Apparently now is the time for uncomfortable truths because I’ve just had it.

Meta
Title:	Note: This essay is untitled and is referred to here by its first sentence.
Creator:	seancrosslin (now seancrosslinisback)
Date(s):	2016
Medium:	Posted to tumblr
Fandom:	Pan-Fandom
Topic:	Original Fiction, small queer publishing presses, fandom as a community
External Links:	Live link; with a reblog by seananmcguire, archive.org link
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Apparently now is the time for uncomfortable truths because I’ve just had it. is a short meta essay about how fandom on tumblr neglects LGBT-focused original fiction and small queer publishing presses; both as in the lack of integration between original fiction and fic communities, as well as the idea that fanfic is the only place with quality queer content.

As of September 2020, the post has over 20,000 notes.

The Post

" [...] How many posts have I seen that talk about fanfiction ‘setting the bar higher’ or about how ‘unoriginal’ published fiction is? How many posts have I seen where someone’s saying “I wish someone would write about X thing that subverts some popular trope!’?

Trans Cinderella? I have a friend who’s written that. Books about people who are actually, for real, bi or ace? My publisher has whole categories for those. How about ABO? Or werewolf stories that aren’t about sex and dominance? Hell, I’ve written that. Enemies-to-lovers? Mecha-wearing cops? These people are some of the most creative and welcoming and kind people I’ve ever met.

And nearly daily, I see fandom deride us like we’re somehow other. And look, I get it. In large part, I think a lot of the pushback is the inaccessibility of publishing in large houses, and the way that those large houses churn out the same tropes over and over again, while enforcing and maintaining the societal status quo.

But hey, those are large presses. Those are The Big Four. There are so many smaller, younger, more inclusive presses running around now, not even to mention self-publishing. [...]

So when I finally caved and came to tumblr and started getting involved in fandom, it was like a bucket of cold water to the face when I found out, over and over, that fanfic writers and readers wanted nothing to do with me and my original fiction. I mention that I’ve finally been writing again, someone asks what pairing, I say it’s orig fic and the immediate disinterest is nearly palpable. There’s the continuous parade of posts talking about how no one ever writes about this, you never see books about that, I wish there was a book like this, with this, not with that, and every time I see those posts I become an incredible combination of sad and indignant.

Because these books do exist, these authors and publishing houses do exist. These editors and artists, they exist. [...]

Fandom needs to understand that there are queer spaces in publishing too, and we are not the enemy. It really sucks to try to fit in with the people you think will understand you best and have it made clear, time and time again, that you’re still too other for them."

Responses

[seananmcguire]
"And it is because of these explicitly queer spaces in publishing that the big New York houses are beginning to adjust and allow for more diversity in all aspects. We can make a difference, but we do it by reading and supporting what’s there, not denying it unless it comes from a pre-existing property."

[bisexual-books]
"I agree with all of this but I want to add that SO MANY READERS have no clue that smaller presses like that exist.

Smaller queer-friendly presses often have meager marketing budgets and have a harder time getting the word out. So rather than blame readers for not knowing that they exist, I’m going to say that all of us in the writing-publishing-reviewing chain need to do a better job of getting the word out to readers."

[meradorm]
"The trend is really taking off. I’ve seen writer’s grants and agents state they’ll give special consideration to diverse creators and works. #ownvoices with your Twitter pitch is something you do to advertise yourself now and not something you worry will count against you.

At least you won’t worry *much*. As a Millennial I’m still kind of dumbfounded that you can straight-up put a gay kid in a middle grade novel, when I was that age I thought that if books had gay people in them, even books for adults, they’d be banned and burnt. I didn’t know you could actually write about gay people outside of fanfiction.net until I read @neil-gaiman’s American Gods at thirteen or so. Fuck me, that was formative. (Both personally and artistically.)"

[fakeedgymom]
"I love this so much!!! Support small presses, authors using small presses, and zine makers!!!"

[sbooksbowm]
" am certainly culprit to painting publishers as the Big Bad Wolf, especially in discussing the fandom communication circuit, which displaces for-profit, publicly circulating works (traditionally published books) for not-for-profit, semi-public or privately circulated works (fic). And I’ve made statements about how the centralization and mass-production of stories dilutes them by selecting stories with broad appeal over incisive storytelling.

But that’s a generalization, and it would be dishonest to imply that all published books are Not Good and Misunderstand Us. That’s silly! Book historians are terrible at agreeing on things, and this post is a good example why: there is always a book (or author or publisher) out there proving us wrong. Case in point: private practice of bookbinding fic proves that not all book production is tied to a profit. Independent publishing houses prove that not all published books are yet another Nicholas Picoult or Jodi Sparks culled by the Big Five."