This past week, I finally stopped a couple years of Hamlet-worthy waffling and joined the RWA. The final nudge over the edge for me was the fact that a bunch of us gay romance writers are looking at forming a special interest chapter within the organization, and of course in order to join such a chapter I would have to be a member of the RWA in the first place. But that wasn't the only reason I joined. I had plenty of others, not least of which was the fact that I'm hoping it will in some way help to strengthen my career as an author.
Here's the thing. I love writing. I want nothing more than to be a full-time author, and be able to support myself and my family on manlove alone. Now, I realize that this is pretty unlikely, not least because gay erotic romance is not really a mainstream genre. It just isn't, no matter how much those of us who love it might like it to be. I would settle for being able to go part time at the EDJ, honestly, but I want to make my writing career as robust as it can possibly be.
The question is, how do I do that? Write the best books I can, sure, that goes without saying. But then what? Should I try to land an agent? What would an agent do for me, if NY remains as uninterested in gay erotic romance as they have been in the past? How do I get the most out of RWA and make sure it works as hard for me as it does for its authors of straight romance in mass market print? So I guess I don't really know exactly what to do, but I am trying my best.
So what do you, the readers of this blog, know about the RWA? Do you care anything about it? What about the big New York print houses? Do you wish they would publish some real gay romance, or would you rather get your manlove fix from smaller presses like Samhain, Alyson, Cleis or others, or online from the epubs? I figure if I am not sure how best to manage my career, a good place to start might be to ask you, the readers, what you think. What do you read? Where do you get it? I have to work within the publishing business, sure, but the people who buy the books are the ones supporting the whole thing, so I want to know what y'all think!
Please pardon the stream-of-consciousness ramblings. Just be glad I spared you the essay written in my head the other day while running, on the similarities and differences between Radiohead and Sigur Ros and why I like to listen to music in langagues I don't understand *g*
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1 comment:
Ally,
Honestly, when I found this Genre, just recently, I had NO idea it even existed. Naive? Maybe..but I had no idea. When I found it and gave it a try, it opened my eyes to a whole new world, I'm still new in it. When you ask us, your readers for an opinion, I can only give you mine. I have no idea what or who RWA is. Do I wish NY would give this GENRE a chance, well yes I do, but how much would they edit? How much will they take from you the author? Or give to you? What's beneficial to you? As a fan, I'll go where your books are and buy them, no matter where that may be. I think that the m/m fiction authors need more of a spot light, more marketing...and then you can say the hell with NY and let the smaller presses who've done nothing but help the authors out, keep all the business...but, i'm just a fan...
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