LGBTQ+ authors report falling royalties amid US bans
Several authors told The Hill that income from LGBTQ+ titles has declined over the past year
By Callum Wells
LGBTQ+ authors in the US are reporting falling royalties as book bans continue to reshape the publishing market, particularly in children’s and young adult fiction.
According to The Hill, writers, agents and editors say the political climate following the return of Donald Trump as president in 2025 has had a direct impact on how queer books are acquired, marketed and sold.
Several authors told the outlet that income from LGBTQ+ titles has declined over the past year.
The pressure is most acute in publishing for younger readers. Book challenges have overwhelmingly targeted children’s and young adult titles, creating commercial risk for publishers that rely on schools and libraries.
Irene Vázquez says wholesalers are “more hesitant” to buy LGBTQ+ books for schools and libraries
Figures from PEN America underline the scale of the issue. During the 2023-2024 school year, the organisation tracked more than 10,000 book bans across the US. Many focused on books by Black authors and LGBTQ+ writers. In the following school year, nearly 7,000 bans were identified across eighty-seven school districts.
While some banned books have seen short-term sales increases, those gains have not offset wider losses in the school and library market. One bookseller told The Hill that sales of queer novels remain steady. Others said that stability has not translated into confidence from publishers.
Young adult novelist and LGBTQ Reads creator Dahlia Adler said publishers are increasingly backing projects they believe are unlikely to be challenged.
Irene Vázquez, an associate editor at independent publisher Levine Querido, said children’s and YA publishers depend heavily on wholesalers supplying schools and libraries. Those wholesalers, she said, have become “more hesitant” to buy LGBTQ+ books.
“I think that language is kind of being more intentionally left out to keep it from being a target” – Dahlia Adler on fewer queer YA novel announcements
Author Adib Khorram said his royalty payments dropped by seventy percent following bans affecting his work, including Darius the Great is Not Okay. He told The Hill that many queer authors have turned towards adult fiction as a result. While he plans to continue writing for young readers, he said the situation “has certainly led to more anxiety about how I will pay my bills.”
Literary agent and author Rebecca Podos said editors have explicitly cited market pressures when rejecting queer books. “This is the first year in like a decade that I’ve had [rejection] responses from editors specifically citing that it’s difficult to place queer books in stores,” she said.
Adler also said she has noticed fewer public announcements of new queer YA novels and changes in how they are described. “I think that language is kind of being more intentionally left out to keep it from being a target,” she said.
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