> Isn't it funny that in a genre that so many equate with neckbeards is turning out to be the opposite of this perception. It's by design. Award shows are high

> Isn't it funny that in a genre that so many equate with neckbeards is turning out to be the opposite of this perception. It's by design. Award shows are highly politicized and so is the publishing industry. They always have been. If you want to get published, use a woman's name or an "ethnic" name because that's what the publishing industry wants. There was the famous case a few years ago of Yi-Fen-Chou. Where a white man couldn't find a publisher for his literary works until he changed the author's name from Michael Derrick Hudson to Yi-Fen-Chou. And magically, his poem was selected for the "Best American Poems of 2015" anthology. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2015/09/yi-fen-chou-is-a-real-person-everything-else-circling-the-bees https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2015/09/yi-fen-chou... It's weird how society veers from one extreme to another. In the past, women and minorities changed/altered their names to make it sound more male/white. JK Rowling herself said that she used JK Rowling instead of Joanne Rowling because a woman's name would hurt her chances with publishers and audiences. Now, having a woman's name is a help rather than a hindrance.