YA romance featuring people of color

Years ago some writers in my romance group told me they would love to read romance featuring people of color but these books just don't sell as well. American women want to see themselves in the heroine. They want someone they can identify with.


In the last year or so, there’s been a push from bloggers demanding diverse characters and POC [People of Color]. And agents are now asking for diverse stories and asking writers of color to query them with their stories about people of different ethnicities.



However, that doesn't mean readers will flock to read these books. Does anyone know if you’re still more likely to sell if you feature white protags?



i’m working on a YA PNR where I would like to feature MCs from India. I actually suspect it would be easier to get agents and publishers to read my work if I did make my MCs from India. However that doesn't mean they’d be more likely to rep or buy the work.



And even if I get a publisher I might not want them if they give a paltry advance. Sure, making the bulk of the characters Indian could make it easier to get a publisher but i’m way more interested in getting readers. Many romance writers say they earn more with self epublishing. So I could anyway self pub.



Many Goodreads reviews said they liked the fact that the heroine of The Love that Split the World was a native American.




So does that mean readers too are more or at least as likely to read romance, especially YA romance with POC?

thanks, everyone. Interesting responses.


Polenth, kisses to you. Yes, why should white be the default? But you know very well that white IS the default.


At some point people of color want to tell our stories about our people. i’ve been studying articles about this and I agree with those who say we are pandering to the whites when we write white characters when we could be writing of our own ethnicities.


But we’re pandering for a reason. Thats what sells. To all who claim white people will eagerly read stories about people of color, I have this to say: I grew up in an Arab country and then in India. In both countries, the girls loved to read romance. Girls of color who were raised to believe in arranged marriages and waiting until marriage to have sex had no trouble at all identifying with white heroines who believed in neither.


Turn that around on its head. Do you think millions of white women would read stories about Arab or indian women and their cultural beliefs?


People of color have absolutely NO problem identifying with white characters. White people have trouble identifying with characters of color. You can argue this all you like. You know that, with some exceptions, this is true.


So I concocted this plan of deep and masterful cunning. Book 1 of my YA PNR series features a heroine who is half brown because her dad comes from this mysterious Asian island in the Indian Ocean. She’s one of triplets and each book focuses on the romance of each sibling.


But I made it clear the heroine looks white and grew up in the US.



In Book 2 I will intro an Indian girl from another universe where the Brits still rule India. She is wooed by both an Indian prince in her own universe and my American hero in our universe, who is one of the triplets.


So I am anyway going to intro at least two indian protagonists in Book 2 and more in Book 3.


but you see my genius? Book 1 was gonna be aggressively white. The Asian islanders are secondary characters.


I was gonna woo and entice white readers. They would start off with Book 1, which seemed safe and familiar to them with its white MCs.


Then, wham! I would spring on them the brown protagonists. once i’d got readers hooked, I would then sneak in the Indian protags in Book 2 so that by then readers would not even care about the skin color since they found the story interesting.



I sent my outline of Book 2 to a couple of betas and they liked it.


Now here is where my plan of deep and masterful cunning hit a snag: a couple of reviewers pointed out that Iona, heroine of Book 1, doesn't act American. Her refusing to have sex until marriage, her conservative dressing and speech, all make her sound more indian than western. She sounds like someone who comes from a conservative culture and of course that is because she was written by someone who comes from a conservative culture.


One beta suggested possible solutions. I think she had a couple of good ideas:


1. the triplets could be Indian, they grew up in india, but moved to the US by high school. This makes them ethnic but theyve had time to become westernized enough for american readers to relate to them.


2. the triplets are white Americans. At any rate they look white though they are half brown since they are half Asian. They grew up in India since their mom had a job there, then their white mom moved to the US for their high school years. This would make them technically American but with a more conservative and eastern way of thinking in many ways.


So my questions to you guys are:


please tell me honestly which would be the better solution. My feeling is it would be most likely to appeal to white readers if the triplets are white, look white, but grew up in india to explain why they behave like people who grew up in india.


Or is this just a cop out? Would people read this and snort: “Oh she just gave this explanation because she needed to make them white for mass appeal.”


and even if some do say that, so what? I do want mass appeal. What is the use of our writing our own ethnicities into stories that most people won't read? Doesn't it make more sense to write stories that people will read and then slip in the ethnic characters once they’re already hooked on the story?


Second possibility, that they are Indians who then immigrated to the US: might this work best? Do they even need to have immigrated? Could they not be living in India? Or would this make them sound too third world and therefore not as interesting to readers?



actually my hero Castor living in the US DOES help the story because I show that Kaya from Alt India sees him as a fascinating foreigner in a strange land.


Thanks a lot for any advice.

Hi Sage,

Thanks for your help in figuring out what I should make my characters. Yes agents do say they want POC but I havent heard READERS clamoring for it.



its only been in the last year or so that there’s been a push from bloggers demanding diverse characters and People of Color. That doesn't mean readers will flock to read these books.



i’ve had an idea about how I can make them indian but still look white. The reasons I think it would be an easier sell if they LOOKED white and even had American accents:



1. I badly want to make audio books of my novels. I even suspect I might be able to pay for everything myself since I would look for Indian voice artistes who can fake a good American accent. They’ll be much cheaper than American artistes.



I want the narration to be a pleasant experience for my readers and theres no doubt they find American accents far more pleasant than Indian ones. So, even if I did make them Indian i’m still highly tempted to say they attended high school in the US which is where they acquired the US accent. In fact Priyanka Chopra did do high school in the US and she fakes that accent for Quantico.



Doesn't that make sense? If I do produce audiobooks, isnt it simply a matter of common sense to ensure the narrator has a pleasing American accent? i’ve actually heard people warn not to narrate your own books if you have a non american or non brit accent.



And i’m really dying to produce audiobooks. If I make them and then people complain the accent wasnt that easy on the ear, i’ll be devastated.



2. most writers hope to sell film rights or at least get their work optioned. Will anyone want to make a big Hollywood film about POC? I suspect again they would have to fake American accents as Priyanka Chopra does in Quantico to make themselves sound more attractive to the American audience. But generally its quite tough to get Hollywood to make films about people of color because again they have to appeal to the widest market and that widest market is white. Its well known that Hollywood likes to white wash characters. They make even half-Asian characters like the ones in Cassandra Clare’s books, look white on screen. They often choose white actors to play the roles of brown people.



3. i’d like to do what some writers do and use Cafe Press or some such site to sell mugs, keychains, T-shirts, etc, with pics of my characters on them. I suppose people who might want to buy these would far prefer to see white faces, and blonde and red hair rather than darker faces and hair?



i’d also like to make picture books and graphic novels of my stories. Again, I suppose white characters would sell better?



Sure, the main story for teens and adults who read YA is more important than possible picture books and graphic novels. The main series i’m writing now is more important than considerations like which forms of merchandise would look the most attractive to western buyers. Still, I really like the idea of having my characters out there on merchandise too. I love the idea of commissioning dolls to be made. I believe studies have shown even little girls prefer blonde dolls to darker ones.



If I had dolls made, it would be easier to distinguish between the heroines if they all had different coloring. Iona could be the blonde, Kaya the black haired one, Iona’s sister could have red or chestnut colored hair. If theyre all Indian, they would most likely all have black hair. At the most one of them could have chestnut brown hair and hazel or grey green eyes, since some Indians do.



At one time writers never thought of these things. But today with sites like Cafe Press and others that make things for us, yes, writers do consider what would look most attractive to buyers. Call it ego or whatever, but it gives writers a sense of pride to know their creations are out there not just in the form of words but as actual objects as well, objects people enjoy looking at and using.



And I have had an idea about how to make them look white. At present Idylla is an Asian island but I could easily change that to, its an island near the Scandinavian countries. The ethnicity of the Idyllans isnt an important part of the story. They just need to be a mysterious utopia isolated by choice from the rest of the world.



So could I do it this way? Could I make them half Indian, having grown up in india, but went to high school in the US? And could I say their dad is Scandinavian or looks it, which would explain why they look white?




Yes I could still get complaints of white washing but I think this explanation sounds more natural than any others. After all, there are Indians who are half white.



Thanks a lot for any advice.