Category Archives: News

Panel Discussion: HuffPost Live

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I was on a panel discussion on HuffPost Live this morning:

Asexual Pride!

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!

Interview: The Huffington Post

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I was interviewed for a six-part series on asexuality in The Huffington Post in the Gay Voices section. Dominique Mosbergen talked to me and several other asexual people about our orientation, thankfully (for once) going beyond 101. As of this post my specific materials are not quoted or linked yet, but they will be as the series progresses.

Please read “Asexuality: The ‘X’ In A Sexual World.”

On Submission: So You Think You’re Asexual

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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. 🙂

New video: On Book Proposals–and how I got my nonfiction agent

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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.

Representation Settled: So You Think You’re Asexual

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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.

Offer of Representation: So You Think You’re Asexual

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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. . . .

New Video: On Taking Criticism

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Here’s me on taking criticism.

This video on taking criticism teaches new authors the importance of criticism, how to solicit it, and how to get the most mileage out of feedback they receive.

Many writers—especially newer authors—have a tendency to feel insulted by criticism or prefer to defend their material instead of trying to figure out how to use the feedback. Readers can be wrong, but sometimes you can even take your test audience’s misconceptions and poor reading comprehension into account to make your work better.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013, Quarter-Finals: Stupid Questions

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The 500 quarter-finalists for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award were announced today, and for the first time since entering in 2011, I didn’t make the cut. I’m actually surprised because I thought I had a better chance at making quarter-finals than I did at making the second round; usually my writing is stronger than my pitching skills. But even though my reviews were not particularly negative, I’m guessing either my reviewers graded me harder than their reviews indicated OR I just had a lot of excellent competition.

My critique partner and friend J.C. Fann did make the quarter-finals and I’m very proud to have been involved in helping prepare the book for the contest, so if you’re interested in downloading and reading/rating/reviewing the excerpt, here is a link to The Queenschair!

And if you’d like to see my reviews and analysis of the comments:

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