You may be wondering about this page. Why is it important to connect something like LGBTQIA stories to the community, including resources like libraries and non-profit organizations?

Well, thanks for asking! That’s a great question. And it’s actually REALLY VALUABLE to make these connections, especially for books that feature underrepresented characters in mainstream media and fiction.

“But, how does one go about it?” you may be wondering?

Well! Let us share what we’ve learned from hosting five annual conferences, partnering with city libraries and local nonprofits in the process, as well as hosting 20+ author events, meet-ups, and conference panels over the last five years.

Mostly we want to de-mystify the process because everything we did anyone else can do as well, including bringing these ideas back to your community (and adjusting and adding to them as you see fit.)

Below, find info about how one can work with libraries (either as an author or a reader), bookstores, and nonprofit organizations.

All of these different ways can help integrate these stories more within your community as well as help build awareness.

How to Work with Libraries

How to Plan Author Events

Donate a book!

Let’s Be Seen

As we wrote in Lambda Literary, we’re still at the point in the queer genre fiction evolution that we have to ask for EVERYTHING. The “mainstream” or status quo, or those that don’t have to think about queer genre fiction don’t recognize when we’re left out, but we do, and we can help in these instances by standing up and asking for inclusion. In some ways, this means writing irritating letters to Jeff Bezos at Jeff@amazon.com. In other ways, it’s just asking your local library to purchase an ebook.

In the end, so much of our success isn’t about someone else asking us to be counted, but us saying “Count me in.” We have to make ourselves visible to be noticed, and right now, we still have to ask (or demand) for what we want. Otherwise, if we don’t ask, or if we don’t attend, or if we don’t try, people will continue to just see an empty shelf or an empty room, and not recognize that something is missing. You see, they’re already used to not seeing us.

So let’s be seen.