Fans of Interracial Romance discussion

Am I alone with getting super annoyed looking for new-to-me reads on Amazon in the Interracial & Multicultural Romance section? In any other romance subgenres, I can trust the bestselling section to point me in a general direction. The kindle hot 100 generally match what I'm seeing on Goodreads with their fan base. Most of the books listed don't even feature Interracial or Multicultural couples. Unless you count out of space aliens and human couples, and I don't. I rarely see names of the authors favored in the group. It's bloated with way too many books that don't belong there. Most feature non-POC characters, so I'm confused why they are cluttering up the section. It means that I hardly ever see my faves like Kenya Wright, Sienna Mynx, in the top ten as they should be. Sometimes Theodora Taylor is there, but not always. It makes me less likely to take a chance on new author from that list, because quite often couples aren't what they're supposed to be. How are you finding your next reads? I need tips because my method is not working.

Unfortunately, with the list looking like that, I don’t find new authors. I just depend on the new releases from authors I’ve loved in the past, or if a book is good enough, it’ll probably make it’s way down my Goodreads.

Jamilla_ wrote: "Unfortunately, with the list looking like that, I don’t find new authors. I just depend on the new releases from authors I’ve loved in the past, or if a book is good enough, it’ll probably make it’..."

Jamilla the list is a mess. I wish there was a way to flag genre's so Amazon could move them to the right category.

It’s been very frustrating to me as well. It seems as though authors are really taking advantage of the “multi-cultural” tag because a majority of books will be white women with the male character being like, Italian or something - which okay, is technically a different culture. I guess. 😒😒. It’s been very hard to find any new IR books because of this. I haven’t had any luck lately.

I stopped using that as a category to find books a few years ago when I read that authors were, of course, gaming the system using it get higher sales rankings in categories. So say if you wrote a contemporary romance that was #1,000 in sales rank on that list, you could add yourself to the MC/IR list and compared to the sales ##'s of other books in the MC/IR category, your ranking might be #20. So your discoverability goes up.

And @Amber is correct, so many of the books lean into the "multi-cutlural" part and will be, say, a white Australian and a white American couple that they totally obscure the IR stuff.

I get better results with the 'Recommended For You' stuff because it is based on what I read through KU or bought.

Hi Pagan:

I feel your frustration! When I discovered GR and asked for book recommendations for authors in the IR genre, you provided a great list of authors to get me started and I was in IR Heaven. I do the same for readers who ask.

Nowadays, it getting harder and harder to discover new authors or books that are gems. I rely on my GR friends--specifically, their word of mouth, their bookshelves and what they've read and enjoyed, as well as Facebook Groups, author newsletters and just trying to keep up with my favorite authors.

When I'm between books or just feel like reading a book "I" enjoyed, I re-read what I consider "my" classics from some of the authors that paved the way. I also include some of the newer authors that made an impression on me through unforgettable characters or sub-genres that are my favorites.

All this is to say--there is no easy way. :-)

I use BWWM as my search criterium. Get pretty good hits.

Amber wrote: "It’s been very frustrating to me as well. It seems as though authors are really taking advantage of the “multi-cultural” tag because a majority of books will be white women with the male character ..."


Yeah Amber some of them don't even have different cultures. For example quite a few mafia books with both leads being Italian, are in the this section. lol

Tina wrote: "I stopped using that as a category to find books a few years ago when I read that authors were, of course, gaming the system using it get higher sales rankings in categories. So say if you wrote a ..."

Because of one clicking tons of books curating my groups freebie lists, my Amazon recs are screwed up.


Rosie wrote: "Hi Pagan:

I feel your frustration! When I discovered GR and asked for book recommendations for authors in the IR genre, you provided a great list of authors to get me started and I was in IR Heave..."

Rosie first happy to know my list helped you.



Justine wrote: "I use BWWM as my search criterium. Get pretty good hits."

Do you do that on Amazon, Goodreads, or both?

Paganalexandria wrote: "
Justine wrote: "I use BWWM as my search criterium. Get pretty good hits."

Paganalexandria wrote: Do you do that on Amazon, Goodreads, or both?"

Only on Amazon. I have never even thought of doing a search on Goodreads. Thanks for the idea.

You can also checkout Facebook groups that only feature IR romances.

I hate using the bwwm tag bc the list usually doesn't have an organized list ....

Blackdiamond wrote: "I hate using the bwwm tag bc the list usually doesn't have an organized list ...."

And its always littered with the dregs of subpar offerings in the genre. All the "authors" that jumped on the bandwagon and thought writing a book was a piece of cake, so threw out a few chapters of poorly edited, fetish nonsense with billionaire tropes.

Blackdiamond wrote: "I hate using the bwwm tag bc the list usually doesn't have an organized list ...."

What do you consider an organized list?

Savannah- Quad Motherin' Book Readin' Diva wrote: "Blackdiamond wrote: "I hate using the bwwm tag bc the list usually doesn't have an organized list ...."

And its always littered with the dregs of subpar offerings in the genre. All the "authors" t..."

That can be said of any genre as to some extent it is a matter of taste. Will you get inane reads such as The Billionaire's Secret Octuplets, as if the woman is a darned rodent or cockroach, but you will also get hits from authors who people rave about and who I find write subpar dregs.
It is by using this criterium that I happened on a few of my favorites that I have reread from time to time.

I'm so super late to this thread, but I just happened to see this now. To find new reads on Amazon, I search for IR authors I already like on Amazon or Google, and then I see what else comes up in the recommendations. It was how I found "Tease" by Camilla Stevens, which by the way I loved because I thought it was a really fun read.

CeCe wrote: "I'm so super late to this thread, but I just happened to see this now. To find new reads on Amazon, I search for IR authors I already like on Amazon or Google, and then I see what else comes up in ..."

Hey Cece: I gave 'Tease' 5 stars. I loved it and it goes on my read it again list.