Publishing's DEI Problem

Journey to Publication - Week 4

Nov 18, 2024

The audience consensus is in: it’s the era of self-publishing.

I am somewhat inclined to disagree, yet many readers of Pens and Poison have reached out to me personally expressing their concern that my novel THE LILAC ROOM might not find the agent I am hoping for. Based on a variety of conversations that I have had with readers over the past month, it seems that these reservations do not stem from a belief that my writing does not mean publishing standards—rather, the majority of my readers worry that I might not check the requisite DEI boxes.

In last week’s Journey to Publication post on coping with rejection, I mentioned that one of the reasons that an author might get turned down is that a novel might not meet the diversity standards of the times. I have written extensively, in fact, on the plague that has set over English departments across the country. In my article Leave Literature Alone, I chronicle the overtake of the literary world by ideologues who use literature as an excuse to promote a fringe political agenda that has no tenable societal application otherwise. Because many literary agents studied English and graduated from these politically-entangled programs, it is likely that they share the far-left political views espoused by university professors and are taught to judge the merit of a given novel based on the author’s identity group or by the identity groups that are represented in a given manuscript.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Representation in literature is important. I’ve learned a lot about the plight of Black Americans in the 20th century from the novels of Zora Neale Hurston and James Baldwin, or the experiences of the gay community in Victorian England from the works of Oscar Wilde, but at the same time, we must ask ourselves whether Hurston, Baldwin, and Wilde enjoyed literary fame because they were black or gay (and, in Baldwin’s case, both) or because they were good writers. I have a suspicion that it might be the latter. Unfortunately, the publishing industry seems to disagree with me and has gone a bit too far with their emphasis on certain themes and identities over objective literary merit.

Don’t believe me? Let's do a quick search of agents on Manuscript Wish List and see what agents have added to their wish list.

Agent 1 seeks the following:

A YA book with the humor and high fantasy action and powerful queer energy of Thor: Ragnarok
An intersectional version of Robin McKinley
Queer YA based on Gilgamesh
Books with fairies or elves of color
A book about unions/unionization (either historical or contemporary)
Queer retellings of basically everything, but especially fairy tales or classic literature
Books that capture the queer vibes of Mulan in her Wreck-It Ralph 2 outfit
Queer middle grade in literally any genre
Cat Sebastian or K.J. Charles-style historical queer romance for teens

Brb writing my queer YA novel based on Gilgamesh.

Agent 2 seeks:

Books about gender identities around the world
Books on asexual lives
Books about the overlap of disability and queer justice
Books that push back on the notion that LGBTQIA+ people have no place in religion and spirituality
Books about intersex lives
Books about sex work
Books about the AIDS crisis
LGBTQIA2s+ history books that are accessible to a general audience
Queer voices on reproductive justice
Incarcerated queer voices
Two Spirit guidebooks
Rural American queer voices.

She forgot to add “2s” to bullet #4. Should I email her so that she can make the correction?

Agent 3 seeks:

Queer!!!
Well-grounded magic systems and/or world building (Xiran Jay Zhao, Holly Black, Leigh Bardugo, Martha Wells, Hannah Kaner, T. Kingfisher, M. L. Wang).
Writing that feels folkloric/atmospheric (Naomi Novik, Katherine Arden, Emily Tesh, Heather Fawcett).
Fresh takes on mermaids, vampires, werewolves (not just western interpretations/myths, and preferably through a queer lens).
Feminist retellings of myth.
Stories that challenge sexuality/gender norms (this goes for all genres and age groups).
Polyamorous relationships (PLEASE!!)

I mean, if you want polyamorous relationships, just watch any French film from the 1960s.

Agent 4 says:

I am actively seeking underrepresented voices, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA, disability, neurodiversity, and mental illness, and books where multiple identities intersect. I’d also love to see more positive fat rep, and books with a diversity of body types.
Space Opera, hard sci-fi, military SF, and anything set in space are typically a very hard sell for me. (Unless it’s a GIDEON THE NINTH situation where it’s a lot of lesbian necromancers and bone magic, and a little bit of space–I really need it to feel like fantasy.)

The French also did positive fat rep 400 years ago in Gargantua and Pantagruel. The French are quite versatile.

Agent 5 seeks:

Found family
QPR (queer platonic relationships)
Time travel/multiverse jumping
Witch covens as femme solidarity
Non-traditional sports (roller derby, parkour, pro wrestling)
Tabletop RPGs (and it doesn’t just have to be D&D!)

Wait, what is a queer platonic relationship? Hate to break it to you, but we have a word for that already. It’s called “friendship.”

Agent 6 seeks:

Queernormative worlds, gender subversions, polyamorous characters. I want worlds where the main conflict isn’t homophobia or transphobia, where there’s space for characters to get weird with gender and express identity without systemic pushback. And I would love to see more polyamorous relationships of all formations.

There’s actually a minor plot point in my novel about an orgy. I might query Oliver because that seems to tick the “polyamorous relationships of all formations” box.

Agent 7 seeks:

Stories exploring mental health themes that impact young people’s lived realities, including more stigmatized experiences (Note: while portrayals of characters struggling with these issues can be complex, they should also ultimately be sympathetic.)
LGBTQIA+ stories of all kinds, especially from trans/nonbinary creators. As much as I love queer joy and the found family of queer friendships, I am also here for stories that reflect the challenges specific to this community.
Stories that address the ways in which the political environment impacts young people within their families and communities
Queer takes on popular tropes
90s-2000s historical fiction (What wouldn’t I do for 2000s emo culture historical?)
LGBTQIA+ stories
Trans/nonbinary takes on iconic tropes and stories (Where is my trans Freaky Friday?)
Queer, especially trans stories set in single-sex environments
YA where characters have jobs, particularly if the job becomes relevant to the story in an unexpected or high-stakes way
Politically-minded road trip narratives that address the ways in which marginalized people explore and experience unfamiliar places
Stories in which the protagonist is struggling with and/or is in recovery from a substance use disorder, especially if this is not the sole focus of the plot

Wait, this is actually my favorite one. “YA where characters have jobs.” Let’s think about this one for a second. YA novels are written for thirteen-year-olds. The idea is to create a world that would appeal to a thirteen-year-old, right? Why, then, don’t YA books typically feature characters with jobs? Hmm.

Agent 8 seeks:

First of all, I’m really looking to champion Black, Indigenous, and other people of color who are querying and want to go the traditional publishing route. Send all your queries my way and I’ll do what I can to prioritize
I’d love to see queries from LGBTQIA writers, especially stories of joy and, given everything going on in the world, will prioritize how I can queries from trans writers if you choose to such identify in your letter (of course you do not have to)
Dual unreliable narrators like the TV show #CruelSummer
I’m not a fit for Christian-centered or morality stories, trying to teach teens or tweens something.

So. It’s not that these people are silently prioritizing certain identity groups behind doors and pretending that everyone still has an equal shot at publishing—that might still be morally questionable, but at least that would create the illusion that everyone still has an equal shot at getting published based on individual merit. No, they are literally telling us that they will prioritize certain minority groups over others and saying the quiet part out loud.

And even if we decide collectively that all of the themes above should appear more often in print, does that necessarily mean that we should shoot down manuscripts that don’t touch on any of these themes? It seems that there is no more place, for instance, for Christianity in the publishing industry.

You know what, great. I accept this challenge. In fact, we should have more requests for books that no one is going to read! The publishing industry will burn itself to the ground and maybe open doors for sane people to come in and rescue great literature from the flames.

If anyone knows an agent who wants to publish a book that features heterosexual and monogamous characters, please hit me up. Otherwise, I will go back to the drawing board and start working on my queer Gilgamesh novel.

Journey to Publication - Week 4 Updates

So, is it time to start considering self-publishing? I haven’t given up just yet! I received another manuscript request from an agent at a larger agency this week, which is exciting, so, hopefully, she will follow through.

She seems to have no alarming themes on her manuscript wishlist page, which is promising.

Still no word from the first agent who requested my manuscript. I have followed up this morning, so hopefully we’ll receive a response soon!

We also received a bit of a strange rejection this past week. Curious if anyone who has any experience with novel queries can “decode” what turned him off here or weigh in on what might have gone wrong. He seems to have liked it otherwise! Or is he just being nice?