I Want More Diverse Books!

Illustration by Sarah Mazzetti

Something I like to think I do rather well is reading different books. However, I do feel like the publishing industry is a little behind in regards to diversifying books. For instance, lately I have seen a lot of geeky/nerdy young adult books but I noticed that the characters are generally white. Where are the non-white geeks? There are plenty of them out in the real world so it begs to differ why are there no books centered around those characters. And if they are included they are usually pushed somewhere in the background with hardly any character development.

I also wish there were more diverse books in the LGBT genre. Most of those books also tend to center around characters that are white. I'm also disappointed that many of the books have started to feel like nothing more than erotica. There should be more to these characters than sex, I want a full story with well rounded characters. I don't know if it's simply just the authors catering to what they think readers want or lazy writing.

There are more than just these two areas that I noticed, I feel like the publishing industry itself still has a lot of work to do until the representation starts to match readers. I feel like it's the lack of representation that really annoys me because there are so many stories that could be told that are either not being published or if they are then they are not being promoted.

Even though I read a variety of books I still wish there were even more diverse books. For me it's second nature to read different books, I find it so rewarding when I find diverse books with diverse authors because you're not getting the same old story but something different. Reading should be fun but it can also be a way to expand your horizons (as corny as that may sound). And one way I found to do that is by stepping out of my comfort zone. When I read diverse books it gives me a way to see outside of myself yet see how much as people we are all alike.

The publishing industry is changing but I can't help wishing for faster results. One area that's been doing a fairly good job of late is the comic book industry. Again more work still needs to be done but comics are changing and for the better. I wish I could say the same for publishing in general.