Years ago, when I helped manage a small literary bookstore in NYC, there were many debates held among the store’s employees on whether “gay fiction” should be its own subsection.
I always argued against the idea — why a book ghetto? And besides, what exactly is “gay fiction?” Is it a book by a gay author, no matter what the subject matter? (Gore Vidal’s Lincoln? Proust’s In Search of Lost Time?) Is it a book with gay characters? How does one define it? And why would one want to separate it from all the other fiction?
via Does Women’s Fiction Need a Shelf of Its Own? | Publishing Perspectives.