Well, that's one hell of a niche market...

There are a couple of freelance writing websites I check every day to see if anyone has good/interesting/appropriate assignments available. Most days the pickings are pretty slim or focused on an area I can't - or won't - handle, like writing research papers for lazy college students to buy off the web. No thanks. No way. One publisher is always out there begging for people to write short stories about poker. All I know is what I pick up from watching Dave Foley and Phil Gordon comment on Celebrity Poker Showdown, and that's probably not enough for me to actually write something that works. (Note to Wil Wheaton: if you're really bored, there's a publisher looking for you...)

Today, however, there were some interesting offers on the table, one of which I'm going after, aggressively. This is not that offer. Although, this is... fascinating...

Japanese Gay Romance Manga Writers

Yaoi Press publishes graphic novels. These are thick, soft-cover, digest-sized comic books. Our books are drawn in the Japanese "manga" style. Our stories all fall into a niche Japanese genre called 'yaoi' that is popular with women in the United States. Yaoi is romantic stories about guys in love with other guys for women readers.

This is popular with women in the United States? Where?!? I'm not knocking Japanese gay romance comic books - I'm just curious about the American women who dig 'em.

Family-friendly Yaoi.
(BTW, there are some colorful Yaoi images out there on Google, I've just discovered. And not all of them are cartoon ones... I think I've had my gay porn quotient filled for the next decade. Maybe longer. Probably longer. Definitely longer.)

Who are you chicks? Are you reading this stuff on the way to work? Do you have a book club? Oprah's Japanese Gay Romance Comic Club? Enquiring minds really, really want to know.

I'd laugh myself silly if it turned out the core Yaoi readership consisted of housewives in Utah. But I highly doubt that's the case...