I did not think of it as a “gay novel”-I merely hoped that many people would read it. I had run into other closeted amateur athletes Athletes gay and lesbian like myself and realized that the subject of gays in sports was a powerful one, still unexplored. It came out of my experiences as a long-distance runner. In late 1972, in my own closet, I started writing The Front Runner on my lunch hours. They did not see it as the certifiable GLBT-only demographic of today, complete with hard figures on spendable income. Initially, I think, publishers saw this market as a fuzzier, more generalized crossover phenomenon: anybody, gay or straight, who would buy a gay book. “Niche marketing” Marketing and GLBT books had been emerging, and the “gay book niche” would likely be profitable. In the early 1970’s, as the post-Stonewall GLBT-rights movement gained momentum and more Americans realized that GLBT political issues were here to stay, the big publishers finally took a giant step. It was the small, hip, independent houses, notably Grove Press, that started publishing edgier works such as John Rechy’s City of Night (1963). Fire from Heaven (Renault) Under this policy, gay and lesbian pulp fiction had flourished since the 1950’s. Big publishers positioned important works such as Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar (1948) City and the Pillar, The (Vidal) as “art.” Or they stuck to safer subjects-like ancient times, as in Mary Renault’s Fire from Heaven (1969). One could not use the “G” word or “L” word on the cover. Unwritten rules dictated how-and if-they would be presented, marketed, and published. Front Runner Makes The New York Times Best-Seller List, The (1974) New York Times Best-Seller List, The Front Runner Makes The (1974) Best-Seller List, The Front Runner Makes The New York Times (1974) Front Runner, The (Warren) Literature gay Publishing and gay books New York Times best-seller list, and first gay novel on Literature 1974: The Front Runner Makes The New York Times Best-Seller List Publications 1974: The Front Runner Makes The New York Times Best-Seller List Warren, Patricia Nell Hawkins, JohnĪfter World War II, gay- and lesbian-themed fiction had emerged low key. So I was positioned to see the trend develop.

The digest staff reviewed virtually every English-language title, searching for material to condense. Since 1964, I had been working at Reader’s Digest as a book editor. publishing industry was starting to promote gay- and lesbian-themed books openly.

The manuscript of my novel The Front Runner happened to be in the right place at the right time in 1973, when the U.S. The first gay-themed novel to make The New York Times best-seller list, The Front Runner helped open the door for publishers to promote other gay and lesbian books.

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