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None in the direct market because blackness is actually a huge hindrance there. But the book market? Might be a different story. https://twitter.com/JamilaRowser/status/1302656184663629824
Screw it. Let's make waves! You will actually find much MUCH more success in the direct market as a white person working on black characters. Because decades of isolation and bigotry has resulted in a reactionary fan base holding the rest of fandom hostage.
That reactionary fan base will only accept blackness when it is "safe". And "safe" means through a white or conservative mouthpiece that will prevent any radical viewpoints. Because to them? ANY unfiltered black culture not approved by white people is radical.
Now the book market is where things get tricky. Because it pulls a LOT from YA and prose publishing. Which is way more diverse in regards to gender (NOT race) and is way more familiar with activist spaces.
Blackness is actually an asset in activist spaces. It provides you with "cred." But unfortunately those spaces succumb to the same bigotry that all other spaces do, meaning that the closer you are to whiteness the more you are praised and the better your chances for success.
In layman's terms, we've moved past the need for Pat Boones, but colorism still means there's a clear paper bag preference in regards to which black individuals are looked to to take point.
"Not too black" is still very much a thing in regards to black people selected for positions in the spotlight, and that is something that non-black people who can alter their features to pass for black can (AND DO!) take advantage of.
And because colorism is wholly linked with sexism and affects women in the public eye much more so than men, it is going to affect industries where women are in a position of power or are in abundance. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/69653-why-publishing-is-so-white.html
(People don't like when you talk about this AT ALL, by the way, so I am definitely going to be punished for this thread.)
Long story short, conditions in the book market are completely geared for a Krug to pop off due to bigotry and a lack of communication between different elements of the industry. Krugs flourish when conversations stagnate.
When execs don't talk to editors and talent and non-black people don't talk to black people it results in an industry where black girls are served dead last after everyone else has already had 4 and 5 OGNs pushed towards them.
