Appearance: The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is celebrating Asexual Awareness Week and now I’ve appeared in an article again. This time, instead of being a nameless contributor to the collaborative video they featured, the article focuses entirely on me and embeds my “Asexuality: An Overview” video.

Please read it:

‘Asexuality: An Overview’ By Julie Decker Explains A Frequently Misunderstood Identity

The embedded video was a new addition to their material, but the rest of the article was recycled somewhat from June’s comprehensive Huffington Post article.

Appearance: The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post has decided to celebrate Asexual Awareness Week. They kicked off by featuring a video by the new asexuality YouTube channel, Everything’s A-Okay.

And I happen to be one of the asexual people who contributed to the video! The brief text part of the article it appears in also includes one quote from the video, and it happens to be something I said, though it was uncredited in the article.

Please check out “‘Everything’s A-Okay’ — Celebrating Asexual Awareness Week.”

Interview: South Florida Gay News

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.

Interview: Colin McEnroe Show

I was on the Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR in Connecticut today. They did a spot on asexuality and I was one of four guests:

  • Kathy Way (asexual resident who lived locally and inspired the topic)
  • David Jay (founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network)
  • Anthony Bogaert (author of Understanding Asexuality and psychology professor)
  • Julie Decker (me!)

You can listen to the broadcast here. I weighed in on asexual discrimination and representation in the media; if you’re listening for my part, I am brought in during the last quarter of the program.

 

 

Panel Discussion: HuffPost Live

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

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

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

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

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

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. . . .