Not many publishers for lesbian novels?

juniper · Jul 17, 2011

I looked around some but didn't see a thread about this. Sorry if it's been asked before.

I have a friend who's written a first draft and is starting revisions. It's a fantasy with lesbian main characters. She said there aren't lesbian fantasy novels out there - that when she googled for some, mostly what came up was the erotica form of fantasy, not the fantasy genre (elves and magic and such).

I think her writing is strong and that she could find a good home for it somewhere, but she says she's never seen lesbian novels by any major publisher. She says most of the fiction she's read has been published by Bella Books or Radcliffe.

She wants to try for print, rather than ebook, at first. I don't know much about gay/lesbian publishing. I think I read somewhere at AW that m/m books sell better than f/f but not sure where I saw that.

Are most gay/lesbian books ebooks rather than print now? Do any of the major publishers have gay/lesbian imprints, or is it mainly small press?

(Sorry if this comes across as naive/clumsy. I plead ignorance, not malevolence.)

Caitlin Black · Jul 17, 2011

I know there are a number of gay/lesbian erotica, erotic romance, and romance publishers out there (both print and ebook) but I've not really heard of fantasy gay/lesbian books either.

Which is a shame, because I've got a lesbian urban fantasy in the works.

I'm sure there's something out there, but I don't know where to look exactly.

Someone else will be along sooner or later to tell you what you need to know. I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to searching for publishers...

I'd like to think that every fantasy publisher would consider a novel with lesbian MCs if the writing is good. But I can't guarantee that.

veinglory · Jul 17, 2011

Compared to gay fiction, lesbian fiction is still quite strong on the shelf. There are normally two or more shelves of it in a Borders or B and N-- but you do need to look for it under non-fiction/lesbian. The most heavily shelved presses seem to be Bella and Bold Strokes. As usual the easiest way to see this is to check out a few stores. Lesbian fantasy has a pretty strong tradition mainly from literary and feminist presses rather than lesbian presses per se. My advice would be to look at this section at amazon and sort by most recent to see who is publishing a lot of this right now. It always pays to read the genre with an emphasis on new releases to get a feeling for where the market is. And not limited to lesbian presses which go through phases of not carrying fantasy and them embracing it again

Deleted member 42 · Jul 17, 2011

juniper said:
I have a friend who's written a first draft and is starting revisions. It's a fantasy with lesbian main characters. She said there aren't lesbian fantasy novels out there - that when she googled for some, mostly what came up was the erotica form of fantasy, not the fantasy genre (elves and magic and such).

There's lots of SF and F with lesbian main characters.

Diana Duane, Door Into series.

Elizabeth Lynn Northern Girl, various other books in other series

Nicola Griffith all her fiction has main characters who are lesbians

J. A. Pitts Black Blade Blues and sequel (I don't like the books, but the main character identifies as a lesbian, and the books appear popular)

These are sold by mainstream genre publishers of SF and F, like Tor and Ace, etc. and are shelved with SF and F.

Google almost anything with the word lesbian in it more often than not doesn't work terribly well.

Gale Haut · Jul 17, 2011

When I first researched gay SF & F, I had the sense that lesbian MCs were far more common without necessarily being labeled and sold in the LGBT section of the bookstore. But my experience doesn't necessarily make it so.

Regardless, I suggest she go through the traditional methods of publication unless she wants to market it as lesbian erotica.

Gale Haut · Jul 17, 2011

Here, I've compiled some resources for you...

http://ask.metafilter.com/159226/SFF-books-that-feature-lesbians-as-main-characters

And you might also want to check lamda winners at http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/

You can generally find out what agents support these published works in order to figure out who you need to query. Though, very well established agents can be a hard sell for new novices like myself and maybe your author friend.

juniper · Jul 17, 2011

Wow, that's a great resource, Gale. Thanks.

I've already copied/pasted Medievalist's recommendations to friend's FB messages. I'll send this on too.

I just looked at Lyrical Press's website (should she decide to try ebook). They have a short section they call GLBT but it looks to be limited to erotica or romance. They have 2 fantasy sections - Fantasy Romance and Fantasy Mainstream.

So, since Lyrical accepts lesbian fiction for their GLBT section, is it reasonable to assume they'd accept a Fantasy Romance that featured lesbian romance? Or is that a stretch? Does Fantasy Romance, by default, mean heterosexual?

I'm going to try to convince her to come in to this forum and speak for herself. I've mentioned AW to her but she seems unsure about joining.

veinglory · Jul 17, 2011

Why not start with presses that absolutely take lesbian fantasy, and have bookstore distribution? Bold Strokes being the most obvious example I can think of. They would pass the Macdonald test for most readers of this genre (heard of them, find their books in your nearest chain store. If you want the lesbian readership, this is still predominantly a paperback market.

mscelina · Jul 17, 2011

Just as an aside, if she wants to go the e-publication route, Aspen Mountain Press absolutely published lesbian fiction. We have three lesbian novels/novellas on our release schedule now through October.

Gale Haut · Jul 17, 2011

juniper said:
Wow, that's a great resource, Gale. Thanks.

I've already copied/pasted Medievalist's recommendations to friend's FB messages. I'll send this on too.

I just looked at Lyrical Press's website (should she decide to try ebook). They have a short section they call GLBT but it looks to be limited to erotica or romance. They have 2 fantasy sections - Fantasy Romance and Fantasy Mainstream.

So, since Lyrical accepts lesbian fiction for their GLBT section, is it reasonable to assume they'd accept a Fantasy Romance that featured lesbian romance? Or is that a stretch? Does Fantasy Romance, by default, mean heterosexual?

I'm going to try to convince her to come in to this forum and speak for herself. I've mentioned AW to her but she seems unsure about joining.

She's more than welcome to join. She can put my name down as a referral. And as for your question about a default for a genre... I'm going to say no, but then she might still get rejected on that basis; I doubt they would admit that reasoning, of course.

Unimportant · Jul 17, 2011

Your friend can find a list of publishers of lesbian fiction here.

You can find lesbian fantasy/SF books from some of the mainstream publishers, but the ones I've read usually don't have a romantic subplot. If your friend is writing lesbian fantasy-romance or SF-romance, it will probably be a harder sell to Tor/DAW/Baen.

Two small presses known for their GLBT fantasy/SF are Small Beer Press and Lethe Press. Some of the lesbian small presses such as Intaglio, PD Publishing, Bold Strokes Books, Bedazzled Ink, and Regal Crest have also published lesbian F/SF.

juniper · Jul 17, 2011

Thanks for all the info. I'm passing it all on. (Really, my friend does exist! It's not me pretending to "have a friend who ..." .)

This is her first novel and she's been bringing parts of it to our critique group. She said she pretty much only reads lesbian fiction now so I wonder why she hasn't come across lesbian fantasy before? Or maybe it's lesbian elves she hasn't seen before, not sure. Anyway, I know she'll be grateful for this info.

Her ms definitely has a romance aspect to it. Not SF, it's elves and humans and other beings.

Unimportant · Jul 17, 2011

There are a few authors who write lesbian fantasy for the small lesbian presses -- Jane Fletcher and L-J Baker are two of the better known names -- but it often falls between the cracks. Fantasy readers in general seem to shy away from books with lesbians having a romance, and lesbian romance readers rarely like spec fic.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 17, 2011

Honestly, even as main characters, lesbians in SF and F are not all that rare.

http://lesbiansciencefiction.com/

Mutive · Jul 18, 2011

Let me second that, aside from presses specifically for lesbian fiction/romance, that most science fiction and fantasy publishers will use non-straight protagonists.

I'd ask which elements are the strongest. Is this basically a fantasy novel that has a lesbian protagonist, or is it a lesbian romance with fantasy elements? If it's the first, I'd go mainstream fantasy publishers...if it's the second, I'd probably try to find a more niche publisher who'd press it as a romance vs. a fantasy.

Ardent Kat · Jul 19, 2011

Your friend should find an agent rather than a publisher. The agent would have a much better idea of which publisher to market her book to, and how best to present said book.

AgentQuery.com has a filter for "Gay & Lesbian" so you can search for agents who specifically represent gay fiction. If the story is also SF/F, she could just use the "G&L" filter, then look for agents who represent fantasy/SF as well.

veinglory · Jul 19, 2011

I think fantasy readers aren't that worked up about gay and lesbian characters. Major fantasy presses have certain published a great many of them over the years and up to the present day. I doubt the audience sharing wanting/willing to read about lesbians doesn't differ than much from the proportion wanting/willing to read about bunyips or stories set in Canada etc.

LindsayM · Jul 21, 2011

Juniper, as I mentioned in another post, have your friend give Malinda Lo's agent a try. Colleen Lindsay is another wonderful LGBT-friendly agent.

literallylesbian.blogspot.com

Deleted member 42 · Jul 21, 2011

LindsayM said:
Juniper, as I mentioned in another post, have your friend give Malinda Lo's agent a try. Colleen Lindsay is another wonderful LGBT-friendly agent.

literallylesbian.blogspot.com

Colleen stopped agenting some months ago.

LindsayM · Jul 22, 2011

Medievalist said:
Colleen stopped agenting some months ago.

You're kidding! Oh, that's so, so sad. She was fab.

EndlessDestiny · Aug 29, 2011

I've also got some lesbian fantasy and urban fantasy. One so far seems YA but the other I'm not sure. I just don't want them to be shelved in the lgbt section if they ever get published because I feel they wouldn't sell as well.

juniper · Sep 2, 2011

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll send them on to her. She's finished the first draft and is editing. Not sure if she wants to go agented or try to submit directly to publishers that take mss. That's a bridge to cross a bit later.

Not many publishers for lesbian novels?

juniper

Always curious.

Caitlin Black

Wild one

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Deleted member 42

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

juniper

Always curious.

veinglory

volitare nequeo

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

juniper

Always curious.

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

Deleted member 42

Mutive

Blissfully Clueless

Ardent Kat

Kill your television

veinglory

volitare nequeo

LindsayM

Deleted member 42

LindsayM

EndlessDestiny

juniper

Always curious.