Author Katie Hall talks about why we need to carve out our own stories
BY KATIE HALL, IMAGE BY PEXELS
As I release my debut sapphic/queer coming-of-age novel To Autumn, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at what else is out there (and where to find it) for readers who might like what I’ve written. This has taken me back to the experience I had last year of submitting my novel to potential agents and publishers. At first look, the Amazon book charts for LGBTQIA fiction are noticeable because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of titles for all types of literary interests. It’s a long way from the days of having to travel miles to find a bookshop that stocked lesbian literature, or furtive attempts to borrow the three sapphic books from the local library.
However, it’s also strikingly clear that very few come from household name publishing houses. Frequent feedback comments I received about To Autumn included: “we like it but it’s not commercial enough to sell to a major publisher”. Well, no, because I didn’t write a mainstream crowd-pleaser. I wrote a book that I, as a lesbian reader, would want to read. So, I turned to specialist LGBTQIA indie publishers as a possibility to both find my author community and find a readership.
Publishers such as Affinity Rainbow Publications, Bella Books or Ylva Publishing have this in common: they want to publish and cultivate high-quality, diverse and authentic books for women-loving-women. Their approach is about creating accessible, inclusive literature for an underserved audience. This is achieved through building a community of authors and readers, embracing strong female protagonists and staying true to their mission. In a climate where books that portray our community are being banned with relative ease, maintaining our representation is vital.
I spoke to JM Dragon, Ali Spooner and Annette Mori of Affinity Rainbow Publications to find out more about their mission as writers and publishers. Annette says that she “made the decision to write sapphic books exclusively, thus I wanted a lesbian focused publisher and not someone mainstream. I believe that a mainstream publisher might want to change my book to make it ‘more marketable’ rather than let me write a more authentic story. Why wouldn’t I want to support a publisher that publishes works that support lesbians?”
Similarly, Ali Spooner says: “I find that working with a lesbian publisher allows me to write primarily to a lesbian based market without over-editing the lesbian storyline.”
While Affinity’s global readership isn’t solely queer women, in fact, as JM Dragon puts it, their books are for “anyone who loves a great read”, having a specialist press allows readers to “navigate to the source of their preferred genre”.
With lesbian and queer women’s presses, going our own way doesn’t have to mean going it alone. I have been made to feel so welcome by the Affinity team and have been impressed by their commitment to nurturing and supporting new writers as well as championing new releases from more established authors. I feel like I am part of a community as I take the nerve-wracking step of releasing my first novel.
Katie’s novel To Autumn is available in Ebook and paperback: more information here.
You can find out more about JM Dragon here, Ali Spooner here and Annette Mori here.
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