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From The New York Times: Sales of queer romance novels have surged, with books coming from the biggest publishers and prominently displayed at mainstream retailers.

For years, Lana Popovic Harper wrote novels for a pittance she described as “jars of pennies.” So when her new project drew bids from seven publishers, she was thrilled. Stunned, really: The book was a romance about two women. Two women who happen to be witches.

“It was completely surreal to me,” Harper said. “People really wanted these queer witches.”

L.G.B.T.Q. romance novels have been around for decades, but they have been a quiet presence, almost entirely self-published or put out by small niche presses, and often shelved separately from other romances in bookstores. Now, they are coming from the biggest publishers in the industry. They are prominently displayed at independent bookstores and on the shelves at Walmart, and advertised on New York City subway platforms.

And when Harper’s book, “Payback’s a Witch,” was published last fall by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, it became a best seller.

“L.G.B.T.Q. romance is booming,” said Shannon DeVito, director of books at Barnes & Noble.

In many ways, this echoes a broader cultural shift. Gay characters were once confined to niche markets, or to peripheral roles and tragic endings in the mainstream — a tendency that spawned the sardonic catchphrase “bury your gays.” No longer. An L.G.B.T.Q. romance novel, in fact, promises two things: It will have L.G.B.T.Q. characters at its center, and the main couple (or thruple!) will have a happy ending.

Read full post on The New York Times