Publisher cancels contract because author is gay

Wow. Um. I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing the claim, but is that it? A line in an author bio? There had to be something else to get such a big reaction.

Thread on Cedar Fort: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114672

Samsonet said:

Wow. Um. I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing the claim, but is that it? A line in an author bio? There had to be something else to get such a big reaction.

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I think it has something to do with some Christian retailers not stocking a book by someone who lives their life contrary to Christian beliefs. Because, you know, that's very Christian of them.

This is an author I would like to see get the attention and support given a certain goodreads newbie over the last few days.

This is a Latter Day Saints publisher that distributes to a lot of Christian bookstores and gets a lot of their sales there.

But I have no idea why they would contract a book knowing the one of the authors was gay and somehow just assume he would hide that fact for their convenience.

Alitriona said:

I think it has something to do with some Christian retailers not stocking a book by someone who lives their life contrary to Christian beliefs. Because, you know, that's very Christian of them.

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Oh. Well. If it's a Christian publisher, then I guess it would be hypocritical to publish it, wouldn't it?

Though that doesn't excuse abusing the author.

Wow, how ridiculous. I'm glad the authors stood up for themselves. I hate to say it, but I don't find this terribly surprising coming from an LDS publisher in Utah.

I'm familiar with Michael Jensen. I haven't kept up with his career lately, but he's always struck me as a decent guy. I'm pretty sure he used to be the editor of afterelton.com (now thebacklot.com), and he's written a lot about LGBT media. So the publishers have no excuse for entering into a contract with him if they had a problem with his sexual orientation. He's hardly closeted.

All I can trust myself to type is a horrified "Wow."

Samsonet said:

Oh. Well. If it's a Christian publisher, then I guess it would be hypocritical to publish it, wouldn't it?

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I don't think your conclusion follows from your premise. There are plenty of non-homophobic Christians.

No, I meant...

Nevermind, I don't think I'm mature enough to explain. I'll leave the thread now.

Seems like this is an attempt on behalf of a particular religious group (read: nutjobs) to make themselves irrelevant.

I do not have a problem with this tactic, but wish the author(s) well.

Samsonet said:

Oh. Well. If it's a Christian publisher, then I guess it would be hypocritical to publish it, wouldn't it?

Though that doesn't excuse abusing the author.

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Depends on their take on Christianity. Not all Christians are the same. But the term "Christian bookstore" does usually conjure up images of shops that cater to more evangelical, even fundamentalist, Christian mindsets.

Something does seems odd to me about all this. I would assume that a Mormon press that has concerns about its books being acceptable to Christian markets must have some pretty stringent guidelines about content. I'm assuming if this book was acceptable for publication by this press, it was a book that toed the conservative Mormon/Evangelical line in terms of content, morals and themes. It seems a bit odd to write a YA book that appeals to this market in the first place and then to be gobsmacked that they'd have an issue with an openly gay author.

It sounds like the publisher misled them about its agenda or about the sorts of markets they wanted to sell the book to. I have no idea why they'd do this. The contract should have made the publisher's expectations crystal clear.

Indeed. And FWIW they put out good books. I own several of them. This is not some little fly by night small press. They should have well established protocols from reconciling their mission and their business. But I guess either they don't, or this editor is not following them.

veinglory said:

This is a Latter Day Saints publisher that distributes to a lot of Christian bookstores and gets a lot of their sales there.

But I have no idea why they would contract a book knowing the one of the authors was gay and somehow just assume he would hide that fact for their convenience.

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I think it would be more accurate to say they're an LDS publisher who gets most of their sales at LDS bookstores. I don't know that you could find their books in other Christian bookstores.

I'm not saying the situation was handled right, but there's a part of me that thinks there was a mistake on both sides. The publisher should have been aware of who their authors were and not signed them to begin with if they can't support them in general as their authors (rather than if they hide some aspect of who they are), but the authors should have been aware that this publisher might not be the best fit for them. It works for both sides; publishers don't publish books by authors they don't support, authors don't approach publishers they'd be embarrassed to be published by. Sort of like the author mentioned in another thread who didn't want to be submitted to anyone who had published a book on OJ Simpson. Authors (and their representatives) have a responsibility to see if they have a conflict with the foundational principles of an organization they're partnering with. If so, look elsewhere.

(Again, please don't mistake any of this as excusing how the authors were treated or how the situation was handled. None of this is in defense of the editor/publisher.)

Jon M said:

Seems like this is an attempt on behalf of a particular religious group (read: nutjobs) to make themselves irrelevant.

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Not quite. It's an attempt, at least in the minds of the publishers, to keep themselves relevant for their target readership. About that readership, I'd prefer not to comment further.

caw

So, who has picked this up and where can I pre-order a copy or ten? (Not only is this despicable, the book sounds really good. Thanks to this scandal, they'll sell at least one copy that wouldn't have been sold otherwise... insane.)

... not cool.
The author must feel really crummy b/c of this.

This is just devastating. I could understand why the publisher wanted to back out (which is a shitty reason to begin with) but to mislead the author, knowing his bio and ASSUMING he'd omit that part is clearly the publisher's fault, not the author's.

Everything happens for a reason, who knows, maybe he'll find an even better publisher that supports him completely. That would be the best ending to this story. And I have a good feeling that will happen.

Samsonet said:

Oh. Well. If it's a Christian publisher, then I guess it would be hypocritical to publish it, wouldn't it?

Though that doesn't excuse abusing the author.

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Parametric said:

I don't think your conclusion follows from your premise. There are plenty of non-homophobic Christians.

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Yup. And there are plenty of gay Christians out there too. And Christians who are supporters of gay rights.

Personally I'm loathe to blame anyone's religious beliefs for their actions as it tends to escalte into entire religions being blanketed.

In this case it's not a religion having an issue with an author, it's an individual publishing house. That said, if the publishing house states that the reason is a religious one then that's a pretty crappy excuse for treating anyone like that.

I can see this being in the submission guidelines for what the publishing house takes, but this should not affect the author's personal preference

Please note that the other author of the book is also LDS. This isn't a "Mormon" problem. It's an asshole problem. The owner of the press behaved like an asshole.

Some people seek to justify their prejudices, bigotry, and even fears through the convenience of religious teachings (however interpreted). Fortunately, many thinking humans can see that it is still prejudice, still bigotry, and still fear. And it's a pathetic way to promote the overarching intent of those teachings.

Is this really legal in the US?

Oh, easily. After all, this was a private business transaction that did not involve a state or federal agency. Authors are considered contractors, not employees, and contractors are much lower on the legal protection ladder. The publisher's rant wasn't well thought out because it makes his whole company look like douchebags, but there's probably little legal incentive for the authors to sue. Damages against a book that hasn't been published? Forced publication, with a publisher who hates the book now and won't support it?

The authors are better off leveraging the publicity to get a better deal from a sympathetic publisher.

Parametric said:

I don't think your conclusion follows from your premise. There are plenty of non-homophobic Christians.

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And there are tens of millions who believe homosexuality is a sin. No fundamentalist Christian publisher is going to buy books from homosexual writers, and no fundamentalist bookstore is going to stock such books.

There's nothing wrong with this. You may assume your belief about homosexuality is the correct one, but you have no right to say someone else can't believe otherwise.

Freedom either works both ways, or it doesn't work at all. Anyone who thinks LDS, or any other Christian publisher should buy books from gays, or that Christian bookstores should stock them, is living in la-la land.

No one should force you to go against your beliefs, and no one should force them to go against their beliefs.

There's something seriously sick about a society that says "something as innocuous as being gay", or that says we can have freedom of religion, as long as that religion does what we want, thinks the way we think, and goes against what they believe God is teaching them.

Seriously, seriously sick.