Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

which specialized in

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of

LGBT literature LGBT literature may refer to: * Lesbian literature * Gay literature * Bisexual literature * Transgender literature * Or any other literature featuring the LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community ...

" and "the home of award-winning books in the areas of

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...

, history, humor, commercial fiction, mystery, and

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...

, among many others".Weise 2009.

History

Founded in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

in 1980 by

Sasha Alyson Sasha Alyson (born May 22, 1952) is an American writer and businessman who started Alyson Publications in 1979. He later founded the Boston gay and lesbian newspaper '' Bay Windows'' (1983), the travel company Alyson Adventures (1995) and Big Bro ...

, Alyson Publications began in 1990 to sell LGBT-themed children's books, entitled ''Alyson Wonderland''. It was acquired by Liberation Publications in 1995 and sold to Regent Entertainment Media, Inc. in 2008, and in November, as Alyson Books, named Don Weise its publisher. He has written of his commitment to Alyson's traditional areas of specialisation, but has stated that he is keen also to embrace "more serious nonfiction—particularly in the areas of

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

, politics,

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

, and autobiography—as well as

literary fiction Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction or serious fiction is a label that, in the book trade, refers to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre (see genre fiction); or, otherwise, refers to novels that are ch ...

and works by today's most respected LGBT authors." In 2010, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' announced that Alyson Books would switch to digital (e-book) publishing only, with plans to convert backlist titles in this fashion.Anon.
"Alyson Books Will Restructure as E-book Only House; Weise Leaves"
''Publishers Weekly'', October 1, 2010. Don Weise left Alyson at that time. As of 2019, the URL for the Alyson Books website produces a "DNS resolution error" message.

Some books published by Alyson

* "Gay Old Girls" (ISBN ‎ 1555834760) by Zsa Zsa Gershick (Joshua Irving Gershick) * "Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military" (ISBN 0739454234) by Zsa Zsa Gershick (Joshua Irving Gershick) *''Death Trick'' (), by Richard Stevenson *''101 Gay Sex Secrets Revealed'' (), by Jonathan Bass *''How to Get Laid: The Gay Man's Essential Guide to Hot Sex'' (), by Jonathan Bass *''

Finding H.F. ''Finding H.F.'' is a 2001 young adult novel by Julia Watts, published by Alyson Books. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult fiction that same year. Set in the Deep South, it describes the experience of being a lesbian t ...

'' (), a young adult novel by Julia Watts *'' Young, Gay and Proud'' (), edited by Sasha Alyson and Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher *The ''

Dykes to Watch Out For ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' (sometimes ''DTWOF'') was a weekly comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as impor ...

'' comic strip by

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her Graphic novel, graphic memoir ''Fun ...

* ''Lesbian Lists: A Look at Lesbian Culture, History, and Personalities'' () by Dell Richards (1990) *''The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader'' (), edited by

Pat Califia Patrick Califia (born 1954; formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice) is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transiti ...

and Robin Sweeney *''Melting Point'' (), short stories by

*''Doing it for Daddy'' (), short stories by

*'' Macho Sluts'' (), erotic fiction by

*''Doc and Fluff'' (), a novel by

*'' Latter Days'' (), novelization by T. Fabris for the 2003 major motion picture of the same name *''The First Gay Pope and Other Records'', by Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher *''The Femme Mystique'' (), short stories edited by Lesléa Newman *''Pillow Talk'' (), short stories edited by Lesléa Newman *''Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache'' (),

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

bestseller and 2004

Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted ...

finalist, edited by Clint Catalyst and

Michelle Tea Michelle Tea (born Michelle Tomasik, 1971) is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, sex work, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachu ...

*The ''Lillian Byrd'' crime fiction series, by Elizabeth Sims *'' Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology'' (), edited by Amy Sonnie *''The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement'', by Stuart Timmons *''

Half-Life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...

'', a novel by Aaron Krach *''Out on Fraternity Row: Personal Accounts of Being Gay in a College Fraternity'', by Shane Windmeyer *''Secret Sisters: Stories of Being Lesbian & Bisexual in a College Sorority'' *''Best Lesbian Love Stories, 2003–2005'', edited by Angela Brown *''Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer'', edited by Angela Brown *''Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections of New Orleans'', edited by Greg Herren and Paul J. Willis—winner 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Anthologyhttp://www.lambdaliterary.org/ Lambda Literary Foundation *'' Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out'' (), edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Kaʻahumanu *''The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe'', by Michael Szymanski and

Nicole Kristal Nicole Kristal is a script coordinator and founder of the #StillBisexual campaign. She is the coauthor with Mike Szymanski of ''The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe'', which received the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature The Lambda ...

—winner 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual *''Entangled Lives: Memoirs of 7 Top Erotica Writers'' (), edited by

Marilyn Jaye Lewis Marilyn Jaye Lewis (born July 22, 1960 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American writer and editor of novels, short stories, memoirs, screenplays and teleplays. Lewis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s. Lewis began writing during her preteen years. ...

*
First You Fall
' a novel by Scott Sherman, winner of the Lambda Literary Foundation Award, 2009, Best Gay Mystery *''Girl Meets Girl: A Dating Survival Guide'' 2007 () by Diana Cage *''One Teenager in 10'' (), edited by Ann Heron

References

* Weise, Don.
Welcome to Alyson Books
" ''Alyson Books''. (accessed May 13, 2009).

External links

* {{Here Media Inc. 1980 establishments in Massachusetts Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Defunct book publishing companies of the United States Feminist book publishing companies LGBT book publishing companies LGBT-related mass media in the United States Publishing companies established in 1980