Went through a list of tradepub books by transfem authors (by tradepub I mean big 5 imprints, not small presses) and wow there actually are not a lot, esp after you move away from nonfiction.
August 22, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Went through a list of tradepub books by transfem authors (by tradepub I mean big 5 imprints, not small presses) and wow there actually are not a lot, esp after you move away from nonfiction.
Yeah the disparity in explicitness and kinks in tradepub sapphic sff vs self-published lesbian sff is like, unbelievable. We're doing monsterfucking, fisting, 'probably not survivable for most humans' etc and tradepub sapphic books are like 'they hold hands'.
March 6, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Yeah the disparity in explicitness and kinks in tradepub sapphic sff vs self-published lesbian sff is like, unbelievable. We're doing monsterfucking, fisting, 'probably not survivable for most humans' etc and tradepub sapphic books are like 'they hold hands'.
Lmao not two tradepub releases using the same art.
March 4, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Lmao not two tradepub releases using the same art.
Lolol tradepub novella for $13 for the ebook. Absolutely not.
September 30, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Lolol tradepub novella for $13 for the ebook. Absolutely not.
Realized that I don't actually have to keep reading this tradepub title when I could be reading @trishusband.itch.io's trans lesbian cyberpunk noir instead.
October 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Realized that I don't actually have to keep reading this tradepub title when I could be reading @trishusband.itch.io's trans lesbian cyberpunk noir instead.
Whoa I'm finally enjoying a tradepub possibly lesbian fantasy book. Will wait and see how I feel about 30% in before I commit to praise though.
December 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Whoa I'm finally enjoying a tradepub possibly lesbian fantasy book. Will wait and see how I feel about 30% in before I commit to praise though.
People who think tradepub writers have 'collective bargaining power' are so delusional they might as well live in a different reality.
July 31, 2025 at 6:16 PM
People who think tradepub writers have 'collective bargaining power' are so delusional they might as well live in a different reality.
There's a primness to even the lesbian stuff from tradepub that feels so... constricting and boring.
October 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
There's a primness to even the lesbian stuff from tradepub that feels so... constricting and boring.
That includes authors billed as 'lyrical', a lot of what passes for 'lyrical' in tradepub SFF these days is really, really, really bad.
August 5, 2025 at 3:49 PM
That includes authors billed as 'lyrical', a lot of what passes for 'lyrical' in tradepub SFF these days is really, really, really bad.
Once again proving that tradepub sadly does not mean quality, and small press doesn't mean a lack of quality either.
November 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Once again proving that tradepub sadly does not mean quality, and small press doesn't mean a lack of quality either.
yeah even tradepub lesbian cannibalism is just super tame
April 25, 2026 at 9:12 PM
yeah even tradepub lesbian cannibalism is just super tame
So many omg so sapphic tradepub books have reviews that tend to run toward 'why was this advertised as a sapphic romance? there's barely any in it', 'how come most of the focus is on the M/M or M/F couple when this was marketed as sapphic?'
October 22, 2025 at 7:46 AM
So many omg so sapphic tradepub books have reviews that tend to run toward 'why was this advertised as a sapphic romance? there's barely any in it', 'how come most of the focus is on the M/M or M/F couple when this was marketed as sapphic?'
Btw the 350 copies become much funnier when you realize that B&N typically orders two copies of your average tradepub midlist title per location, not hundreds, not even dozens.
May 7, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Btw the 350 copies become much funnier when you realize that B&N typically orders two copies of your average tradepub midlist title per location, not hundreds, not even dozens.
Tradepub picking up breakout self-published books (typically hetslop) has the knock-on effect of there being literally fewer slots for books published the 'normal' way. Sort of interesting but suggests publishers are more risk-averse than ever: they prefer to invest in books with built-in audiences.
November 9, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Tradepub picking up breakout self-published books (typically hetslop) has the knock-on effect of there being literally fewer slots for books published the 'normal' way. Sort of interesting but suggests publishers are more risk-averse than ever: they prefer to invest in books with built-in audiences.
Not dunking and I like litfic too, but nowhere in lesbian tradepub can I find the level of violence, cannibalism (I'm sorry but Starving Saints is soooooo tame), explicit sex with esoteric kinks, and the mix of existential horror etc I can find in selfpub. Lesbian SFF in trade is 99% sexless.
I feel like people criticize trad unfairly and they never even read it. I read about 200 books a year, mostly trad because I prefer a weird, literary style and genre romance is top-heavy in self-pub. Most are queer, by women, or POC. Most sapphic books are written by women. They're out there!
April 27, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Not dunking and I like litfic too, but nowhere in lesbian tradepub can I find the level of violence, cannibalism (I'm sorry but Starving Saints is soooooo tame), explicit sex with esoteric kinks, and the mix of existential horror etc I can find in selfpub. Lesbian SFF in trade is 99% sexless.
They are still in control #Aliens, #WritingCommunity, #BookSky, #EduSky, #Readers, #ArtHistory, #Writing #Art #HistoricalFiction #WriteSky #WriteLife #TradePub #BookLovers #book #BlueSky #booksky #arthistory www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS8SN6R3 Who are they? #AmDrafting #MustRead
Enki & Enlil: My Brother, My Enemy
Enki & Enlil: My Brother, My Enemy [Oputa, Sam] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Enki & Enlil: My Brother, My Enemy
www.amazon.com
December 1, 2024 at 2:45 PM
They are still in control #Aliens, #WritingCommunity, #BookSky, #EduSky, #Readers, #ArtHistory, #Writing #Art #HistoricalFiction #WriteSky #WriteLife #TradePub #BookLovers #book #BlueSky #booksky #arthistory www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS8SN6R3 Who are they? #AmDrafting #MustRead
Tradepub be like, a burly, battle-scarred she-orc meets a succubus and they kiss in the last scene before we fade to black. 💀
March 6, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Tradepub be like, a burly, battle-scarred she-orc meets a succubus and they kiss in the last scene before we fade to black. 💀
Kinda funny that On Sundays She Picked Flowers is the only recent tradepub SFF/horror release I genuinely liked and whose prose blows it out of the water, and the book started off self-published.
February 26, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Kinda funny that On Sundays She Picked Flowers is the only recent tradepub SFF/horror release I genuinely liked and whose prose blows it out of the water, and the book started off self-published.
Still VERY pleased that @jemma.bsky.social won against tradepub authors--not because I think her competition wasn't good, but because she publishes with far less support (and money) than her counterparts. A Rotten Girl hit hard, and hit at the right moment.
Over 275 authors, editors, critics and diehard readers came together over the last month to vote on their favorite transfeminine books of the year.
It's my honor to present the 2025 TFR Reader's Choice Awards!
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted 🩷
It's my honor to present the 2025 TFR Reader's Choice Awards!
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted 🩷
The 2025 TFR Reader’s Choice Awards
Over 275 authors, critics, editors, and readers came together to vote on their favorite transfeminine literature of 2025.
thetransfemininereview.com
January 1, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Still VERY pleased that @jemma.bsky.social won against tradepub authors--not because I think her competition wasn't good, but because she publishes with far less support (and money) than her counterparts. A Rotten Girl hit hard, and hit at the right moment.
Still thinking about how tradepub SFF really cannot go as hard as, like, Kimmy or A Quiet Universe. Occasionally they put out some vaguely lesbian thing that's 'sicko' but the thing will be so tame that even its cannibalism is kind of boring.
March 11, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Still thinking about how tradepub SFF really cannot go as hard as, like, Kimmy or A Quiet Universe. Occasionally they put out some vaguely lesbian thing that's 'sicko' but the thing will be so tame that even its cannibalism is kind of boring.
It's hard to articulate, but in many many ways you'll almost never find a story like this in tradepub (excepting, maybe, Wrath Goddess Sing?), though of course Madalithea's a character with far humbler beginnings than Achilles.
May 29, 2026 at 9:10 PM
It's hard to articulate, but in many many ways you'll almost never find a story like this in tradepub (excepting, maybe, Wrath Goddess Sing?), though of course Madalithea's a character with far humbler beginnings than Achilles.
actually a growing sub-genre in tradepub! horrormance I think
October 23, 2025 at 5:45 AM
actually a growing sub-genre in tradepub! horrormance I think
If even tradepub authors with their big book deals and corporate apparatuses to shield them say 'CWs will paint a target on me for harassment and book bans' (the one they're trying to cancel on Threads got death threats the one time she put in CWs), you have to understand why many would rather not.
March 21, 2026 at 9:25 AM
If even tradepub authors with their big book deals and corporate apparatuses to shield them say 'CWs will paint a target on me for harassment and book bans' (the one they're trying to cancel on Threads got death threats the one time she put in CWs), you have to understand why many would rather not.
Nothing in trade is doing anything like Fleet and Fabricant or Kimmy, it's not even close. Genre lesbian tradepub is largely sexless and defanged outside of maybe horror. A lot of the 'sapphic' litfic meantime is just women fucking men for 99% of the text after looking at another woman one time.
April 27, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Nothing in trade is doing anything like Fleet and Fabricant or Kimmy, it's not even close. Genre lesbian tradepub is largely sexless and defanged outside of maybe horror. A lot of the 'sapphic' litfic meantime is just women fucking men for 99% of the text after looking at another woman one time.
THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING. Of course it is. The princess loves her ass getting eaten, no tradepub place would take that.
March 6, 2025 at 8:03 PM
THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING. Of course it is. The princess loves her ass getting eaten, no tradepub place would take that.