Queer Plots discussion

I'm giving away electronic copies of my novel, King of Cats, to anyone who is interested. It is about a closeted gay rock musician living on New York's Lower East Side and the complicated relationships he has with the two [very different] men in his life. Be warned, this is not a typical self-published HEA M/M Romance novel - it's generally heavy and dark.

This is a PDF file (not an EPUB file) so it is NOT compatible with digital reading devices, unless you know how to convert it.

If you'd like a copy, send me an e-mail at blake@blakefraina.com and I'll get it right out to you.

Thanks for looking!

Hoorah! Somebody else who's written an LGBT title that breaks the norm.

(And why does the LGBT norm seem to be erotica anyway?)

Thanks for your comment.

I'm finding that it's all either romance or erotica. No one is interested in a story with a gay protagonist unless it involves some sort of love story. It can be a tragic love story, but it has to be a love story.

I can't understand why gay folks don't want to see themselves as protagonists of novels in the same way that straight people are - just doing stuff (y'know, working, dealing with their family, going through a crisis of faith, getting arrested, whatever) - without necessarily always being seen as seeking sex and/or a life partner.

"I can't understand why gay folks don't want to see themselves as protagonists of novels in the same way that straight people are"

Do you think it's the demand that's the problem, or the supply? There don't seem to be many non-erotic LGBT novels, and those I did find were swamped in a sea of covers depicting topless men.

Oh, don't get me started on the "bare torso" covers.

Back when I put my book out in 2004 I had endless online "discussions" about this. Most other indie authors took the attitude that they would do whatever they had to do to move units. So, insulting and demeaning as a headless, anonymous, naked torso might be to the average gay reader, that's the route they preferred to go. Some writers seemed to be of the opinion that this sort of image worked as a signal to browsers that the novel was geared to a gay male audience. And that may well be so, but I think publishers (or those who self-publish) need to look toward a future where that sort of ghetto-ization isn't necessary.

But to answer your question, in my experience it's probably mostly to do with demand. Unfortunately.

Surely a naked torso promises erotica, so although it might generate sales, if writers of non-erotic titles use those images, their readers are not going to enjoy their books. Or perhaps the people you're talking about not only compromised their books, but their content too?