Mainstream Publishing Is Now Slamming and Appropriating Gay Men, Ryan Field Books
About 15 years ago when I started to get contracts for writing digital books, I came across an interesting gay male author. You have to understand that by this time I had already written for and been published by all the gay presses from Alyson Books to German presses like Bruno Gmunder. I was used to meeting and connecting with gay male authors. No big deal.
So this gay male author I met that first year I started publishing e-books was helpful, courteous, friendly, and even offered advice. He sent me photos of himself and he was a nice-looking guy. I thought he was a little pushy at first, but not harmful in any way. Well, was I ever wrong? It turned out, months later, that this gay male author writing gay male fiction was really a woman. She was faking the entire thing. It was all an act. She even faked it to the point of hiring a gay man to go to book signings who pretended to be her. It was as diabolical as it was ingenious. I forget how it all came out, and I’d rather not mention names, but at the time it blew the m/m romance genre off the charts. For weeks, this was all anyone talked about. But that wasn’t the end of it. There was more to come. The lies and fakery from straight women writing gay fiction never seemed to end.
As for me, I learned a good lesson. Never get too friendly too soon with anyone. And don’t trust other authors. I also started to notice peculiar things in the m/m romance genre. There were women writing gay romance novels who had blogs with titles like “Chicks with Dicks.” I kept my mouth shut. No one seemed to think it was insulting to gay men, or even wrong. And if a gay male author dared to question it, the women would attack him hard and fast. They were brutal in their attacks.
As a side note, I’d like to make it clear that I’m not talking about fans of gay male romance. I’m not talking about readers. There are, indeed, many straight women reading gay fiction and I’ve always had wonderful experiences with them. I even published an anthology about women who love to read gay romance. They’re good people. So I don’t want anyone to mistake this post as a rant against readers. This is a rant about publishers, ambitious authors, and even literary agents.
Because gay romance has hit the mainstream and the insults and the cultural appropriation toward gay men are even worse now. Glancing back, Brokeback Mountain, did nothing for gay authors. It hurt us more than helped us. It only spawned a new generation of vicious, ambitious, women who found out there’s money in writing gay fiction. But it’s cultural appropriation no matter how they twist it and turn it. No other marginalized group would sit back and take it like gay men do. And it is partly our fault because we let them do it.
One book that is often cited by booksellers and publishing executives as a turning point for the genre is “Red, White & Royal Blue,” by Casey McQuiston. A love story about the Prince of Wales and the American president’s son, it was published in 2019 by St. Martin’s Griffin, with an initial print run of 15,000 copies. Its publisher said it now has more than 1.3 million copies in print across formats.
Here’s more. The author, Casey McQuiston, is a woman writing gay content. And she’s profiting quite nicely from that gay content. I think she writes about gay women, too, but I’m not sure if she is a gay woman. She refers to herself, safely, as bisexual and queer. So why isn’t she writing bisexual books about queer women? We all know the answer to that.
She even has a wiki page all to herself. But I’m not singling McQuiston out either. She’s only one of many who’ve been stealing gay culture for years now. I have a feeling there will be more on this topic. And please don’t tell me that anyone can write about anything unless you are prepared to tell black authors that white authors should be writing their stories, too.
Appropriation is a thing now, and it’s going to continue to catch on. Remember the debacle with the Stonewall Movie.
The Straight Pride Parade
Don’t Be Afraid of Virginia’s Woolf
Once Upon a Castle by Ryan Field
A Different Kind of Southern Love Story
What readers are saying about “Uncertainty”
Amazon
“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”
![Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zNy11g1lL.jpg)
What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”
In paperback or e-book. #gayromance #Wednesday
Altered Parts
![Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41kq7EeIZUL._SY346_.jpg)
A Different Kind of Southern Love Story
What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”
In paperback or e-book. #gayromance #Wednesday
This blog post is the worst business decision ever Ryan! What were you thinking?NEWSFLASH: Having a dick doesn't make you a good writer, and it doesn't make you the one who decides what women can write or who can publish their work. You can whinge on using buzzwords like 'appropriation' if that makes you feel better, but women who write M/M have been down this road so many times before. We know the playbook of guys like you. We don't care what you think of the women who write M/M. If you don't like the books, don't read them, it's quite simple. Trashing authors you are jealous of in your blog post is childish and unprofessional. No author owes you their gender or orientation. It's personal, not a marketing tag. If someone isn't comfortable sharing their gender or orientation while publishing that is their business. Women authors don't need to beg publishers to print their work because many of them run their own LLC. They don't need to get past men, or industry gatekeepers to publish. The books and the quality of writing speak for themselves. You say you're not disrespecting readers – BUT YOU ARE. You are showing readers your true face and that you don't believe women should write about gay relationships. 60% of readers of M/M are women. You are showing these readers that you are disingenuous. You are not only disrespecting them but the female authors they love and who they've supported for years. Please don't be foolish enough to ever believe that readers will stick by you when you've shown your ass in such an appalling way. Readers CARE about authors whose books they love. They take notice and avoid those who behave like this.Oh, and while I have your attention – one of the reasons why your books don't sell is that the covers are amateur, poorly designed, and cheap looking. I can see by the number of covers you posted on this blog post, that this post was created on purpose to cause drama and get eyes on your books. Other guys have tried to create drama by abusing women who write M/M before and where are they now… It didn't turn out too well for some of them because their behaviour alienated readers.
This blog post is the worst business decision ever Ryan! What were you thinking?NEWSFLASH: Having a dick doesn't make you a good writer, and it doesn't make you the one who decides what women can write or who can publish their work. You can whinge on using buzzwords like 'appropriation' if that makes you feel better, but women who write M/M have been down this road so many times before. We know the playbook of guys like you. We don't care what you think of the women who write M/M. If you don't like the books, don't read them, it's quite simple. Trashing authors you are jealous of in your blog post is childish and unprofessional. No author owes you their gender or orientation. It's personal, not a marketing tag. If someone isn't comfortable sharing their gender or orientation while publishing that is their business. Women authors don't need to beg publishers to print their work because many of them run their own LLC. They don't need to get past men, or industry gatekeepers to publish. The books and the quality of writing speak for themselves. You say you're not disrespecting readers – BUT YOU ARE. You are showing readers your true face and that you don't believe women should write about gay relationships. 60% of readers of M/M are women. You are showing these readers that you are disingenuous. You are not only disrespecting them but the female authors they love and who they've supported for years. Please don't be foolish enough to ever believe that readers will stick by you when you've shown your ass in such an appalling way. Readers CARE about authors whose books they love. They take notice and avoid those who behave like this.Oh, and while I have your attention – one of the reasons why your books don't sell is that the covers are amateur, poorly designed, and cheap looking. I can see by the number of covers you posted on this blog post, that this post was created on purpose to cause drama and get eyes on your books. Other guys have tried to create drama by abusing women who write M/M before and where are they now… It didn't turn out too well for some of them because their behaviour alienated readers.