Why is it so hard to find either agents or publishers prepared to take on gay fiction in the UK?
Replies
If you do end up with a Romance rather than a Fantasy, don't be afraid of the epubs. Many have lines dedicated to Gay Romance, (and erotica) including Carina (which is the epublishing arm of Harlequin Mills&Boon) and Samhain. They often refer to it with the initials, so M/M or F/F, or maybe more letters if that's what you're writing ;)
For the love of everything, don't do any investigating at work or when nuns are likely to walk behind you - the epubs do Erotica, not that EL James rubbish: *erotica*. The covers reflect this *fans self*.
Romance is a strong area in e-publishing and the big houses know their audience well so if your work IS suitable, it can be a good choice (but as I mentioned before, there are an awful lot of people who've started their own press and think selling 50 copies is amazing). Another upside to the epubs is that they take works of all lengths, short stories, novellas, so if writing Gay Romance is your thing, plenty of opportunities.
Downside? You will need to be prepared to do promotion, so maintaining a website, blog etc is a must. That said, the Romance epubs are a community, so plenty of support and opportunities to do blog tours and find guest posters for yours.
Of course, this may not be of any use to you, and if you have a fantasy with gay characters in it (with or without a romantic subplot), that's probably just fantasy. :)
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions. I'll look into all of them, and work out what my story's genre really is! Gay romance maybe? I have gay characters in my fantasy stories, and that's what set me off on this track. If anyone has more ideas about where to go with this, I'd love to hear them.
I don't think gay literature is a genre as far as agents are concerned, so they probably wouldn't mention it. I'm sure there are bookshops which have Gay Literature sections but I've never seen one and I think there can be such a thing as making oneself too niche.
Consider your reader - who are they?
Are they me, who reads all the people I mentioned above along with anything which would get reviewed by a broadsheet because I like a good story, well written?
You mention you write fantasy, so maybe you should just classify as fantasy. Are you going to be enjoyed by George R R Martin's fans? IIRC, there are some gay characters in GOT. I can think of another fantasy book published this very week (which I can't name because of spoilers) which has themes in this area. Stacia Kane has gay characters; in her Downside Chronicles books being gay is normal and gay marriage is legal.
Or, is this something only people with an interest in gay literature will enjoy? What prohibits it from being general/fantasy fiction?
Still not sure? The crunch question: I am in the bookshop and I want to find your book. Where do I go? General Fiction, Fantasy/Sci-Fi or Gay Literature? That's your answer.
I'm not going to go on the happy-happy train and pretend there's universal acceptance for the LGBT community because there isn't; strides have been made but there are still some strong pockets of resistance out there especially in the SFF arena (and for those types of people it's worth remembering the phrase "Homophobia is the fear men will treat you the way you treat women"). That said, I don't feel it's the norm that having a gay MC or gay themes in a work is an automatic reject even in the sci-fi/fantasy genres.
There's enough stacked against you already, don't add to it. Query general/literary/fantasy agents (whichever are appropriate).
However, if you are definitely writing Gay Literature and it cannot be anything else, you will probably do better to seek out specialist publishers and submit directly to them (but if you do want an agent, go through that list before you start on the publishers). Don't forget to check out epublishers - Musa have a LGBT imprint for instance - but research a LOT before you send your work to them. There are many which started life as "I can't get a publisher so I'll start my own press!".
If you do end up with a Romance rather than a Fantasy, don't be afraid of the epubs. Many have lines dedicated to Gay Romance, (and erotica) including Carina (which is the epublishing arm of Harlequin Mills&Boon) and Samhain. They often refer to it with the initials, so M/M or F/F, or maybe more letters if that's what you're writing ;)
For the love of everything, don't do any investigating at work or when nuns are likely to walk behind you - the epubs do Erotica, not that EL James rubbish: *erotica*. The covers reflect this *fans self*.
Romance is a strong area in e-publishing and the big houses know their audience well so if your work IS suitable, it can be a good choice (but as I mentioned before, there are an awful lot of people who've started their own press and think selling 50 copies is amazing). Another upside to the epubs is that they take works of all lengths, short stories, novellas, so if writing Gay Romance is your thing, plenty of opportunities.
Downside? You will need to be prepared to do promotion, so maintaining a website, blog etc is a must. That said, the Romance epubs are a community, so plenty of support and opportunities to do blog tours and find guest posters for yours.
Of course, this may not be of any use to you, and if you have a fantasy with gay characters in it (with or without a romantic subplot), that's probably just fantasy. :)
Good luck.
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions. I'll look into all of them, and work out what my story's genre really is! Gay romance maybe? I have gay characters in my fantasy stories, and that's what set me off on this track. If anyone has more ideas about where to go with this, I'd love to hear them.
I don't think gay literature is a genre as far as agents are concerned, so they probably wouldn't mention it. I'm sure there are bookshops which have Gay Literature sections but I've never seen one and I think there can be such a thing as making oneself too niche.
Consider your reader - who are they?
Are they me, who reads all the people I mentioned above along with anything which would get reviewed by a broadsheet because I like a good story, well written?
You mention you write fantasy, so maybe you should just classify as fantasy. Are you going to be enjoyed by George R R Martin's fans? IIRC, there are some gay characters in GOT. I can think of another fantasy book published this very week (which I can't name because of spoilers) which has themes in this area. Stacia Kane has gay characters; in her Downside Chronicles books being gay is normal and gay marriage is legal.
Or, is this something only people with an interest in gay literature will enjoy? What prohibits it from being general/fantasy fiction?
Still not sure? The crunch question: I am in the bookshop and I want to find your book. Where do I go? General Fiction, Fantasy/Sci-Fi or Gay Literature? That's your answer.
I'm not going to go on the happy-happy train and pretend there's universal acceptance for the LGBT community because there isn't; strides have been made but there are still some strong pockets of resistance out there especially in the SFF arena (and for those types of people it's worth remembering the phrase "Homophobia is the fear men will treat you the way you treat women"). That said, I don't feel it's the norm that having a gay MC or gay themes in a work is an automatic reject even in the sci-fi/fantasy genres.
There's enough stacked against you already, don't add to it. Query general/literary/fantasy agents (whichever are appropriate).
However, if you are definitely writing Gay Literature and it cannot be anything else, you will probably do better to seek out specialist publishers and submit directly to them (but if you do want an agent, go through that list before you start on the publishers). Don't forget to check out epublishers - Musa have a LGBT imprint for instance - but research a LOT before you send your work to them. There are many which started life as "I can't get a publisher so I'll start my own press!".