This is a tricky post because I can't find anything out there about it. So if I fail to give the who, what, when, where, and why this time, at least I'm admitting the reason why. I hate to post about things I couldn't fully research, but sometimes there's not much choice.
Allegedly, Amazon dropped the Gay/Lesbian category from their Best Books of 2012 list. I read about this in a couple of places earlier today and I was too busy finishing up the next book in the bad boy billionaire series to deal with it.
Here's a link to an Amazon discussion group about it.
But I didn't forget, and I'm curious about why Amazon would do this, or, more important, if they actually did do this for a specific reason. It's not something I would normally pay attention to, but it is interesting.
I won't e-mail Amazon about it. I've learned from past experience their replies are form letters that never really answer anything. I think they have people who studied the presidential debates working there now. It's amazing how anyone other than a politician can reply to a question, in such great length, without actually saying one single thing of significance.
But I digress because most of my book sales come from Amazon, published and self-published. And to be honest, if they did drop Gay/Lesbian Fiction from the Best Books of 2012 I'll live and I doubt readers will even care. As I've posted before more than once, I've had books with far better sales that never made one Amazon bestseller list. I've had books that made less money that made number one on Amazon bestseller lists. I don't get it and I never will. And I've stopped trying to figure it out.
Amazon as a company in general is notorious for being secretive about everything, and since they are the biggest venue out there for authors and readers, and since they have done so much for authors and to empower authors, I'm not holding this against them. I'm sure they have their reasons.
In many ways, Amazon has revolutionized publishing as we always knew it for both readers and authors. They've changed the world. Those LGBT authors who have not suffered the proverbial fresh hells of literary agents, query letters, and rejection letters, wouldn't understand this. Without Amazon, the LGBT fiction market never would have grown to the extent it has grown. And the LGBT books available to readers right now wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for Amazon. I think most authors would agree most of their sales come from Amazon, so they must be doing something right.
The LGBT market has always been small, and it remains that way today. It's growing, but I couldn't begin to predict how much it will grow. I think what's going to happen eventually is that mainstream fiction, like films and TV, will take on all kinds of diverse characters, and there will be both gay and straight in these books and no one will think twice about it. After all, that's what we've been fighting for all along, and I'd be fine with that. As a writer, I'll eventually start moving in that direction myself.
But if anyone has any information about this Amazon deal, please let me know. I'll settle for links. Anything. The best I could do after five searches was what I've posted above.
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