Aiden Thomas is the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys and the first openly trans author to hit the fiction bestseller list with a trans main character. He built one of the most dedicated readerships in YA fantasy largely without a marketing budget by talking about his characters online for six months straight before the book ever came out.

Avi and Yas get into how Aiden writes trans characters without flattening them, why bringing your full intersectional identity to your work is a creative advantage, and how publishers manufacture the myth that queer stories don't sell.

This episode goes deep on the business of YA publishing, what it took to get Cemetery Boys out there, and how Aiden is supporting trans, queer, and BIPOC writers trying to make it in an industry built against them. 

For listeners into trans books, LGBTQ publishing, queer YA fantasy, or the business side of traditional publishing, this one's worth your time.