Since 2016, The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Los Angeles has published an annual report on racial diversity in romance publishing. The 2020 numbers were just released, accounting for 2,203 books published during the year from more than a dozen prominent romance publishers. The publisher with the highest percentage of books authored by a person of color: Kensington, at 44.8 percent. The publisher with the lowest percentage (zero) was Christian publisher Bethany House, which has stayed the same since 2016. Not much better: Amazon’s Montlake, at 1.7 percent. Publishers showing the most consistent improvement: Carina Press (moving from 5.4 percent in 2016 to 37 percent percent in 2020) and Kensington (moving from 12.7 percent to 44.8 percent). Marked improvement was also seen at St. Martin’s Press (owned by Macmillan). Read more about the report from the store owners.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
