When I booked to do this blog, I was going to do a write up of the RNA Christmas party, but plenty of people have reported back on that so I decided to muse about a conversation I’d had just last weekend over lunch with two fellow authors. How can we expand our relatively small part – historical – of a growing but still relatively small genre – GLBT romance?
I’m worried that when we promote, through all the usual social media from facebook to yahoo groups, we’re promoting to the same, small audience. Often we’re promoting to each other. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – most of us authors want to keep an eye out for new books to read and the core audience of avid readers should be valued and cosseted. They’re our life blood.
But I’m convinced there’s a bigger market. Look at the success of Mary Renault’s books or Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy. Look at how many people watchedBrokebackMountain. Think about all the fans of boybands who go crazy when there’s the slightest hint of romantic interaction (real or imagined) between the band members. Or the ladies of a certain age (classic romance readers!) who go all gooey at John Barrowman concerts when he talks about his partner Scott. How do we get these potential readers to know about our books?
Well, there’s the question and if I could answer it effectively I’d be very rich. I’m sure that attending events or being members of writing organisations which are not primarily for writers of GLBT books must help. It gets our names and our genre ‘out there’, hopefully reaching new readers with the help of the accompanying promo opportunities these organisations provide. Being alert to things which are outside our usual run of things and being brave enough to take advantage of them – posting at a different yahoo group, a chance to do a reading at a library, getting an article into a trade magazine, etc – could and should be things we look out for.
But could we be doing more, and is it something we could be doing more effectively together? Who’s up for making 2012 the year we push the boundaries out?
The Macaronis 
December 3, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Well, you know I’m with you on that one.
December 4, 2011 at 9:18 am
If only we could work out how, we’d be unstoppable!
December 4, 2011 at 7:30 am
I’m convinced it will only happen when one of the mainstream romance publishers starts doing m/m. I just keep hoping Mills and Boon start a m/m line. I’m convinced it will happen eventually, the only question is when.
December 4, 2011 at 9:20 am
You could well be right. No sign of it yet, though. What about inviting a Mills and Boon rep to the next UK Meet?
December 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm
That sounds like a brilliant idea!
December 4, 2011 at 8:32 am
I think the historical and mystery m/m stand the best chance of breaking out to a more mainstream audience, but if Harlequin did start publishing m/m romance, that could reach more readers too.
Buying paperback copies of m/m stories and donating them to local libraries might be one way of increasing awareness.
I think you’re right about reaching out to different sectors of the market. E-readers will be the gift of choice again this Christmas – apparently – so there’ll be plenty more potential readers out there for our mostly e-pubbed genre 🙂
December 4, 2011 at 9:24 am
I think the libraries idea is a great one. Must put that on my 2012 to-do list!
December 4, 2011 at 10:04 am
I do wonder if we’re trying to conquer the mainstream from the wrong angle. Instead of demanding that they accept us, how about encouraging those who already have a way in, to push the boundaries a little further? I’m thinking of established authors of historical het that write good gay secondary characters or gay-subplots: at least some just need a little encouragement to give those characters or similar their own books.
It might not work, of course: I know writers of GLBT (romance and) mysteries that are far better known for their later, more literary works, but what if they were inspired to go back to their roots and found that the audience now is far bigger and more receptive?
Naming no names, but I shall continue to give the right sort of squee to those I run into online and/or in person.
December 5, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Go for it! It’s worth giving anything a go, if we move the genre forwards.
December 4, 2011 at 11:59 am
I wish I knew too. But I do wonder whether I should send my next m/m novel out to mainstream romance publishers, just to give them the chance to say yes before I send it to the usual suspects. The downside to that is how long it would take, of course, but quite possibly the mainstream (at least in the UK) aren’t publishing m/m because we don’t send it to them.
December 5, 2011 at 1:37 pm
That’s a valid point. Maybe we’ve been spoiled by the relatively quick submission to publications times and need to revisit the traditional way, rather than ignoring it.
December 4, 2011 at 12:10 pm
What about the freebie magazines you get in gay bars? Those of us who are well-established could send flashfics or short stories for them to include as a regular thing. There are still far too few in the LGBT community who are even aware how much gay romance gets published.
December 5, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Now, that’s an idea, Jay. I;d be happy to supply something (we could even use some of the British Flash stories!)
December 5, 2011 at 12:27 am
Well I have just ‘hooked’ one new reader to the genre. I just finished reading London Triptych and loved it. So I passed it onto my niece who is also enjoying it. Plus I plug Speak it’s Name on Facebook as I know many of my
gay friends have accounts on there.
Then there’s also Gay Pride events where authors could promote and sell their books.
Just a thought anyway. Hope it helps.
Grace.
December 5, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Very helpful.The more we can swop ideas and work together on them, the better it’ll be, I’m sure.
December 21, 2011 at 6:04 pm
I agree, because we do seem to be all running on the same hamster wheel, and I know that yahoo groups aren’t the only venue. It’s often a matter of how much time to promote vs how much is left to… dare I say it.. WRITE. Of all the things about writing promo is probably what I like least. As in, not at all. Which means I need to work on it!
December 22, 2011 at 9:43 am
I think I’m with you. I feel huilty if I’m ptomoing because I’m not writing and vice versa.
*sighs*