There’s a thing going around twitter where New York Times bestselling authors talk about how their success was not overnight. It’s true, s
When Ash was published in 2009, it got one starred review as well as one that criticized it for not including any positive male role models. The publisher pushed it hard, but although it was a finalist for many awards, it didn’t win any.
Later I learned that some committee members dinged it because it didn’t have a coming out story. Ash is a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, but being queer in her world is normal, so she doesn’t need to come out. Some people thought it was unrealistic. Note: It’s a fantasy novel.
My most recent book, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, has done better out of the gate than any of my other novels, including Ash. LNatTC has received 7 starred reviews (!!) and hit the Indie Bestsellers list for two weeks in a row! (Not the NYT though.)
This has made me very happy, but I’m under no illusions. This book would not have been a success at any time in the past 14 years of my career. First, I wouldn’t have had the skills to write this book until now. It was hard.
But also, LNatTC is about a queer Chinese American girl. This is not a type that’s generally found in bestsellers. And the book has queer sex in it. It doesn’t fade to black. This probably would’ve kept it out of school libraries until very recently.
And it doesn’t shy away from its cultural roots. I mean, there is Chinese in it. Literally, 中文 in character form. Until the last couple of years, all non-English words in YA were italicized to call out their foreignness.
I’m thrilled that LNatTC has been doing so well, but I know that this success comes out of decades of fighting a system that has traditionally prevented books like it from being published. I see the changes that have happened since I started my career and I’m very heartened.
At the same time, countless authors of color and queer authors have had their work marginalized for so long — and maybe they haven’t had a spouse like mine to support them financially — so they likely gave up. We’ve lost so many talented writers to this system.
I hope LNatTC continues to be a success, but I often remind myself that success is in the eye of the beholder. Hitting the NYT list doesn’t equal success, and nor does winning an award. Many excellent books never got either of those kudos but were still deeply meaningful to readers.
