If you're curious, American Dirt has Bookscanned (sold) over 300,000 copies. It's that a lot? I'm on the bestseller lists with Mexican Gothic with a total of 10,000 copies sold in. 2 weeks. On Goodreads ppl love American Dirt. It's huge. Now why do I bring this stuff up? https://twitter.com/PublishersWkly/status/1284548604540190729

Because a lot of the stuff surrounding that controversy revolved around people thinking Latin American and Latinx ppl were a bunch of jealous assholes. But really, it sprang from the huge chasm publishing had created between POC and white writers. And the poor support POC get.

Now I'm not saying *I* am getting poor support right now. Things are good in Silvia land. But getting here has been a long, sometimes horrific trip and I don't think others understand how that can be almost traumatic.

The whole question of POC in lit sometimes gets reduced to "but why can't white people write about X?" Which, I actually don't care if someone who is white writers about X. But the problem is nobody asks the opposite question: But why can't Latinas write about X?

Because publishing does erect barriers for us. It thinks ah, man, Latinas writing *romance*? Nah, get back in there and tell a tale of immigrant suffering. That's your lane. And obviously it's not just a problem with one community, I'm sure Black writers are pressured to write Y.

And it's not just publishing as in a publishing house. It's reviewers! And librarians! When readers expect a story by someone from my part of the world to come with maracas it's pretty disheartening. It's an ecosystem that is still not comfy with certain voices.

I was talking to someone in publishing and they said the success of Mexican Gothic is going to open doors to other writers. And by God, people in pub, I hope it does. I hope you use it as a comp title. I hope it allows you to glimpse other possibilities.

(Because my greatest fear right now is that you're going to Highlander me. So don't do that shit!
signed, me.)

PS: I checked the Bookscan and American Dirt actually has Bookscanned 370,000 copies, so closer to 400,000. That's just hardcovers. Digital it's sold over 200,000.

AD sold the same year I was trying to shop a crime novel (UNTAMED SHORE) & I was told by a publisher it was good, but they would never purchase a crime book set in Mexico because it wouldn't sell. UNTAMED SHORE sold to Polis/Agora, a tiny company. It got 2 starred reviews.

Polis/Agora ran a 2,000 hardcover print run and I got a $500 advance on signing, plus glowing reviews. This spring we were again trying to sell a different crime novel... which nobody wanted either. Which is ok because I have a dayjob which I'll never quit so I can wait around.

Having been round here for a while now, writing, I have definitely seen the double standards & the gaslighting, which is why ultimately it's not about a single book but about a climate that's still really not very good. There's a lot of people working at it (Dignidad Literaria)--

and others, but it's also why people were very frustrated and that spills into anger. Whatever you can do, either as a consumer, librarian or publishing professional, it's appreciated because we are not there yet. And we won't be for a while longer.