I’m thrilled to announce that my nonfiction book SO YOU THINK YOU’RE ASEXUAL: An Introduction to the Invisible Orientation has sold to Skyhorse Publishing/Carrel Books!
[Publishers Marketplace Announcement]
We’re expecting a Fall 2014 release date.
Feel free to watch my video about it:
I was interviewed for an article in my state’s queer paper, and today it was published. I discuss asexual discrimination, our relationship with the LGBT community, my past and my present in the community, and a few asexuality facts and figures. The article:
“We Are Interlopers,” by Gideon Grudo.
Unfortunately it is poorly edited with many typos (most notably, my name), and there are a few garbled quotes and unclear phrases, but I think most of what I was going for manages to come across.
I was on a panel discussion on HuffPost Live this morning:
This half-hour news feature was hosted by Ricky Camilerri, and it included sex researcher Lori Brotto, journalist Dominique Mosbergen, and asexual activists David Jay, Micah R., and me. We discussed our personal experiences as asexual people, how intimacy works for asexual people, and how we fit under the queer umbrella.
It ended up really cool and it brought in a lot of attention, and it might be good for upping my publishing prospects for the nonfiction book, So You Think You’re Asexual. Stay tuned for good news!
Today my literary agent has begun the process of approaching editors to get me a publishing deal for my nonfiction book on asexuality.
We’re hoping to get an offer from one of the mid-size publishers we’re approaching. As of today, Andrea is contacting appropriate publishers and asking if they want to see it. I won’t make public posts about how it’s going until/unless I get an offer (or until/unless I get multiple offers and have settled the terms), but if I get great news, I’ll make a post about it as soon as I’m given the green light to announce the deal.
Let’s hope you’ll see some news here very soon. 🙂
Here’s me discussing how I got my nonfiction agent, with some explanations of what went into my book proposal and how nonfiction is different from fiction in this regard!
I didn’t really want to go all out on making a “how to write book proposals” video because I don’t really feel like I’m qualified to do that. I understood fiction querying very well but I haven’t had much training (or time put in) on book proposals so what worked for me probably won’t transfer easily to anyone else’s project unless they just follow the outline really vaguely and build upon it.
Today I accepted an offer for literary agency representation and signed a contract for my nonfiction book So You Think You’re Asexual. I am officially a double-agented author.
Everyone, please meet my second agent, Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger. She really knows her stuff, agrees with me that a book on asexuality is something that needs to exist, and even teaches a workshop on book proposals! I think I’m in really good hands here!
What this means: Nonfiction is sold through the proposal. With Andrea’s help, I will be fine-tuning a document that will be going to publishers. This is no big deal for me because the proposal (and the book) is already written, since I had to have a proposal in order to query nonfiction agents. Andrea said the proposal I sent her was in need of only minor changes, and I have a few things I want to add/change too. Once we have the proposal finalized, it will go out to the editors Andrea knows who might be interested in acquiring it. The book itself will probably not be requested by publishers until or unless someone decides to make an offer. (It feels so backwards from the way fiction is sold, since you have to have a polished manuscript BEFORE querying agents!)
We’ll be approaching publishers soonish. I hope to be able to share good news when I have it.
I’m super happy to announce that my book So You Think You’re Asexual has one offer of representation from a literary agent. So . . . I’m going to have two agents, with one representing my fiction and one representing my nonfiction. How cool is that?
My call with the offering agent was this morning and I’ll be able to make a more detailed post about it once I’m finished going back to the other agents who have the proposal and letting them know the situation. More details will be revealed–including who the lucky agent is who gets to work with little old me, haha–once I actually sign a paper and make it official.
I have a feeling this is going to be a good thing. . . .
As mentioned in my last post, I was one of the speakers on the Asexual Voices panel at Creating Change 2013 in Atlanta, a national LGBT conference that included asexual people in its workshop lineup for the first time.
I was one of four speakers. We had me (an aromantic asexual woman), Tristan (a gay graysexual man), Rin (a panromantic asexual agender person), and M. (a panromantic asexual agender person) on the panel. We all talked about our experiences with asexuality and the community, and gave a sixty-minute question-and-answer session, followed by a caucus of asexual people and allies. It was a good experience.
Besides the panel, I got to go to other people’s workshops and network with other folks in the queer community. President Obama sent a video in support of LGBT organizers and the community, which was really huge. And I got to meet David Jay (founder of AVEN), Sara Beth Brooks (founder of Asexual Awareness Week), the other panelists Tristan (of the Asexual Agenda), Rin, and M., and also Hannah (who was there for work stuff) and a couple other asexual people we went to dinner with.
David Jay did some report-outs from each day of the conference. Day 1 happened before I got there, and Day 2 and Day 3 include me in the videos.
I had a lot of good experiences, and now I’m ready to start working on my nonfiction book again. I already have a bunch of test reader volunteers, but if anyone reading this wants to be a test reader, let me know.
Today I’m heading to Atlanta, Georgia for Creating Change, which is the National Conference on LGBT Equality, put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. It is the largest yearly gathering of of activists, organizers, and leaders in the LGBT movement. And I’m one of them!
I’m one of the speakers on the Asexual Voices Panel. With three other asexual speakers and a moderator, my co-panelists and I are providing discussion of asexual experiences and outreach, with a thirty-minute presentation and a sixty-minute question-and-answer session.
(We had a last-minute change and Christina couldn’t make it. M. LeClerc from Boston is our replacement.)
We are also having an asexual caucus immediately afterwards.
Last year Sara Beth and David went to this same conference and there was a really warm response, with a high demand for our materials and an avalanche of interest when they screened the documentary movie (A)sexual (which I was in). We hope to make even more connections, learn more about allying with the larger LGBTQ community, teach people about our community, and have a lot of fun.
People at the conference can come to our panel at 4:45 on Friday. People at home can follow our tweets (#cc13) or check out the Livestream.
And since lots of people supported our fundraising campaign for the trip to Creating Change, we’ll also be preparing their rewards. Fifty-two people donated to our cause and I’m sure even more want to see us succeed, so we want to be able to show them some results. I hope to be able to share some pictures, videos, and stories when I come back, after which I will redouble my efforts to polish my nonfiction book (So You Think You’re Asexual: An Introduction to the Invisible Orientation). I’m going to take test readers for the first time, and probably go back to querying as one agent who’s followed up with me twice now seems to be dragging his feet.
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.