Since 2011, I've been tracking the number of young adult books about LGBTQ characters. Here are my statistics from 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, as well as an overview of LGBT YA published by mainstream publishers from 2003–13. I took a break in 2015 and 2016, but this year I've decided to update my statistics to include the last two years. I have not calculated the numbers for 2017, since the year is not over yet.

Anyone who reads these posts can see that the topics I’ve been interested in unpacking have changed and focused, my methodology has been refined, and the language I’ve used to describe gender has changed as I’ve learned more and as the language itself has evolved. Before I begin, let me provide some context and background.

Terms and Sources

This year (2017) I've decided to update the acronym I use from LGBT to LGBTQ, reflecting its current usage in the NLGJA Stylebook. LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer.

I'm counting YA books with LGBTQ main characters, and by that I mean the following:

A young adult book with an LGBTQ main character, or YA book that has a plot primarily concerned with LGBTQ issues.

Some books have multiple main characters, and if one of that cast of primary characters is LGBTQ, I count that book as an LGBTQ YA book (e.g., The Midnight Star by Marie Lu).

In the cases of books about LGBTQ issues, those issues typically focus around a straight person’s relationship with an LGBTQ person who comes out to them (e.g., Skyscraping by Cordelia Jenson).

I do not include YA books with supporting LGBTQ characters (e.g., Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert) because I'm focused on books where the LGBTQ person is the star of the story, but I recognize that the dividing line between supporting and main can be pretty blurry.

I do not include YA books that have subtextual gay story lines (e.g., Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul) because I’m focused on books where the gay story line is overt. In other words, I’m tracking openly gay YA.

For all the reasons above, I may have omitted some YA titles that others would count as “LGBTQ YA,” either on purpose or by accident.

The list of books that I've identified as LGBTQ YA comes from several sources. Thanks first of all to the American Library Association's Rainbow List, particularly the chairs of the 2016 and 2017 committees, for sharing with me their raw data on LGBTQ YA titles published in 2015 and 2016. Thanks also to Rob Bittner for helping me out with this. I cross-referenced this raw data with Amanda MacGregor's blog posts on "What’s New in LGBTQIA+ YA" at Teen Librarian Toolbox. The websites LGBTQ Reads and YA Pride (formerly known as Gay YA) were also valuable resources. Finally, in order to determine whether a book met the criteria for my analysis, I cross-checked the book's jacket copy with numerous book reviews on the internet. It's simply impossible for me to read them all. I take full responsibility for any errors or omissions in my counting, and if you find any errors or omissions, I invite you to email me at mlo@malindalo.com so that I can make a correction.

I'm primarily interested in tracking YA books published by mainstream publishers. By "mainstream" I mean the Big 5 publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon and Schuster); major publishers Disney Book Group, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Scholastic; and general interest publishers that do not focus on LGBT books.

General interest publishers range in size from tiny independent presses to relatively large educational publishers. For 2015-16, the general interest publishers include: Abrams Books, Adaptive Books, Akashic Books, Albert Whitman Teen, Arsenal Pulp, Asymmetrical Press, Candlewick, Chronicle Books, Drawn and Quarterly, Dreaming Robot Press, Entangled: Crush, Evernight Teen, Flux, Harlequin Teen, Jolly Fish Press, Lerner Publishing Groups, Luminis Books, Pen Name Publishing, Riverdale Avenue Books, Running Press, Sky Pony Press, Soho Teen, Sourcebooks Fire, Spencer Hill Press, and Three Rooms Press.

I've also been interested in looking at how major commercial publishers publish LGBTQ YA books. These are the biggest publishers in the world, and they publish the books you're most likely to find in your local Barnes & Noble. They include the Big 5 publishers, as well as the following three large publishers: Disney Book Group, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Scholastic. When I refer to "major publishers," these are the publishers I mean.

Since 2014, I've chosen to not analyze the output of LGBTQ publishers because my interest lies in analyzing mainstream representation of LGBTQ characters. LGBTQ presses still play an important role in producing stories about LGBTQ experiences, and for those who are interested in looking at how LGBTQ presses represent LGBTQ experiences, I encourage you to visit Bold Strokes Books, Dreamspinner Press, Harmony Ink Press, Interlude Press, and Riptide Publishing. Several recent YA books published by LGBTQ presses have received critical acclaim, including Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee (Duet, an imprint of Interlude) and Gravity by Juliann Rich (Bold Strokes Books), which were both Lambda Award Finalists; and The History of Us by Nyrae Dawn (Harmony Ink Press), which was on the 2015 Rainbow List.

How Many LGBTQ YA books were published?

In 2015, mainstream publishers published

54 LGBTQ YA books.

In 2016, mainstream publishers published

79 LGBTQ YA books.

These numbers have increased significantly since 2003, when my data set begins. Among mainstream publishers (all publishers except LGBTQ publishers), the numbers have risen sharply since 2014.