because misconstruing a person's words often causes unnecessary drama and people forming opinions without having all the facts. We can all do better with that.

My point was I don't care what demographic set an author belongs to: if you're a talented writer and you write what I enjoy reading, I want to read your books :). I'm not going to read a book because a person fits or doesn't fit a certain demographic. That's unfair to every person who doesn't fit in that particular box if that's my sole reason for supporting them. I want to celebrate everyone! I never research to see what an author's race, religion, sexual preference, gender, etc. is before reading their books. If I find out what it is, fine. If I'm told because to know it to understand their perspective on something, great. But it won't have any bearing on my enjoyment of their books. I look at reviews on their works and see if others think they're worth my time and money to read it (here, on Amazon, and on Bookbub to get a balanced opinion). A cardinal rule for me is no cheating. If an author wants to write a book that celebrates or glorifies cheating, I'm not investing in that book, no matter what group they represent. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I don't enjoy PNR, therefore I don't buy PNR books (nothing against it, just not my tastes). There are a lot of people who do, so their money drives the continuous flow of PNR books.

If more people will invest in what they want more of, create petitions to include more of certain types of romance, share your appreciation and excitement about those types of literature for those authors on social media, highlight them and their works, review all their works, etc.

Where the money and the vocal support go, so goes the market and the industry.