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That assumption wouldn’t be entirely correct. As reported by Forbes, print book sales in science-fiction and fantasy experienced a precipitous drop after 2009, falling by 50 per cent and failing to recover since. Book authors have also experienced a drop in income; a 2015 survey by the Authors Guild found their writing income has dropped significantly. But this is not to say that no new opportunities exist or that the genre is not growing.
“I’ve heard writers who are lamenting their own book sales who will say ‘The genre is doomed,’ [which is] projecting,” says Minister Faust, an Edmonton-based urban fantasy author."The big difference is a lot of us loved what fantasy offered, but had no choice but to buy stuff that didn’t have us in it.” Faust points to authors like Maurice Broaddus , as well as Tananarive Due, Daniel Jose Older and Nnedi Okorafor as examples of a burgeoning and rapidly diversifying market.
As well, newer editions of Dungeons and Dragons have expanded their artwork to depict people of colour and to decouple human racial characteristics from skin colour and geography. All of these efforts are bookended by the boost in the digital and self-publishing markets, which allow new authors a greater chance than ever to break into the genre with rich and diversified storytelling.