How Straight Mainstream Publishing Screws Gay Authors

Here’s something interesting that I saw yesterday in a group for LGBTQ authors. It’s not quite your run of the mill screw job that we usually get from mainstream publishing and straight authors, but it is clever…in a sneaky way.  

Apparently, a straight liberal woman author who is well known for a series of books is number 1 in an LGBTQ book category on Amazon. How did she get there? She’s with a large mainstream publisher, she’s highly vocal about her liberal politics, and she often includes minor gay characters in her work. She’s known for this. 

However, her books are NOT considered LGBTQ, and they are NOT real LGBTQ content. These are mainstream books, with mainstream content, written for a mainstream audience, that sometimes have an LGBTQ character. 

And yet her publisher classifies her book as LGBTQ on Amazon, and she’s number one in this particular LGBTQ category. 

Interesting. 

I have links, but I’m not posting them. It’s not the first time mainstream publishing has done something sneaky and it won’t be the last. I’m just pointing out that if you are writing mainstream fiction and you happen to have a gay character, that does NOT make it an LGBTQ book. That makes it a mainstream heteronormative book with a gay character. And I don’t care how liberal you are or how may gay friends you have. 

US Marines Mark Pride Month

Now here’s something more positive, and much more uplifting than what I posted above. 

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