Indie blues.

While I was happy to see The Advocate devoting four pages to books in the April 24 issue, I was dismayed by your exclusion of books published by smaller gay presses. All of the books reviewed were from major publishing houses--the sole exception being Alyson, which is owned by the same parent company as your magazine. In the issue you devote an entire page to promoting the work of a straight author who has a major book deal with Simon and Schuster, a giant publishing house with a huge publicity machine behind it. Wouldn't it be great if The Advocate helped promote releases by gay authors who could really benefit from the exposure? These are writers who often have to pay for their own promotional tours and whose books won't even garner a small mention in Publishers Weekly. In the same issue you give two full pages to Pete Wentz, the straight musician from Fall Out Boy, whose major label CD is being promoted in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and countless other venues. How about devoting those pages to out indie musicians who really could use the publicity? As one of the few national gay magazines, The Advocate could really provide a needed forum for promoting struggling gay artists, rather than supporting those with publicists who already receive plenty of mainstream exposure.

SALVATORE SAPIENZA Saugatuck, Mich.