Rant time!

[bladespark]

I remember, a few years back, trying to talk to a certain brony author who had literally quit his day job in order to write his AMAZING novel, who then got nothing but rejection, and began going on rather heated rants about the liberal agenda in schools and the way that literature had been taken over by some kind of cabal of women, POC, and trans folks, and that as a white cis man he was being shut out. There was an unspoken "Those women, POC, and trans people are getting published just for being what they are, while my quality manuscript is being rejected!"

I almost want to hit him up right now and give him a fucking piece of my mind, because although I did not quit my day job, I do have a novel (I have several, but this is the first finished, serious, "not just a romance novel" novel I've done since getting to a point where I feel I'm skilled enough for publication) and despite being transgender and thus theoretically "in" this cabal of his, I am getting NOTHING BUT REJECTION.

Tbh, there aren't any agents/publishers I could find that are seeking trans people specifically. POC right now, yes, and that's good! LGBT+ as a generic term yes, and that's also good (though my rejections have all come from those folks!) but not trans people.

And I guess the novel isn't specifically trans rep, it's more bisexual rep, so probably it doesn't matter anyway.

But the way some white cis guys get all completely butthurt when somebody makes any move to be more inclusive makes me want to scream. PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE UP 98% OF THE NOVELS I'VE READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, FUCKWIT. Wanting to enlarge the REST OF THE GODDAMN WORLD past that tiny 2% fraction that's mostly white cis women isn't bad, fucker! I'm sorry you're getting rejected, but it's very likely that has at least as much to do with the content of your manuscript or your query letter as anything else, to be honest. There is no "conspiracy", there's just people who'd like to see literature flinging open doors that have historically been barely cracked.

Comments

[polyfrazzlemented]

He's used to being given all the advantages just because of who he is, and if he's in a situation where that isn't happening, he feels discriminated against.

[cornerofmadness]

Looks like we're having similar rants tonight. One thing I see from publishers is they want PoC/LGBT/ETC to only write about that exact thing they represent which is just as narrow minded.

That said I do see agents around looking for trans authors. Would you like me to give you a heads up when I see them on twitter?

[bladespark]

That'd be super cool! :3

[cornerofmadness]

will do

[silveradept]

If there really truly were a conspiracy to exclude the cis white dude from publishing, there would be a lot fewer cis white dudes in publishing and getting published. Not that things like facts, logic, and listening to tyne people who are reporting about these things from inside the publishing industry would sway that person's opinion that they are being discriminated against.

[duskpeterson]

"began going on rather heated rants about the liberal agenda in schools and the way that literature had been taken over by some kind of cabal of women, POC, and trans folks, and that as a white cis man he was being shut out."

I can understand where this distorted thinking came from. Right now, in my competitive day-job writing field, there are tons of calls being sent out for marginalized writers, when some of those same publishers aren't doing open submissions for anyone else.

What the gentleman you talked with fails to understand is that the publishers are doing this because they've got systemic fail on their end that has been preventing them from publishing many marginalized authors till this point. And so now that there's actually demand on the sales end for such authors, the publishers are having to scramble to make up for decades of wasted opportunity.

[storme]

I've seen some very... intense male brony authors who are very sure they will get published. I wonder if any of them are the same as your one.

[greghousesgf]

I had the exact opposite problem in school. I even had a college history prof who didn't know who Harriet Tubman was!

[bladespark]

That was rather my point! There is no liberal agenda to teach POC and queer people. Teachers teach old white guys almost exclusively.