For the longest time,
I didn’t write romances
with diverse main characters
because I was afraid
of getting it wrong.
What I didn’t realize
is by not telling those stories,
I was telling readers
I didn’t embrace diversity.
“And when you grow up
in a world
where you learn,
just from watching,
that you are let in,
but others are not,
you often accept it
as your truth.
So when you write
what you see
and what you know
and what you have been told
to believe,
like books set in a town
where absolutely no people of color
or gay people live…?
You are perpetuating exclusion,
and the cravenness
and fear
that’s at its ancient foundation.”
If you believe in diversity,
show it in your marketing material.
Yes, you might get it wrong
(show a variety of people
the material
to minimize that possibility)
but not showing it
is even more wrong.
Show the world
you want.