This was a question that Bonnie Dee posed to me the other day, and my answer is…I’m not sure.

Bonnie wrote in an email to me:

… I realize m/m romances haven’t made strong inroads into brick and mortar stores, so the question might not apply there. I actually have no idea where they’re shelved in a regular bookstore. The question arose from my own website. I was redesigning my backlist library, which is separated by genre since I write in many different ones.

I realized I had the m/m books in a group of their own even though the titles could be classified under scifi/fantasy, contemporary and anthology (and soon some historicals). I started to consider whether I shouldn’t shelve them with their correct genre, but it doesn’t seem to make sense since some readers are specifically looking for same sex books. Why make it hard for them to locate them?

Anyway, that’s what brought to mind the whole issue of separation by shelving and what it says about the way we view certain groups, whether it be by race or sexual orientation. When is it all right to group separately as simply a sensible business move and when is it insensitive?

Certainly it would be easier for MM readers to find MM books if they were shelved separately, but isn’t that the same argument that people use in the shelving-by-colour debate? Doesn’t this otherise (made-up word alert!) gay and lesbian relationships, and how is segregating by sexual preference any different to segregating by colour?

I would love to ruminate longer on this, but quite frankly, I don’t have the time right now, so I’ll open the floor to you guys. What do you think? Does it genuinely make good business sense to shelve gay romance books separately?

Shiloh Walker is offering to dedicate her next to book to a reader, in exchange for them donating to the Haiti Earthquake fund:

Okay, so I want to do something to help raise money for Haiti.

Here’s the thing… I try to do auctions thru ebay sometimes, but that’s not going to work this time… I’ve only got one ARC in the house and it’s already got an owner-just haven’t mailed it out.

ARCs are the best way to generate money on ebay and it will be months before I have another one.

So how about this instead…

I can dedicate a book to anybody I want.
And if you’ll help out Haiti, you can get a chance to have your name mentioned in the book’s dedication.

How?

Like this…donate a minimum of $5 to your online disaster relief charity of choice. Please note, this is for disaster relief… while I love the polar bear, the polar bear isn’t affected by the crisis in Haiti. If you’re not sure where to start, you can check out the charities listed at Charity Navigator:

Helping the Victims of the Haiti Earthquake

I love Charity Navigator-I like seeing how much money is actually going to the programs and stuff-the site is awesome for that.

Post HERE that you donated…all you gotta say is I DONATED! Or along those lines…*G* It helps stir up fun when people see who all is getting involved. But you also need to email me the info at contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com. A PDF of the receipt or a screen cap works (block out sensitive data) or you can XXX out the personal data and forward the email receipt to me, however you prefer. I don’t share emails and once the contest is over, I delete them. Please put Help out Haiti in the subject line.

Everybody who donates and follows the above guidelines will entered into a drawing and if your name is drawn, your name (first name only if you wish, first and last, first name, last initial-we’ll discuss that with the winner) will be mentioned in the dedication of Hunter’s Fall, and the winner will receive a signed copy when the book comes out. But since it’s going to be a while before Hunter’s Fall is out and I think the winner should get something a little bit sooner, I’ll also send the winner 2 signed copies of Broken-one of the winner, and one personalized for the friend of their choice, once I get my author copies.