https://web.archive.org/web/20250703090954/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/arts/straight-white-male-novelists.html
The headline, like any headline, is clickbait. It's not the worst article on the subject I've read, but it doesn't really offer any deep insight you won't find from others. Basically, some dude wrote a piece for an online magazine talking about how white straight men aren't writing as many of the big pop literature hits as used to be the case. He offers a few reasons why, and NYT article author basically just regurgitates them while adding the commentary that some people got mad on both sides of the fence.
The short of it seems to be that:
1. Writing doesn't pay well compared to other accessible careers for those who can write, and most white heterosexual men pursue higher-earning careers compared to female, non-white, or LGBT people.
2. White straight men as characters are ill-received in a "damned if you, damned if you don't" way. They either talk about their struggles and get written of as men's rights apologists or talk about being the problem and are written off as multiracial-globalist soi boys.
3. White straight men read novels less because video games are so popular.
The second point has some merit, but isn't really expanded on in much depth, which is unsurprising because it's a NYT article.
The first point isn't really true at all. The vast majority of writers do not write as a career, and a good chunk of the most successful and popular modern writers ARE straight white men. Non-erotic adult fantasy is still dominated by them to an extreme degree, as an example. There are more books published these days than ever in the past, as anyone with an internet connection can list a book for global consumption with a few clicks. So naturally, the set of "all authors" out there is more diverse.
The third point is probably correct to some extent, but it's really just mentioned in passing and as a supposition without any real data, making it a pretty weak article on this particular subject.
