Racism in the romance fiction industry is a known problem that experts have studied since the 1980s. Romance novels with main characters of color were not published in the United States before 1969 and were not widely included in mainstream romance fiction until 1980. Books with Black main characters were often sold in different ways and, as of 2021, are still sometimes placed in separate sections of stores. Black authors have reported feeling excluded from groups related to the industry, and their work is not often recognized with major awards.

History of multicultural romance fiction

The romance fiction industry is a major type of fiction. In the United States in 2020, it made up nearly 20% of all fiction sales. In the romance fiction industry, as in the publishing industry overall, editors and other decision makers have mostly been white. As of 2019, the industry was still much whiter than the U.S. population. In 2017, Brit Bennett wrote, "The average book goes through a white agent, a white editor, a white publicist, a white sales team, a white cover artist, and white booksellers. This process is seen as normal and fair." According to the Pew Research Center, college-educated Black women are the most likely group to read books. Vivian Stephens, a Black woman who started the Romance Writers of America (RWA), is credited with creating the "ethnic romance" sometime before 1980, as reported by The New York Times.

Mainstream romance publishers did not release a romance book with Black main characters until 1984. After that, such stories were only published in special sections for specific groups until 1992, when Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale became a bestseller. This showed the publishing industry that stories about Black people could be popular with a wide audience. In 2016, The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore in Los Angeles, began checking the industry each year for diversity. In 2016, 8% of romance books were written by people of color. In 2017, 6% were written by people of color, and in 2019, 8% were written by people of color.

In 2019–2020, after a series of events related to race, the entire board and executive director of RWA resigned. Vox Media described this as a "spectacular public meltdown."

Experiences of Black writers in the romance fiction industry

When Black women first started writing romance novels, they often faced limits on how they could express their creativity. Many authors, like Beverly Jenkins and Alyssa Cole, who worked with large publishing companies, were told to write stories about Black love in specific ways. They were limited in the types of characters, time periods, and settings they could use. At the same time, the publishing industry had many stories about white women as main characters, making it harder for Black women writers to be noticed. Because of these challenges, some Black women romance writers chose to self-publish their books. Authors such as Christina C. Jones and Alexandria House described themselves as "advocates of Black love" and focused their books on celebrating Black women and men.

Black authors have shared experiences of being treated as "aspiring" (meaning not yet published) by editors they met at writing conferences.

In 2016, author P. J. Dean described situations where Black writers were rejected by publishers who instead gave the same projects to white writers who "know how to write Black characters." Dean argued that the publishing industry believes there is only one correct way to write about Black characters, and that white writers are best at doing so.

Black writers and other writers of color have reported feeling excluded from writing groups like RWA. By 2019, a former RWA president said she received complaints that books by "white Christian women" were being ignored because of political correctness in the industry.

No Black author has ever won a RITA award, which is RWA's top honor for romance novels. By 2018, fewer than 1 out of every 200 finalists for the award had been written by authors of color.

In 2017, Alyssa Cole's popular interracial historical romance An Extraordinary Union was one of the most reviewed romance books of the year. The novel won other awards and was listed on several major best-of lists, but it was not nominated for the RITA award. That year, all RITA finalists were written by white authors. In 2019, 80 finalists included 3 authors of color. Two Black authors, Kennedy Ryan and M. Malone, won that year.

In 2020, the RITA award was renamed the Vivian in honor of Vivian Stephens, a Black founder of RWA and an editor who supported Black romance authors. Stephens helped publish authors like Rosalind Welles, Sandra Kitt, and Beverly Jenkins.

All About Romance, a well-known review site, released its 2018 list of best books of the year with no books by authors of color. After receiving criticism, the site added books to the list, which confused two well-known Black romance authors, Brenda Jackson and Beverly Jenkins.

Depictions of Black women in romance novels

Authors of color have pointed out that some industry habits, such as describing nipples as "pink" regardless of a woman's race, are not accurate because most women of color have nipples that are a brown color.

Black women who write romance novels, whether they are published or not, aim to share stories about Black love that focus on happiness and beauty rather than sadness or hardship. They also avoid using characters that fit negative stereotypes. The main characters in these stories are not always the traditional idea of a perfect woman. Romance novels usually follow a pattern: the main character meets a love interest, they fall in love, they face a challenge, and they end up happy together.

Marketing of romances with Black protagonists

Before the 1980s, few romance books with main characters who are people of color were published by major romance publishers. For many years, romance novels with Black women as main characters did not show images of the characters on the covers. Instead, the covers often showed pictures of the story's setting. In 1984, the first romance book by a Black American author, Sandra Kitt, with Black main characters, Adam and Eva, was published by Harlequin. Some people worried about including this book in a monthly book club that sent four books to subscribers' homes each month. The company received four letters of complaint, but the book was later printed again.

Some publishers create special sections for romance books with main characters who are people of color. Harlequin, the largest publisher of romance novels worldwide, started a section called Kimani Press from 2006 to 2017. This section focused on stories with Black female main characters, while male characters could be of any race or ethnicity. Black authors had different opinions about these sections. Some believed the sections helped readers find books with Black heroines more easily, while others thought the sections might prevent White readers from discovering their work. Some authors from Kimani Press said Harlequin gave less support for promoting these books compared to other sections.

Romance books with Black main characters have sometimes been placed in separate sections from other romance books in stores. These sections often include other books written by Black authors but not related to romance. In 2019, a reporter visited a Walmart in Raleigh, North Carolina, and found romance books with Black characters and authors placed in a section labeled "African-American" along with other books by Black writers, such as a self-help book by filmmaker Tyler Perry, the autobiography of rapper Gucci Mane, and books from the street lit genre.

Acceptance by white readers

Authors of color have shared that some white readers say they cannot connect with a heroine of color. A well-known Black author, Beverly Jenkins, replied, "You can connect with shapeshifters, vampires, and werewolves, but you cannot connect with a story written by and about Black Americans." Authors have noted that white readers accept stories with "25 dukes running around London" but question whether a Black woman during the American Civil War would understand a certain word.

Experiences for other persons of color

Many writers from different racial and ethnic backgrounds have faced challenges in starting their careers in the publishing industry. Some authors have shared that publishers have asked them to change the backgrounds of their characters in order to accept their work.

In 2019, Courtney Milan, a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) board who is of Chinese-American heritage, was removed from the organization after she criticized Kathryn Lynn Davis for including unfair and harmful images of Chinese women in her 1999 book, Somewhere Lies the Moon, which was planned for reprinting. This led to strong reactions within the organization, and all members of the board and the executive director resigned. The RWA held a special election to choose new leaders. In April 2020, the organization publicly apologized for the situation.

Notable early novels

• The Marilyn Morgan Nursing series, written by Rubie Saunders, was published between 1969 and 1971.
• Entwined Destinies, written by Rosalind Welles, was published in 1980.
• Adam and Eva, written by Sandra Kitt, was published in 1985.