Some thoughts about the race problem in M/M fiction

[rainwaterspark]

As I was taking a look at Dreamspinner Press's States of Love series, this topic came up in my mind.

They've only announced/released 18 23 30 books (out of an assumed 50) so far, but let's take a look.

(I'm assuming character races based off cover picture/names, so if anyone has a correction, feel free to let me know.)

60 books makes 60 romantic love interests so far. Out of those 60, I found: 1 Asian, 2 Latino, and 1 Black/Latino. In other words, 4/60 characters of color, or a 1/15 ratio.

Those are some really pathetic numbers.

What about the novella set in New Orleans? Nope, it's about 2 white guys. We haven't gotten around to California, New York, Massachusetts, or Illinois (the states with the big, diverse cities), so we can hope that the numbers will even out over time, but for Christ's sake. New York? California? White guys. The American South does not consist of 99% white people and some Latinx (Houston, TX has a massive Asian population, for example), and that stereotype is actively damaging.

More thoughts when more books are released and we have final numbers.