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That Thing Between Eli & Gwen
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Is the term "Multicultural Romance," the new PC code for "Interracial Romance"?
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I feel the term multicultural encompasses all nationalities that are "non white" , so for me, multicultural and interracial can be used interchangably.
Bennita wrote: "I feel the term multicultural encompasses all nationalities that are "non white" , so for me, multicultural and interracial can be used interchangably."Except Amazon will put a book featuring a white couple with one from France, and the other from U.S. under the multicultural section. Multicultural isn't about race at all, it's about culture.
Actually, I like the term multicultural better than interracial to be honest. Maybe because it's a term I'm more familiar with in my native languages (Papiamento and Dutch). To me it encompasses more than just the racial pairing of a couple. For instance I like reading books with a multicultural cast: meaning not just the main couple having a different background/race/nationality/origin but that the friends and co-workers also are divers. It's more about diversity (and being a truer representation of every day circumstances) I guess is what I'm trying to say.
But like Pagan says, multicultural is not a substitute for interracial.
Paganalexandria **wicked juices bubbling over** wrote: "Bennita wrote: "I feel the term multicultural encompasses all nationalities that are "non white" , so for me, multicultural and interracial can be used interchangably."Except Amazon will put a bo..."
You are right, it is about culture, but IMO, it's a play on words as well. Only time will tell how it all plays out.
Basically, this was something that I was pondering over period of time. Before I get myself into trouble, I will just leave it there..
Gisèle Altagracia wrote: "But like Pagan says, multicultural is not a substitute for interracial."It's not a substitute, but in terms of publishing royalties, is one more profitable than the other? And if so, does this have anything to do with the deeply embedded (and not to mention, sick,) fascination with Colorism (light over dark, biracial/multiracial over Black) in our society?
The debate could go on and on....
Anino wrote: "You are right, it is about culture, but IMO, it's a play on words as well. Only time will tell how it all plays out.Basically, this was something that I was pondering over period of time. Before I get myself into trouble, I will just leave it there.. ..."
I guess the test will be if books featuring black people from various cultures, like a Nigerian, and American are shelved "multicultural" or "African American" fiction. Other ethnicties are already tagged multicultural out the gate. It's actually kind of weird that Amazon only seems to have a separate subgenre for the African American theme exclusively. Other non-white stories go into Multicultural, and/or World.
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All interracial books are multicultural but not all multicultural books are interracial. That specific tag on Amazon is too broad a term which makes searching specifically for interracial books an uphill battle. It's the author that chooses which category they shelve their books in not Amazon.
Funnily enough, the African American sub categories are being used more and more to highlight that their works feature a black MC but the cast varies in terms of race and culture.
Kourtney wrote: "All interracial books are multicultural but not all multicultural books are interracial. That specific tag on Amazon is too broad a term which makes searching specifically for interracial books a..."
Yup. This so much. it is great if you are truly looking for "Multicultural" i.e. you don;t care about the race of the protags as long as they come from two different countries.
But it is almost useless if you want to pinpoint it to different races.
Also I am noticing lately on Amazon, it isn't even necessarily the book that falls into the Multicultural category, sometimes it is the author, regardless of the ethnic or cultural make-up of the book or if one book in a series is categorized as MC/IR then all the books in the series sometimes gets categorized there.
So basically, sometimes it requires waaaay more scrutiny to make sure you are getting the book your really want.
As an author your limited to the categories that you can put your book under (I think it's 2 or 3), but you are given the options to put keywords (tags) that readers can type in order to find your specific kind of book/story. I put my books under contemporary romance, interracial/multicultural. I also use the tags BWWM, BWAM, African American, erotic, etc. So hopefully people looking for stories featuring those things can find my books. I have no clue what categories do better for sales. I just want my books to reach the right audience and to me that just means anyone interested in the topic I'm writing about.Someone posted that it's up to the author to put their books in the appropriate category, and they're right. I'm just starting with my writing and sometimes I forget to put keywords/tags to make my book easier to find. Maybe some other authors do the same.
This might help Nikki, before I publish my books I put together a marketing folder with blurbs, keywords, possible review sites, URLs and excerpts. I have that page open the whole time I’m uploading the book so it’s like a little flowchart. It helps me a lot.
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That specific tag on Amazon is too broad a term which makes searching specifically for interracial books a..."
How is every interracial book multicultural?
Kourtney wrote: "All interracial books are multicultural but not all multicultural books are interracial.That specific tag on Amazon is too broad a term which makes searching specifically for interracial books an uphill battle. It's the author that chooses which category they shelve their books in not Amazon.
Funnily enough, the African American sub categories are being used more and more to highlight that their works feature a black MC but the cast varies in terms of race and culture. "
Good point Kourtney. Very true about multicultural being too broad and making it hard sometimes differentiate in regards ti IR specifically. As one of the people that routinely post the freebies here, sometimes are unsure about what thread to to put some things also tagged "multicultural". If there isn't any Goodreads feedback visible, usually post in the "Non-IR" thread just to be on the safe side. Because if put it turns out not to actually be IR, it will be called out. lol
What I don't understand is when books that feature, for example, a black woman and an alien (as in extraterrestrial) are classified as IR or MC.An extraterrestrial is another species. Even if it is humanoid, it is not human. Classify it for what it is: sci-fi with romantic elements or sci-fi romance. But it's NOT IR/MC.
Ditto when books about having sex with Bigfoot are listed under IR/MC.
Kim wrote: "What I don't understand is when books that feature, for example, a black woman and an alien (as in extraterrestrial) are classified as IR or MC.An extraterrestrial is another species. Even if it ..."
Good point Kim. Same goes for all the shifters. I'm about 100% sure that they fall into supernatural unless I missed something.
Kourtney wrote: "Kim wrote: "What I don't understand is when books that feature, for example, a black woman and an alien (as in extraterrestrial) are classified as IR or MC.An extraterrestrial is another species...."
Kim wrote: "What I don't understand is when books that feature, for example, a black woman and an alien (as in extraterrestrial) are classified as IR or MC.
An extraterrestrial is another species. Even if it ..."
HI, I'm late to this topic but I have to agree. I was looking at the top 100 for Multicultural & Interracial on Amazon and about 60% of them are about shifters. I don't understand how this fits at all...even under the umbrella of "multicultural." Just call it what it is Paranormal. Amazon has an entire sub for it!
The heroine, Gwen, is multiracial, and sharp as a tack. I like this author's writing style, but I just have to wonder if the IR Romance genre is undergoing a slow but sure "whitewashing"/politically correct transformation, just so it will be more acceptable to the majority.
As a lover of Sociology, I find this to be very intriguing.
What are your thoughts concerning this issue?