Becky: I think all the gloom and doom is self-fulfilling and self-defeating. We need to stop acting like people don't read, and saying that people don't read, and especially that people don't read GLBT fiction. The readers are out there. They are starving for more good fiction. But publishing is a tough business and marketing is difficult to niche markets. We need to constantly look for new solutions for that (and I think a lot of writers are finding inventive ways to use the Internet to find new readers). But it's simplistic to blame publishers. Publishers are not actively trying to ignore good writers or scheming to thwart them. I see manuscripts all the time that are poorly edited and poorly presented. That does a writer no good. I read online comments by writers who act as if publishers should be seeking them out and begging to publish their (usually unwritten) manuscripts. It doesn't work that way and really, it never has. It's a tough business, but it isn't publishers, editors, or other writers who are our competition. It's instant-gratification media like TV, DVDs, or online and electronic games. That's because the technology is all relatively fresh, but it won't be new and beguiling forever. There's something satisfying about holding the written word in one's hand--in a book, in a magazine, in a newspaper. And there's something exciting about letting our imaginations and minds do a little of the work, as reading requires. It may take a while, but people will rediscover those pleasures.
Jim (to Becky's answer): Hear, hear.
Timmy: While niche markets are tough to get to, it isn't only GLBT publishing that is suffering. The book world in general is facing major changes with new technologies. We live in a very buzz-conscious and internet-centric society. I'm not sure that GLBT publishers and authors have tapped into those arenas as effectively as they could. I think that the authors have done a better job of this. Also, I do agree with Becky, that the readers are out there. Are they getting what they want? That might be a question that isn't asked often enough.
Timothy: I try not to have an opinion. I'm just a writer. But maybe it is time for someone to write something new and different in GLBT fiction. Maybe we'll do it, and maybe we won't. We'll keep on writing what we want to write and, if someone still wants to publish our work, that will be fine.
