(no subject)

[alg]

Selling Books with GLBTQ Characters

Why can't you sell your "gay" book into the mainstream? Here are some thoughts on it.

Comments

NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

I attended the RT convention in Daytona Beach last month. While there I was tracked down by a staff member of one of the NY publishing houses and questioned about my M/M erotic romances, specifially, A BIT OF ROUGH, a 2005 Passionate Plume Finalist for the RWA erotic chapter. This person loved M/M stories, understood their appeal to staright women and was actively seeking supporting facts and numbers to show her CEO that the next big market was going to be M/M erotic romances and that they should get on it. I call my novels Manlove. It bridges the space between gay fiction (written for men mostly by men) and slash (written mostly by ametuers-some very good, some not so good). Staright women can walk into a store and ask for a 'manlove' romance without feeling as uncomfortable as they might feel asking for gay fiction. It's all about preception and what people are at ease with. I think there will be a market for it in the near future in all genres. At least I hope so, became I LOVE writing it.
Laura Baumbach
http://www.laurabaumbach.com

Re: NY publishers

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

At the gay bookstore I worked at the books you refer to as Manlove do okay but most of the men prefer the WehoMan titles.

Re: NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm sure men do, but women don't. And having a more romantic story hasn't stopped men from buying my books. It's probably the highly explicit and frequent sex that attracts all of them.

Re: NY publishers

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm sure men do read you. Some women have been known to read me. I don't quite understand why.

Re: NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

LOL! I don't try to understand it. I'm just grateful someone likes my work enough to read it.

Re: NY publishers

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing about Demon Under Glass now.

Nice sales. I just checked the Ingram site. Kudos.

Re: NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

You can check my sells with Ingram on line? How? Where?

Re: NY publishers

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

Yep, i can check any book in their database.

Re: NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

Wish I could do that. I'd like to see those numbers! A check system against reports. I'm an untrusting soul.
I've formed a group of M/M writers to pool our cash to run an ad on the Advocate.com site soon to appeal to a wider gay audience. If you're interested, or any other M/M erotic romance writer that reads this, check out manloveromance.com

Re: NY publishers

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

How can I join the site?

Re: NY publishers

[lauralb.livejournal.com]

email me at sensualwriter.laura@gmail.com

Re: NY publishers

[duskpeterson.livejournal.com]

"Some women have been known to read me. I don't quite understand why."

*Blink, blink, blink.* You're getting published by Torquere and Cleis, and you don't understand why females are reading you?

Speaking of genre stereotypes (or the breaking thereof), I came back from Con-txt with a stack of two dozen Badboy volumes. Someone had placed them in the Swap room.

How did Gaylaxicon go this year, by the way?