Romance novels are a billion-dollar industry within book publishing, but do these stories have diverse representation that reflect reality? This paper examines the diversity of race, sexuality, neurodivergence, disability, and fat representation in traditionally published romance novels in the USA. Various authors and titles are discussed, including a comparison between traditional publishing and self-publishing. While there has been an improvement in diverse representation in adult romance novels, there is still a large gap in the titles publishing houses are acquiring.
The author does not cite any romance scholarship but does appear to have some insights into forthcoming releases; on 15 July 2021 Shelf Awareness announced that "Madison Nankervis has joined Sourcebooks as a marketing and social media associate for Sourcebooks Fire." This may or may not be the author of the current article; the only affiliation given there is "Pace University, New York City, NY, USA."
Here's the abstract:
The author does not cite any romance scholarship but does appear to have some insights into forthcoming releases; on 15 July 2021 Shelf Awareness announced that "Madison Nankervis has joined Sourcebooks as a marketing and social media associate for Sourcebooks Fire." This may or may not be the author of the current article; the only affiliation given there is "Pace University, New York City, NY, USA."