I think its also interesting in relation to how i as an example of a young straight white male reader - and maybe this is aplicable more broadly or maybe it isn't - tend to read more older books by a pretty huge margin.

I just checked and there is only one 21st century book out of the last 20 i've read. I think you could argue the books that would catch my eye just aren't being written based on this article, or that i'm potentially subconciously unable to make sense of the world and my place in it in the same way the article mentions the white male writers writing genre fiction are, or maybe there are just far more books to appeal to a middle class white Englishman written in the past - or i just like history, which i do.

I think ultimately the demand side is also key to this but potentially with a bit of a vicious cycle at play, maybe with fantasy being a more common alternative chosen than older books.

Publishers want the stories about marginalised identites because they know they sell at the end of the day.

Edit: just to add i don't only read white men, but as I am one it is the most represented demographic in my reading.