Aspec Releases Submission Form
Hello! If you're here, I assume you're looking to let me know about your upcoming aspec book release or crowdfunding campaign. Thanks so much for letting me know about it!
I'm Dove Cooper, or S.L. Dove Cooper if you want my full pen name. I'm a demisexual and demiromantic author and I try to track book releases with major aromantic and asexual characters to help people find new reads.
How does this project work?
At the start of each month, I post a round-up of all the books with major intentional aspec representation I've heard or learned about that were released or are about to start crowdfunding. The details generally include the title, the author, the series (and series number), the summary and a general idea of the type of representation to expect. That way people can at least avoid picking up a book expecting no-spice alloromantic asexual representation and getting spicy allosexual aromantic representation.
The post breaks down into several sections:
- the releases for the past month, sorted by release day. (E.g. a post on May 1st will feature the books released in April.)
- any releases I missed in the month before, sorted alphabetically by title. (E.g. That post in May will also feature any books published in March that I missed in the previous post.)
- any active crowdfunding projects
- one older aspec book as a highlight
I didn't write this book, can I still submit it?
You can, but I'd prefer it if you passed a link to this form along to the author so they can fill it out.
The one thing I ask, if you're not the author, is that you include some link to where the author publicly mentions the representation. Interview, social media post, book description, that sort of thing. This generally helps me get a better idea of what to expect and whether the rep is major or not and it gives me something to offer to other readers who might want to do more research into what to expect themselves.
What counts as a major character?
Honestly, for the purposes of this list: any character that is considered central in the narrative for that particular book.
For ensemble casts, you could ask yourself any of the following questions to determine whether a character is central to the book:
- Would this character be considered part of the
Scooby Gang from
Buffy? If yes, they're a central character.
- Would this character's actor get listed as a regular in the title sequence of a show such as any Star Trek, any NCIS or similar? If yes, they're a central character. If they appear as a guest character or in the credits, they are not a central character for the purposes of this list.
- Does this character have as much presence and impact as Florence did in
Sex Education? If yes, they're not a central character. If "no, my character is more along the lines of Otis or Eric", they're a central character.
How this works for series is roughly this: Let's say book 1 has an aromantic lead and book 2 features that same character as a cameo. In that case only book 1 should be submitted. That's the book in which they have a major role.
Why don't you include those side characters like Florence? They're aspec too!
Yes, they are, but we deserve better than a throwaway line or scene that acknowledges our existence.
When it comes to specifically to books, we have several hundred books with major, deliberate aspec characters written across all genres, age groups and book formats to choose from. That isn't a large amount in the grand scheme of publishing, I know, but it's enough that we don't need to celebrate or include every scrap of visibility thrown our way.
In fact, doing so hurts us now that we have so many. I started tracking aspec releases in the late 00s and early 10s. Even though we have vastly more deliberate books now than we did back then, the discoverability and visibility of these books hasn't really grown along with it. If anything, it's decreased. That means that we have far more books vying for people's attention in the same (or a smaller) window than before.
As such, even though these side characters still matter, including them in a project like this one means the books with major representation can get drowned out. I'd rather have a month that lists only one or two titles with prominent representation that readers will walk away from feeling like they're worth telling stories about than one where I have a release every other day to look like we're getting a whole lot of representation and readers will walk away feeling disappointed.
What if the book doesn't explicitly mention the character's orientations?
That's fine! A book doesn't need to be about asexual or aromantic experiences to be listed and it doesn't need to use any of the words explicitly to be included. Implied representation is perfectly fine! (And, honestly, especially in SFF circles, the default.) If you can provide more details, you can add those as well.
Just remember that if you're not the author, some kind of link to where you got the information that a major character is aspec is deeply appreciated.
What if I don't know the release date yet?
Then you might not be able to submit it yet!
If you're tradpub, please submit it once you have a set release date.
If you're indie, please submit it when you have a set release date or you know the general window. (e.g. if you're aiming for "summer 2027" but haven't narrowed it down, just pick any date within that timeframe).
Mostly, I'd like a sense of the release date because I really don't want people to submit books that aren't in the stages of getting ready for publication. I love hearing about WIPs as much as the next person, but for the purposes of this list I need some idea of when this book will actually be available for people to buy.
Also, bear in mind that, unless you're running a crowdfunding campaign, books on the list were published in the preceding two months. Ish. So a post going live in September will include all the books I know were published in August and books published in July that I didn't hear about until August. If you've missed the window for your release date, you've got options!
What if my book is a novella, a book of poetry or a short story I released as a standalone?
What if my book is a collection or in an anthology and not every story in it has aspec rep?
Just tell me
which story (or stories) in the collection or anthology is aspec in the more info field and I'll include it. (If you're writing SFF, you may also want to reach out to Charles Payseur for his
Some Queer Short SFF series. He collects lists or queer short stories that came out each month.)
What if I'm running a crowdfunding campaign?
Give me the date you're planning to run the campaign as the release date. These will be included as makes sense for the duration of your campaign and when you publish. Sadly, this means that if you have a campaign that runs from August 1st to August 30th and I learn about it on August 10, it won't make sense to include your campaign in the next post round-up because it's already concluded.
What if my campaign funded and I still accept late pledges?
If you accept late pledges when the next post will go live, then yes by all means let me know! But do, please, make sure they are actually pledges counting towards your stretch goals and not preorders.