Please tell us a little about yourself and your work. 

I’m a biracial gay femme. My mother was a mail-order bride from the Philippines; my father was originally from Texas. The Queen of Gay Street is about how I escaped a dysfunctional upbringing and came to New York to become the first lesbian writer with a sex-and-dating column for a small magazine. Unexpectedly, my editor at the time was another woman who had also lived through a lot of excessive trauma. We ended up having a tempestuous tryst where we had to confront what we lived through, both finding and losing ourselves as young women in New York.

Was your storyline something that you envisioned from the beginning, or did you build/change it as you wrote your novel?

The Queen of Gay Street sprang from a writing workshop led by Susan Shapiro. She had an exercise: to write about the most humiliating moment in your life. I wrote about the time I caught the editor I was dating at a bar with another woman, who was also an editor for a large magazine. She mocked me for being a low-budget sex blogger before going home with my ex. Sue loved it, so I kept writing and used a screenwriting technique: It was a three-act structure and had the same proportion of narrative beats as a script. Whenever someone says the book reads like a movie, I think that’s why.

Any advice for others starting the process of independent publishing?

Fully explore all distribution and pricing options so you can adjust your sales strategies accordingly. Also, stay true to yourself. I struggled for a long time to get this book published. I tried to tell publishers and agents that it was like a grittier, edgier Sex and the City. They said there was “no market for LGBT romance.” Eventually, I decided to commit to my vision and not let the idea that my voice might be underrepresented discourage me. One editor said I would “never sell a single copy of this book.” I’ve now sold thousands of copies internationally.

How did you create/acquire the cover art? 

First, I created focus groups and found the biggest fans of the book were women in their 20s and 50s. I found this funny because my book is so raunchy! My cousin said, “It’s because younger women want to go on these adventures. Older women fondly remember when they had them.” With this in mind, I thought about how nostalgia would speak to these two generations. I contacted a book designer and said I wanted a Valley of the Dolls throwback with a nude pink—so that it looked a little edgy and mature—and to add leopard print from one of the scenes in my book. I knew it would attract a younger demographic while keeping a classic look.

How have you built your audience? 

Mainly through social media! When I pitched this book, I said fans of Sarah Jessica Parker would probably like it even if they identified as heterosexual. I would estimate that roughly half of my readers are women who identify as queer and half who identify as straight. I get all kinds of letters every day. Some are queer readers who relate to the story; others want to understand a child who just came out as gay. Some are women questioning their sexuality later on in life and need advice. I try to respond to every single message and letter because I am deeply grateful to readers who have supported me and helped me beat the odds.

Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity.