I see we're unleashing some rampant biphobia in the community again instead of focusing anger on the capitalistic & classist publishers who prioritize whiteness of all kinds over everyone else.

Here's the thing: who we're sleeping with and how we identify ain't anyone's business. There are enough out writers & writers who've been forced out by this gatekeeping nonsense for y'all to keep to a strict queer ownvoices routine if that's your thing.

The thing about being mad at the publishers--publicly critical of their racist, classist, bigoted nonsense--is that is scary for anyone who has publishing aspirations or is published. Every publisher is a potential buyer of your book.

So this community targets individuals they've decided haven't achieved some weird level of queerness instead. It's cowardly, really, because it's not about wanting to create real change. It's about unleashing these feelings on a target because it feels good.

And look, I get feeling powerless and despairing of the publishing establishment. But if you want real change? You call out the actual problem. Which is the white supremacy of this industry and how it latched onto ownvoices as a convenient marketing ploy to shield themselves.

You are doing what the CEOs and presidents want. Focusing on the individual instead of the corporations THEY run and the money OUR creations make them and how that money is not spent close to a sufficient way to nurture and lift up marginalized writers.

There also seems to be this bizarre idea that a) Becky got a huge advance which propelled her and b) no other queer writers do.

This is just...not true. I know because I sold before Becky and DID get a huge advance. On a FF book.

I mention this because the idea that queer stories--especially FF stories--don't sell big is incredibly pervasive in this industry and the industry takes advantage of that and they lowball us and we're in the "omg queer=hard sell" mindset so we just...accept it.

This very harmful take that Becky's--or any other queer author's--presence takes away from other "more valid" queer authors doesn't help anyone but the giant corporations who want us grateful for any crumbs we're given.

They want us scrambling and competitive against each other. (When I say "they", I'm not talking about the editors or ppl who work on the books, I'm talking about the publisher as a corporation). They want us needy and thinking "there can only be one" like it's queer Highlander.

The thing is, the people telling us "there can only be one" are the people who control how many there can be.