I’m going to stop querying on So You Think You’re Asexual for the time being because I have received two nibbles from agents who are currently considering my expanded nonfiction book proposal, and I think that’s enough. If I get rejections or something I’ll go back into it.
Agents queried:11
Agents who declined: 5
Agents who didn’t respond (yet?): 4
Agents who responded in the affirmative: 2
So we’ll see what happens.
There are two ways this gets slung around.
“Write what you know.”
Neither of those are true.
I’m speaking in the general, of course, but not everyone who writes well can write their own experiences well; and not everyone who writes something well is doing so because they’ve experienced it.
I’ve had problems with my audience on this issue, from both angles. One camp assumes that something I wrote about is my experience, and brings those assumptions to the table when talking to me. And the other camp knows what my experiences are, and uses them against me to insist that I couldn’t possibly write an experience unlike mine authentically (or that I don’t have the right to try).
My basic first draft of So You Think You’re Asexual: An Introduction to the Invisible Orientation is complete, though of course there will be lots of updates and changes if I end up finding representation. I’ll be soliciting a test audience if it looks like my book is going to get the kind of interest I want.
My basic query letter (with personalized agent stuff at the beginning, and modified if needed):
What if you weren’t attracted to anyone?
A growing number of people today are identifying as asexual: they aren’t sexually attracted to other people, and they consider it a sexual orientation—like gay, straight, or bisexual. A commonly overlooked and dismissed orientation, asexuality is estimated to affect approximately 1% of the population. However, because of the overt sexuality of society, most asexuals feel isolated and ill-informed; they remain invisible, confused, and think they’re broken because they cannot relate to a central aspect of human life as we know it.
Is it a hormone disorder? Can asexual people have relationships? Should it be cured? This book outlines what asexuality is, counters misconceptions, provides resources, and puts asexual people’s experiences in context as they move through a very sexual world. It includes information for asexual people to help understand their orientation and what it means for their relationships, and it includes tips and facts for those who want to understand their asexual friends and loved ones.
My qualifications for writing this book include the following:
I’ve been writing about asexuality awareness since 1998. As an asexual person casually writing about my own experience, I posted a Top Ten list outlining the most common misconceptions about asexuality on my own website. This earned me media attention and mainstream magazine interviews (“Asexual and Proud,” Salon, May 2005; “No Sex? No Problem,” The Daily Beast, July 2009; “The Opposite of Sex,” Marie Claire, August 2010). Some years (and several interviews) later, I created two series of asexuality-themed YouTube videos to reach a different demographic. One was a video version of my Top Ten list, and the other was an ongoing series called “Letters to an Asexual.”
These earned me more media attention, many subscribers, and a part in a documentary as a major interviewee ((A)sexual by Arts Engine, premiered at Frameline, the gay and lesbian film festival, in June 2011). I also picked up a spot writing articles on the subject for Good Vibrations, a respected sex-positive magazine (“Asexuality is Not Antisexuality,” January 2011; “Sexual Attraction vs. Romantic Attraction,” February 2011; “Are Asexuals Queer?” March 2011; “How to Be an Asexual Ally,” July 2011; and “Why Should the Sex-Positive Community Promote Asexuality Awareness?” October 2011). I’ve been mentioned on international television and interviewed for various academic and human interest pieces, usually pseudonymously under the name “swankivy” or “Ivy,” but my legal name has also appeared in several of the interviews.
I have a full proposal and sample chapters available if you’re interested. Thank you for your consideration.
There aren’t any traditionally published laymen’s books about asexuality, so I decided I’m just the girl to write one.
After all, I’ve been interviewed in magazines, radio, and visual media. I’ve made helpful videos on YouTube and have nearly 1,500 subscribers. I’m followed by a lot of people on Tumblr and LiveJournal and AVEN regarding asexuality. So, since “who you are” matters more in selling a nonfiction book than what you’ve actually written, I decided if anyone’s qualified to write one it’s me. And I’ve begun to do so.
This one won’t be handled the same way I’ve handled my fiction, though. Nonfiction books are often sold based on the idea/the author, and often get purchased before they’re written. I plan to have a first draft before I query, but I also don’t intend to solicit a test audience until or unless I find representation or a publisher for it. I will be querying agents, though, even though you don’t necessarily need one for nonfiction, because I feel more comfortable doing it that way.
This is going to be FAST because I’ve said all this stuff before and I just have to figure out how to organize it.
Another article of mine was published in Good Vibrations today.
Please read “Why Should the Sex-Positive Community Promote Asexuality Awareness?”
It was published in association with Asexual Awareness Week.
Another article of mine was published in Good Vibrations today. It’s a three-part post and now that they’re all complete I’m sharing them here.
Please read these:
(A)sexual is an independent documentary film about asexuality, asexual people, asexual people’s lives, and the making of a movement. I’m a major “character” in the film. It is available at the following places: Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, Xbox Live, and PlayStation, or the trailer on Vimeo.
Stats:
Premiered: Frameline Film Festival – San Francisco – June 18, 2011
Other Film Festivals Shown: MIX COPENHAGEN (formerly known as Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival), Reeling 2011: The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival, Queersicht (Bern, Switzerland), Vox Feminae Festival (Zagreb, Croatia), New Orleans Film Festival, Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, NewFest Film Festival (New York).
Official description: Facing a sex obsessed culture, a mountain of stereotypes and misconceptions, and a lack of social or scientific research, asexuals–people who experience no sexual attraction–struggle to claim their identity.
(A)sexual follows the growth of a community that experiences no sexual attraction. In 2000, David Jay came out to his parents. He was asexual and was fine with it. And he was not alone. Studies show that 1% of the population is asexual. But in a society obsessed with sex, how do you deal with life as an outsider? Combining intimate interviews, verite footage, and animation with fearless humor and pop culture imagery, David and our four other characters grapple with this universal question and the outcomes might surprise you.
This independent documentary introduces the audience to the concept of asexuality–the sexual orientation of not finding anyone sexually attractive–and subjects viewers to both good information and popular misconceptions. Largely following the life and mission of asexual poster boy David Jay (founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network), we’re introduced to how asexuals handle intimacy, what the different kinds of asexuals are, what they do to spread awareness, and what the people who study them think.
(A)sexual is both a discussion of asexuality and a slice-of-life portrayal of how several asexuals live their lives, combined with information and commentary from sexologists, researchers, and random people on the street.
Another article of mine was published in Good Vibrations today.
Please read “Are Asexuals Queer?”
Another article of mine was published in Good Vibrations today.
Please read “Sexual Attraction vs. Romantic Attraction.”
My first published article was posted today. Good Vibrations magazine has accepted me as a contributor, writing asexual perspective articles for a sex-positive audience.
Please check out “Asexuality Is Not Antisexuality: Sex Positivity in a Negative World.”