A provocative and polarizing--yet often deadly funny--book that takes the Pussyhat Project and the Women's March to one of society's most powerful forces for influence and change, the publishing industry.

By all appearances, publishing is an open-to-all endeavor. But for female authors and authors of color and LGBT authors, for authors who write about women or people of color or individuals in the LGBT community, entry is all but barred.

Writing While Female or Black or Gay, written by a publishing professional with twenty years of experience, describes how the books women write are treated differently from representation through to marketing and remaindering, how authors of color are not allowed to write what is dearest to their hearts, and how LGBT authors are ghettoized.

In the footsteps of influential authors like Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Jessica Valenti, Tracie Egan Morrissey, Jennifer Pozner, Roxane Gay, Malala Yousafzai and Jill Filipovic, this work provides actionable steps.

Through incredibly simple actions, anyone concerned about gender equality, true diversity, and the rights of every human being can fix the problems. Writing While Female or Black or Gay includes:

• An unflinching description of the lack of diversity in publishing today.
• Studies and statistics about the lack of support for books by and about women, people of color, and LGBT people.
• How the adult and juvenile markets parse underrepresented authors and characters into inaccurate categories.
• Ways that even blind judging of awards is impacted by inherent prejudice.
• The twisted logic behind higher numbers of female authors in the juvenile market...and the shocking segregation of support that primarily benefits the status quo.

Every person who has marched or resisted racism and stereotypes can pick up this book and immediately begin reverse engineering the publishing industry. Diverse voices need to be heard today more than ever. Hear the call to action that can open the gates for a better world in Writing While Female or Black or Gay. Because, as Gloria Steinem says, "The only thing worse than trying is not trying."

Laine Cunningham writes literary novels in the absurdist, speculative, and historical categories. Her books have received the Hackney Literary Award, the James Jones Literary Society Fellowship, Writer's Digest's annual ebook award, and honors from national and international art councils. Her short stories have won the 2016 Hackney Award and been published by Reed literary magazine and Birmingham Arts Journal.

For over twenty years, she has been a ghostwriter and publishing consultant. Her clients have appeared on leading programs like The Today Show and The Dr. Oz Show, been published at the nation's top five houses, and been shopped to Disney and Pixar.