Our own media can help not only by reviewing more books and making books more exciting to their readers, but by offering discount ad rates to publishers and booksellers. In the gay world, there s a growing urgency to bury political hatchets and work together. A few new bookstores have opened. As the circuit-party era shows signs of waning, some business people want to sponsor or invest in culturally oriented events. Gay and lesbian reading clubs proliferate.
Pride festivals are a new source of cash sales for book people who exhibit there.
At the Los Angeles BEA, a round table hosted by The Open Book of Sacramento brought together concerned publishers, booksellers and self-published authors, to discuss the formation of our first professional publishing association. Thanks to the ACLU, ABA, ALA and others who recognize that gay books are a major target of the religious right, our courts so far resist efforts to censor Internet content efforts that could invade more traditional bookselling venues. Internet booksellers can t operate forever at a loss and scaled back discounts would open up a window of opportunity for independent booksellers to win back some customers. Was a Man, a youth cri de coeur like Prayers for Bobby or a stark novel of combat like The Boy Who Picked the Bullets Up. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender books have become a vital thread of the American book tapestry, without which any picture of our nation s life and history is not complete.