Big books, big bucks.

Major publishers are paying whopping advances for books by gay and lesbian stars, but are readers getting their money's worth?

"Nineteen ninety-six was not a banner year for gay and lesbian publishing," says Nancy Bereano, owner of the lesbian press Firebrand Books. "There were more gay books from major publishing houses but fewer tides that did well or were worth reading."

While Bereano and other industry insiders are pleased that gay and lesbian books had a higher profile this year - with the success of gay memoirs like David Mixner's Stranger Among Friends and gay-authored novels like Sapphire's Push and Andrew Holleran's The Beauty of Men - they're worried about the long-term effects of several new trends in gay publishing. The advent of more six-figure advances to writers, the commercial failure of several big gay floes, and the "de-gaying" of some lesbian authors top a long list of concerns.

Yet others see these trends as the growing pains of an emerging mainstream market for gay books. "Publishers always pay too much for books," insists Michael Denneny, senior editor at St. Martin's Press. "If gay books didn't earn back their advances this year, it doesn't mean the big houses won't buy gay books next year. Publishers are stupid. They rarely learn from their mistakes."

For Denneny, it's all part of the "Hollywoodization" of publishing. "It's the same blockbuster complex that runs the movie industry," he says. "And it's not exclusive to gay books. Publishers are paying bigger numbers for fewer tides across the board. Then they're spending more to market the book in a really huge way."

Perhaps the biggest superstar to emerge from this phenomenon is lesbian writer Sapphire, whose debut novel, Push, was bought by Knopf for an astronomical $500,000. "I don't think anyone thought they were going to sell that many books when they brought it in," says Bereano, who liked the book but thought it would have benefitted from stronger editing. "How do you spend that much and not have a good editor involved? Sapphire didn't get the help she needed."

This sort of overspending has to affect the quality of books, says lesbian writer-activist Torie Osborn. "Once a publisher invests that much money in building an author into a superstar, they have to reinvest in that author," she says. "They have to publish his or her next book, even if it's not good."

The real danger in large advances, according to literary agent Jed Mattes, is that there's still a limited market for gay books. "If a book doesn't recoup its investment," he says, "that's one more reason a major publisher won't bring in another gay title next year."

The advance paid for Push - a novel with a secondary lesbian character - may well narrow the field for other gay writers. "Rather than bringing in ten new authors at $25,000 each," Osborn says, "the trend is to sign one new writer at $250,000 next year. Gay writers published by bigger houses have a better chance of crossing over, so it's a good place for us to achieve visibility. But with more money going to fewer writers, that won't happen."

That visibility may also be limited by titles like Push and Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, which enjoyed hefty hardcover sales in 1995 and did well in 1996 in paperback. Both books, written by lesbians, contain almost no lesbian content, and some observers fear publishers will now demand similar product. "It's no secret that nongay fiction by gay writers did better this year than gays telling gay stories," says author Michael Bronski. "The big publishers are looking for books that will cross over and have a broader appeal."

The year's big crossover successes were gay nonfiction rifles, says Bronski, particularly memoirs by gay politicians. "They provide a more accessible story for straight readers," he notes. Both Mixner's book published by Bantam, and House and Home by Rep. Steve Gunderson and Rob Morris with Bruce Bawer, published by Dutton, were hits. And while Candace Gingrich's The Accidental Activist sold disappointingly, it got the sort of mainstream attention few gay titles receive.

Publishers are betting this crossover market for gay nonfiction will keep building in 1997. In fact, they're banking on it with such titles as Chastity Bono's Family Outing: The Journey of Homosexuals and Their Families Beyond Acceptance to Empowerment. Published by Little, Brown, the book, for which Bono was reportedly paid a mid-six-figure advance, will combine her personal story with interviews with lesbians, gays, and parents, including Bono's mother, Cher.

Beyond their interest in gay celebrities, however, mainstream audiences don't pick up gay fiction, says author Michelangelo Signorile, adding, "If fiction didn't cross over this year, it's because gay people haven't evolved into a group the mainstream wants to read about." So while major publishers are promoting gay nonfiction titles, the future of gay fiction is safe at smaller gay and lesbian presses. "I expect we'll be seeing more manuscripts being offered to us first," says Greg Constante, publisher of Alyson Publications.

Bereano agrees. "With less interest in gay fiction from major houses, more writers will bring their books to smaller publishers," she says. "They know they'll get more editorial attention and reach a wider gay audience."

Ironically, lesbian and gay readers don't care who's making the deals or publishing the books, says Deacon Maccubbin, co-owner of the Lambda Rising chain of gay bookstores. "Gays and lesbians are looking for light, humorous reading and well-crafted novels," he says. "They're getting precious little of either these days."

Maccubbin thinks what's hurting the sale of gay books is monotonous material. "People are passing up AIDS novels. They're tired of them," he says. "And how many more of these books about the history of gay-male sex are we going to get stuck with?"

Linn Hopkins, a buyer of gay rifles for the Borders Books chain, agrees that much gay fiction has worn thin. "Men are passing over coming-out novels in favor of gay anthologies," she says. "They're the next big thing in gay fiction. Everyone's publishing them; everyone's reading them."

Meanwhile, lesbians are buying humor books and nonfiction studies "about the movement," says Kate Jackman, who orders lesbian titles for Borders nationwide. Jackman reports that Osborn's Coming Home to America is selling well. "Funny stuff like The History of Lesbian Hair and Other Tales of Bent Life in a Straight World by Mary Dugger is very popular," she adds. Jackman thinks Gingrich's book failed due to overexposure. "She was in every national magazine promoting the book," Jackman says. "People found out all they wanted to know about her from magazine articles. They didn't need the book."

Jackman is among those who are concerned about large advances for gay rifles. "I see the sales figures every day," she says. "Believe me, the money publishers are spending is not justified by book sales. They're going to hit a wall, and gay writers are going to be back at the small houses."

But not just yet: In November, Ballantine Books bought a proposal for a gay health care book by writer Daniel Wolfe for $750,000. "It's called Gay-Care," says Peter Borland, the editor who secured the deal. "It's an absolute landmark project, worth the advance because it will sell strongly for years."

While literary agents and small-press owners wonder whether dollar amounts like these will hasten the closing of the gay niche, other observers are taking the hoopla in stride. "Inflated advances are merely part of the profit-driven reality of this business," Osborn says. "Advances will grow, and fewer writers will get published. But this won't kill the gay-book industry. We'll keep writing and getting our stories out there."

RELATED ARTICLE: 1996 a year in books

In 1996 gays and lesbians spoke out, reached out, and came out in a shelf full of powerful books.

The Law of Enclosures by Dale Peck (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) February

Peck debuted with the best-selling 1993 novel Martin and John, a fierce account of his lover's AIDS-related death. In his forceful second novel, which blends fiction and autobiography to dissect a ruined heterosexual marriage, Peck becomes a proud gay writer dealing with the universal human experience.

Tchaikovsky: A Biography by Anthony Holden (Random House) March

British biographer Holden brings the composer to life, complete with research to support a dramatic theory that Tchaikovsky committed suicide in order to forestall what he dreaded most, a scandal in which his homosexuality would be divulged to the world.

The Man of the House by Stephen McCauley (Simon & Schuster) March

McCauley's winsome, gay-centered novels The Object of My Affection and The Easy Way Out have drawn raves from the likes of Armistead Maupin and Wendy Wasserstein. In his latest offering, a gay hero, moved by a brush with fatherhood, attempts a reconciliation with his own father.

Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown (Bantam) April

The lesbian author of Rubyfruit Jungle spins a fantasy in which, during one tumultuous fox hunt, a woman on horseback time-travels 300 years back to early Jamestown, Va. Her Southern wit returns, but Brown circa 1996 is more philosophical and contemplative.

The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult by Alice Walker (Scribner) April

As she relives the traumatic experience of watching her landmark novel The Color Purple become a Hollywood movie, Walker shares journal entries, letters, and her own strong but unused script for the film. She describes how art transforms the artist - and discusses her bisexuality for the first time.

Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research Into Homosexuality by Simon LeVay (MIT Press) June

After his landmark 1991 study reported differences in brain structure between gay and straight men, gay scientist and writer LeVay was accused of political naivete and internalized homophobia. But his new book stands as a weighty rebuff to anybody who argues that sexuality has no basis in biology.

2nd Time Around by James Earl Hardy (Alyson) October

In this sequel to the 1994 hit novel B-Boy Blues, author Hardy shares the further adventures of his sexy gay African-American lovers, upper-middle-class editor Mitchell and bike messenger Raheim. The love these two display for each other - and their struggle to overcome the gaps in their respective backgrounds - is inspirational.