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10/25/2010

Comments

francis s.

Yes, I do agree with you really. Whenever we talk about our lives, it's seen somehow as being in-your-face. Militant even. I do think African Americans face some of the same real-life reaction by non-African Americans - we've just gotten to the point that it's not socially acceptable to voice this (which is the first step in changing the actual attitude I believe). But us (glbtq) alphabet people haven't gotten that far. Kids calling each other faggot or saying something is gay doesn't warrent the same censure as when they use racial epithets. (And while I'm here, I'm plugging my new site, www.queercult.com

Matthew Gallaway

Thanks, Francis!

Chris

I like reading "gay fiction" and find it very hard to find. I was frustrated with how By Nightfall was marketed. I think it could be hard for "gay fiction" writers to find, with it lumped into more mass sections of stores.

Gay fiction top lists often fill up with romance titles. It feels like the books I love get marginalized more and more, perhaps it will get worse with Alyson all but closed?

I don't get how this is happening in publishing, while acceptance of LGBT people seems to be rising in the wider population.

Matthew Gallaway

Thanks for the comment, Chris -- I think (in fact I know) theres a strong perception in the publishing industry that gay doesnt sell because its not interesting to general readers; hence gay novelists are constantly trying to avoid the label, which I can understand. I think all we can do is keep reading/writing/talking about great books that are written by gay writers (and tackle gay themes) with the understanding that like so many outsiders, we have stories/lessons that are universal and should be appreciated as such.

Chris

We could start with something as simple as tagging "gay fiction" books as such in Amazon. That shows publishers how we categorize books and helps other similarly minded readers to find them in the future.

The only issue snag there is that the tag is also used with gay romance books. There's such a volume of gay romance novels that they tend to flood the category and obscure the other books.

Matthew Gallaway

Thanks, Chris -- I can see how your idea makes perfect sense from a readers perspective, but Im also slightly terrified by the idea of being tagged gay because its proven to be soooooo deadly in terms of sales because of the gay-genre books. (Sad but true!) Its a real Catch-22. Perhaps we should have a new tag, like nonheterosexual or something a bit more tongue-in-cheek/literary. 

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