What Does the Loss of Insightout Mean For Gay Publishing?

At first blush, the closing of Insightout, a book club that provided a monthly catalogue spotlighting gay literature sent to the club's 50,000 members, may seem like a blip on our collective radar. A catalogue, after all, seems a relic of the pre-Internet past because we now have sites like Amazon's Listmania and bookstores like Borders that provide options for recommending gay literature. So, why should we care? Because the closing may have a broader impact on gay literature that isn't readily apparent to readers.

AfterElton.com decided to talk to people involved in the publishing business to find out whether or not this is true.

Our sources include well-known editor Richard Labonte, who has edited various gay books; authors Brent Hartinger (Geography Club, The Last Chance Texaco, The Order of the Poison Oak, Split Screen and Grand & Humble) and Michael Thomas Ford (Full Circle, Looking for It, Last Summer and Changing Tides); publisher Don Weiss; and Ed Hermance of the famed gay bookstore Giovanni's Room.

The importance of book promotion is one of those activities that most readers don't often think about, but it is vital to the publishing process because the income generated by promotion helps determine which authors, publishers, and bookstores readers will take a chance on. Promotion can mean the difference between achieving moderate success, and achieving the kind of success that leads to a second book.

Gay media has made many positive strides in the last few years, but the promotion of books remains especially important in this genre. As to why this is the case, Hartinger explains, "Most gay books aren't best sellers. They are midlist books, which means that their publishers aren't selling tens of thousands of books, but are selling five to twenty thousand copies in hardcover. Hardcover is really where publishers pay attention. In order for most midlist books to make it, you need something to bolster their sales."

Hartinger continues, "Book clubs, for example. We are talking a couple of thousand more of my books sold in hardcover. An extra two thousand [books] doesn't make the difference between a success and a flop. However, it will make enough of a difference so that a publisher will definitely pay attention. It will make up for the lack of interest from library and other sources that gay books face."

Elaborating on the challenges in getting libraries to buy gay books, Hartinger explained, “Libraries are concerned about criticism, they may see gay books as a little niche with little public interest. Or it may be homophobia, institutional inertia, and just the fear that they'll be attacked by conservative groups. It is inertia in the sense that people have to ask the library to have these books. We need to learn as a community that if we want these things, then we need to speak up. We need to be more forceful in our advocacy.”

Adds Hartinger, “There are institutional biases against gay authors. Insightout made up for those losses [of sales]. Insightout could sell thousands of your books in hardcover.”

Insightout's catalogue created additional avenues to promote gay literature to those who couldn't or didn't buy books elsewhere, and promotion of books by clubs like Insightout meant valuable sales that augmented those made online or in bookstores.

As editor Richard Labonte explains it, “ . . . for a lot of individual authors the close of Insightout means lost sales. One of the things that Insightout did well for customers who didn't want to buy online was to get catalogues out telling them what books were available. So that boosted sales.”

Don Weiss agreed, saying, “What was really valuable was their catalogue that went out to subscribers for upcoming and new books.”

The value of publishers, distributors and retailers spotlighting gay literature is at the core of the concern over of Insightout closing. Indeed, writer Michael Thomas Ford is not certain what the future holds.

He explains, “The parent [company] says they will fold this book club into their primary book club. It would be nice if they do that. But, my feeling is that it is not going to matter if they do that. The whole point is that they were addressing the needs of a population who either was not near a gay bookstore or didn't feel comfortable purchasing books from the local bookstore. I don't think that market is going to want to subscribe to that main book club, and I am also not convinced that the main book club would carry all the titles for fear of alienating their core audience.”

Ford's concerns would appear to be valid. When AfterElton.com asked whether all of the authors with Insightout would be transferred to the main club, Paula Batson, the spokesperson for Bookspan's book clubs, responded: "We will review all titles to make editorial decisions that best serve our members. Among our current clubs, which include Book of the Month Club, Literary Guild and Doubleday Entertainment, we have millions of members with varied tastes. We will try to serve the needs of those customers by offering them the greatest selection possible."

Even before the announced shut down, the book club had its critics. Hermance of Giovanni's Room explains: “Insightout took the position that it would carry only the higher selling gay books in the market, and not carry the thousands of books that are published each year that are of interest to lesbians and gays. They created an illusion that they are giving you the marketplace, but they are only presenting a tiny percentage of the titles that are actually available. While bookstores like Giovanni's Room are dedicated to making all of this material available to the gay community.”

While some were concerned with the impact that decreased sales caused by the closing will have on what gets published, others feel the impact will not be that great. “I don't think it will affect what gets published or whether people read it or not,” says Labonte. “I think there are a lot of avenues for gay books online.” However, he agrees that Insightout was a valuable resource for additional avenues of promotion.