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djgraykryptaria:
rachelhaimowitz:
whitepplsucc:
rachelhaimowitz:
bisexual-books:
seananmcguire:
siancrosslin:
Apparently now is the time for uncomfortable truths because I’ve just had it.
How many posts have I seen that talk about fanfiction ‘setting the bar higher’ or about how ‘unoriginal’ published fiction is? How many posts have I seen where someone’s saying “I wish someone would write about X thing that subverts some popular trope!’?
Trans Cinderella? I have a friend who’s written that. Books about people who are actually, for real, bi or ace? My publisher has whole categories for those. How about ABO? Or werewolf stories that aren’t about sex and dominance? Hell, I’ve written that. Enemies-to-lovers? Mecha-wearing cops? These people are some of the most creative and welcoming and kind people I’ve ever met.
And nearly daily, I see fandom deride us like we’re somehow other. And look, I get it. In large part, I think a lot of the pushback is the inaccessibility of publishing in large houses, and the way that those large houses churn out the same tropes over and over again, while enforcing and maintaining the societal status quo.
But hey, those are large presses. Those are The Big Four. There are so many smaller, younger, more inclusive presses running around now, not even to mention self-publishing.
If I read a book that I absolutely love and I immediately develop a writer-crush on that author, 9 times out of 10 I say to myself “I wanna be friends” and then we become friends. It’s great. Authors have no chill about each other, none at all, I love it.
So when I finally caved and came to tumblr and started getting involved in fandom, it was like a bucket of cold water to the face when I found out, over and over, that fanfic writers and readers wanted nothing to do with me and my original fiction. I mention that I’ve finally been writing again, someone asks what pairing, I say it’s orig fic and the immediate disinterest is nearly palpable. There’s the continuous parade of posts talking about how no one ever writes about this, you never see books about that, I wish there was a book like this, with this, not with that, and every time I see those posts I become an incredible combination of sad and indignant.
Because these books do exist, these authors and publishing houses do exist. These editors and artists, they exist. I know because I’ve worked with them, I’ve emailed and tweeted them, I’ve published with them. These posts and this attitude are willfully ignoring and erasing the industry that’s closest to your own works. Do you think mainstream publishing and The Big Four, do you think they’d accept ABO? Do you think they’d accept triads with an ace member? Do you think they’d accept trans love stories? Sweeping epic fantasy where the main character being gay isn’t the driving force behind the plot? Or sweet and fluffy contemporary romance? No, they wouldn’t, because on the whole mainstream publishing, when it deigns to include us, is pretty much only interested in killing us.
Fandom needs to understand that there are queer spaces in publishing too, and we are not the enemy. It really sucks to try to fit in with the people you think will understand you best and have it made clear, time and time again, that you’re still too other for them.
And it is because of these explicitly queer spaces in publishing that the big New York houses are beginning to adjust and allow for more diversity in all aspects. We can make a difference, but we do it by reading and supporting what’s there, not denying it unless it comes from a pre-existing property.
I agree with all of this but I want to add that SO MANY READERS have no clue that smaller presses like that exist.
Smaller queer-friendly presses often have meager marketing budgets and have a harder time getting the word out. So rather than blame readers for not knowing that they exist, I’m going to say that all of us in the writing-publishing-reviewing chain need to do a better job of getting the word out to readers.
- Sarah
We’re here, I promise. Queer presses run by queer staffers publishing queer authors writing books with queer characters. We’re here to represent ourselves, to represent you. To give us all mirrors, role models, happiness and hope. Come visit sometime; we have cookies and no dead lesbians.
And you know what I’m just gonna get a little bit promo-y here (forgive me; I almost never do) because it’s actually @riptidepublishing‘s fifth birthday this month and they’re celebrating by discounting their entire catalog (link) by at least 50% (for books released prior to Sep 6 of this year). There are also over 50 titles at 99 cents. Full-length queer novels you can buy for literally less than a cup of cheap gas-station coffee. And if even 99 cents is currently out of your budget, then head over and check out the free stuff, because there’s some of that too.
Yeah but then again published fiction is never accessible. Too many of us can’t even afford to read your $1.99USD books on Amazon.
And this is where libraries come into play. You don’t even need to go to the library to borrow an ebook that can be read on your phone or computer; all you need is an internet or cell connection to download a book you can borrow for weeks. If you can get to the library, basically every public library in the US has computers you can use while you’re there to read on, and many public libraries now actually lend out e-readers themselves so you can take them home with you and read on your own time. (There are of course print books too, if you can get to a library but don’t have access to a device on which to read ebooks.)
And here’s the thing: little presses like ours? LOVE libraries. Not only are they critical to making queer books accessible to the folks who need and want them, but they’re also important customers for the publishers themselves. If your library doesn’t have something you want? Request it. Nine times out of ten they’ll get it for you, especially because small presses keep library purchase costs very low (a library can buy a book from us, to keep and lend out forever, for about a TENTH the price they can buy a one-year license to lend a book from a major publisher). And if you live somewhere very conservative where your library refuses to purchase a queer book on request, then there are also a large number of free queer libraries, some of which will even mail paperbacks Netflix-style, for free, to folks who need but cannot access the books any other way.
If you can’t afford to pick up CHANGE OF ADDRESS or any other queer original fic, please request it from your local library!
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2dGa00n
via IFTTT
rachelhaimowitz:
whitepplsucc:
rachelhaimowitz:
bisexual-books:
seananmcguire:
siancrosslin:
Apparently now is the time for uncomfortable truths because I’ve just had it.
How many posts have I seen that talk about fanfiction ‘setting the bar higher’ or about how ‘unoriginal’ published fiction is? How many posts have I seen where someone’s saying “I wish someone would write about X thing that subverts some popular trope!’?
Trans Cinderella? I have a friend who’s written that. Books about people who are actually, for real, bi or ace? My publisher has whole categories for those. How about ABO? Or werewolf stories that aren’t about sex and dominance? Hell, I’ve written that. Enemies-to-lovers? Mecha-wearing cops? These people are some of the most creative and welcoming and kind people I’ve ever met.
And nearly daily, I see fandom deride us like we’re somehow other. And look, I get it. In large part, I think a lot of the pushback is the inaccessibility of publishing in large houses, and the way that those large houses churn out the same tropes over and over again, while enforcing and maintaining the societal status quo.
But hey, those are large presses. Those are The Big Four. There are so many smaller, younger, more inclusive presses running around now, not even to mention self-publishing.
If I read a book that I absolutely love and I immediately develop a writer-crush on that author, 9 times out of 10 I say to myself “I wanna be friends” and then we become friends. It’s great. Authors have no chill about each other, none at all, I love it.
So when I finally caved and came to tumblr and started getting involved in fandom, it was like a bucket of cold water to the face when I found out, over and over, that fanfic writers and readers wanted nothing to do with me and my original fiction. I mention that I’ve finally been writing again, someone asks what pairing, I say it’s orig fic and the immediate disinterest is nearly palpable. There’s the continuous parade of posts talking about how no one ever writes about this, you never see books about that, I wish there was a book like this, with this, not with that, and every time I see those posts I become an incredible combination of sad and indignant.
Because these books do exist, these authors and publishing houses do exist. These editors and artists, they exist. I know because I’ve worked with them, I’ve emailed and tweeted them, I’ve published with them. These posts and this attitude are willfully ignoring and erasing the industry that’s closest to your own works. Do you think mainstream publishing and The Big Four, do you think they’d accept ABO? Do you think they’d accept triads with an ace member? Do you think they’d accept trans love stories? Sweeping epic fantasy where the main character being gay isn’t the driving force behind the plot? Or sweet and fluffy contemporary romance? No, they wouldn’t, because on the whole mainstream publishing, when it deigns to include us, is pretty much only interested in killing us.
Fandom needs to understand that there are queer spaces in publishing too, and we are not the enemy. It really sucks to try to fit in with the people you think will understand you best and have it made clear, time and time again, that you’re still too other for them.
And it is because of these explicitly queer spaces in publishing that the big New York houses are beginning to adjust and allow for more diversity in all aspects. We can make a difference, but we do it by reading and supporting what’s there, not denying it unless it comes from a pre-existing property.
I agree with all of this but I want to add that SO MANY READERS have no clue that smaller presses like that exist.
Smaller queer-friendly presses often have meager marketing budgets and have a harder time getting the word out. So rather than blame readers for not knowing that they exist, I’m going to say that all of us in the writing-publishing-reviewing chain need to do a better job of getting the word out to readers.
- Sarah
We’re here, I promise. Queer presses run by queer staffers publishing queer authors writing books with queer characters. We’re here to represent ourselves, to represent you. To give us all mirrors, role models, happiness and hope. Come visit sometime; we have cookies and no dead lesbians.
And you know what I’m just gonna get a little bit promo-y here (forgive me; I almost never do) because it’s actually @riptidepublishing‘s fifth birthday this month and they’re celebrating by discounting their entire catalog (link) by at least 50% (for books released prior to Sep 6 of this year). There are also over 50 titles at 99 cents. Full-length queer novels you can buy for literally less than a cup of cheap gas-station coffee. And if even 99 cents is currently out of your budget, then head over and check out the free stuff, because there’s some of that too.
Yeah but then again published fiction is never accessible. Too many of us can’t even afford to read your $1.99USD books on Amazon.
And this is where libraries come into play. You don’t even need to go to the library to borrow an ebook that can be read on your phone or computer; all you need is an internet or cell connection to download a book you can borrow for weeks. If you can get to the library, basically every public library in the US has computers you can use while you’re there to read on, and many public libraries now actually lend out e-readers themselves so you can take them home with you and read on your own time. (There are of course print books too, if you can get to a library but don’t have access to a device on which to read ebooks.)
And here’s the thing: little presses like ours? LOVE libraries. Not only are they critical to making queer books accessible to the folks who need and want them, but they’re also important customers for the publishers themselves. If your library doesn’t have something you want? Request it. Nine times out of ten they’ll get it for you, especially because small presses keep library purchase costs very low (a library can buy a book from us, to keep and lend out forever, for about a TENTH the price they can buy a one-year license to lend a book from a major publisher). And if you live somewhere very conservative where your library refuses to purchase a queer book on request, then there are also a large number of free queer libraries, some of which will even mail paperbacks Netflix-style, for free, to folks who need but cannot access the books any other way.
If you can’t afford to pick up CHANGE OF ADDRESS or any other queer original fic, please request it from your local library!
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2dGa00n
via IFTTT