nylusmilk: 2-3 books a week?? do you have a job?

i like chick lit, but i can see why guys wouldn’t! thanks for your two cents, it made sense. (sorry, couldn’t resist!)

I think the stereotype is true, but it’s often related to genre. If you took a poll, the majority of men would probably admit to reading adventure thrillers (Matt Reilly or Stephen Coonts) and biographies about history or sports stars (mostly male). Those kind of books are marketed almost exclusively at men and most of the authors are male, because they know what their audience wants. I suppose there’s an equivalent with chick lit, as it’s mostly female writers writing for women and they know their audience. SF and fantasy are heavily dominated by male writers as well, with a largely male readership. It becomes a standard and publishers get nervous when confronted with an author who doesn’t fit that standard; they won’t know how to market it, and often they’re the ones who force a pen name on a woman (or a man) as happened with JK Rowling.

Of course it’s all a load of crap; anyone can write anything they want to and going against convention doesn’t mean that a book won’t succeed, just that it’s more of a risk. And there have been a few male writers who have used a female pseudonym. William Sharp used to write as Fiona MacLeod, and L. Frank Baum (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) wrote several stories as Edith Van Dyne and Laura Bancroft. Currently Paul Doherty writes under several female pen names, Anna Apostolou, Vanessa Alexander and Ann Dukthas. And there’s Roger Sanderson, one of the most successful romance writers of the last decade, but he has to write under the name Gill Sanderson because he’s the only male author at Mills and Boon.

For what it’s worth, the stereotype does happen in reverse as well. Some women are quite dismissive of male authors, or even classics. I was talking to someone about Wuthering Heights earlier and how it’s influenced authors like Stephanie Meyer. She said it was just a romance. One of the absolute classics of literature just a romance? Sure, and LOTR is just a fantasy.

nylusmilk: thanks for the information about male authors using female pen names, interesting! strangely, i have not heard much about female readers not liking to read books by male authors; i have always thought female readers are more open to read a book without judging the gender of the author. i guess those are just exceptions like everything else in lfie.

Well, we never really know if some male go under a female nom de plume. Maybe your favourite porn-ish novels are all written by men!

nylusmilk: hah, why i don’t believe that?

porn-ish novels, i wouldn’t be surprised if they were written by men; women are much subtler and more romantic generally!

I can’t speak for all males, but in defense of myself, there’s no real reason why I’ve never read Bridget Jones’ Diary, I’ve just never read it. Changing the cover wouldn’t make any difference; I know of it by reputation, and it doesn’t sound like my kind of thing, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get round to reading it eventually.

Oh, and random fact: JK Rowling doesn’t actually have a middle name. Kathleen is only part of her penname, it’s not on her birth certificate.

nylusmilk: haha, you have a point, yet why is it a woman have no qualms calling herself george? hmm…

so her name’s only joanne rowling? what’s the kathleen for then? strange!

Are there any male authors that chose female names to hide their male gender?

nylusmilk: yeap, and that says a lot!

nope, not as far as i heard! i think female readers are more open to reading a male author’s work than the other way round, so there wouldn’t be a need to hide your name. which brings me back to the question of my post!

nylusmilk: haha, my favourite feminist’s two cents. let’s see if we get hear a defense for the male…

I think publishers are a lot to blame for that belief. Guys are put off by the cutesy covers and girly titles.

The Brontes also went by male names when they sold their novels. It’s very sad to see that things haven’t changed much in a couple hundred years.

nylusmilk: i guess guys could argue that they prefer male authors the way you prefer female authors! i think publishers stick with the tried-and-tested girly covers/titles because they want to focus on their target market, and they know that cover designs aren’t going to sway men into buying it. but, as you said, it’s still a sad thing that female authors aren’t given the chance because of their sex…

But take for example Patricia Cornwell, one of my favourite authors. I’ve never seen a man read them. Or Kathy Reichs.

nylusmilk: oh, you too? i hated it at first, then fell hopelessly in love with the series.

interesting, i thought guys would read cornwell, her stuff is definitely more serious than shopping!

nylusmilk: why is it then she uses a gender-neutral name instead of joanne kathleen rowling, as carocat pointed out above? have you thought about that? while people have accepted rowling as one of the great story-tellers of our time, do you think she would have been given a chance by little boys when she was an unknown?

well, i can understand not liking the genre, but only after having give it a go. why is it that female readers are more open to ‘lad lit’ books like hornby’s or parson’s but it’s not the same with male readers and chick lit?