Since the Bronte sisters published themselves as the Bell brothers back in the 19th century, women writers have faced a double standard in the industry. We all know that women comprise the bulk of the readers in fiction genres, however the Powers That Be in publishing are still wary of alienating men, who they believe tend to favor male authors and also, for some reason, male characters written by male authors. So despite all of the bra burning and the whole getting to vote thing, many female authors find themselves still hiding behind a male pen name.
Everyone knows that Joanne Rowling was originally told by her publisher that her series wouldn’t be as popular with boys if it was penned by a woman (for the record, my eight-year-old son could think that Harry Potter was written by a panda bear, for all he’s concerned), so she chose to write under J.K. Rowling (even though she doesn’t have a middle name) and now she’s stuck with it. The books were still popular after Rowling’s gender was revealed but it’s a chicken and egg thing—we’ll never know if her publisher was completely right. She had the audience by the time her gender was revealed and it’s getting that audience that publishers are so nervous about.
And it seems that women who write in the suspense genres are much more likely to take a nom de plume for themselves. True crime writer, Ann Rule originally wrote as Andy Stack (despite the fact that she was already a well-known name in the industry!), JA Jance uses her initials for her pen name because, early on a publisher told her that disclosing her gender would be a liability for a book about a male detective. Unfortunately, when it comes to women writing suspense, it’s not just who is writing it but who they are writing. Readers might not like it—the X writing about the Y chromosome. And who wants to alienate even one reader? Nora Roberts, despite her huge and somewhat puzzling success, decided to write as J.D. Robb when she branched out from romance to the world of detective fiction. Of course, once the secret was out fans welcomed both identities.
Everyone knows that Joanne Rowling was originally told by her publisher that her series wouldn’t be as popular with boys if it was penned by a woman (for the record, my eight-year-old son could think that Harry Potter was written by a panda bear, for all he’s concerned), so she chose to write under J.K. Rowling (even though she doesn’t have a middle name) and now she’s stuck with it. The books were still popular after Rowling’s gender was revealed but it’s a chicken and egg thing—we’ll never know if her publisher was completely right. She had the audience by the time her gender was revealed and it’s getting that audience that publishers are so nervous about.
And it seems that women who write in the suspense genres are much more likely to take a nom de plume for themselves. True crime writer, Ann Rule originally wrote as Andy Stack (despite the fact that she was already a well-known name in the industry!), JA Jance uses her initials for her pen name because, early on a publisher told her that disclosing her gender would be a liability for a book about a male detective. Unfortunately, when it comes to women writing suspense, it’s not just who is writing it but who they are writing. Readers might not like it—the X writing about the Y chromosome. And who wants to alienate even one reader? Nora Roberts, despite her huge and somewhat puzzling success, decided to write as J.D. Robb when she branched out from romance to the world of detective fiction. Of course, once the secret was out fans welcomed both identities.
Despite all of the bra burning and the whole getting to vote thing, many female authors find themselves still hiding behind a male pen name.
Though, I do find it a wee bit hypocritical that publishers don’t seem to have an issue with male writers writing female characters (except when it comes to romance and there you’re likely to find many a man hiding behind a frilly or sexy-hot chick moniker). Harlan Coben has done it with great success. One of my own authors, Robert Pobi, is currently writing a thriller called River of the Dead, featuring a wonderful, multi-layered, female cop. We have no doubt that fans will love her. And another one of my authors, Eyre Price, writes a series that originally featured two men but in the hope of getting more female readers to pick up the books, he’s woven in a strong, central female character for his next book in the series, Rock Island Rock. They have no problem writing women. Publishers have no problems either. But my experience on the other side of the coin has been quite different.
I have a talented female author (who for obvious reasons will remain nameless) who writes a series about a tough male private detective. After much research about book sales and the industry, and believe me, this woman knows her stuff, she chose to go with a gender-neutral pen name. At first I shot back with my “I am woman hear me roar” speech about double standards, how the modern reader doesn’t care and, it’s not June Cleaver’s world anymore, you know. But she was adamant. So we went with it. Two books in and the reviews are great. The books are selling well, the author is banking royalties. Readers of both sexes enjoy it and they adore that great central character (women love him, men want to be him). We even get a laugh when a reviewer will call the author a “he” every now and again. Yeah, we’ve pulled on over on you, readers. But not really, because as authors become more active in selling their books—hosting websites, doing readings, attending conferences—it’s harder and harder to hide one’s gender. Ultimately, that doesn’t matter. It’s just a matter of that reader, pulling that book off the shelf, shelling out the bucks to take it home and then spending some time with it.
The good news through all of this is that publishers, themselves, don’t seem to care who writes the book. When it comes to a quality book, as long as editors “fall in love with it” they’ll hopefully take it on. Then we’ll decide how we want to market the book and more and more the author’s back story comes into the promotion of it. Two of my suspense authors, entertainment attorney, Robert Rotstein’s legal thriller, Corrupt Practices, and real-life cop, Neal Griffin’s cop story, The Benefit of the Doubt were sold to publishers last year, in part, because both write what they know (and interestingly, both feature strong female characters). So they try hiding behind a pseudonym to promote those books. I’d like to think it would be a similar story if either of them were women. But again, my inner Helen Reddy rears her ugly head.
I have a talented female author (who for obvious reasons will remain nameless) who writes a series about a tough male private detective. After much research about book sales and the industry, and believe me, this woman knows her stuff, she chose to go with a gender-neutral pen name. At first I shot back with my “I am woman hear me roar” speech about double standards, how the modern reader doesn’t care and, it’s not June Cleaver’s world anymore, you know. But she was adamant. So we went with it. Two books in and the reviews are great. The books are selling well, the author is banking royalties. Readers of both sexes enjoy it and they adore that great central character (women love him, men want to be him). We even get a laugh when a reviewer will call the author a “he” every now and again. Yeah, we’ve pulled on over on you, readers. But not really, because as authors become more active in selling their books—hosting websites, doing readings, attending conferences—it’s harder and harder to hide one’s gender. Ultimately, that doesn’t matter. It’s just a matter of that reader, pulling that book off the shelf, shelling out the bucks to take it home and then spending some time with it.
The good news through all of this is that publishers, themselves, don’t seem to care who writes the book. When it comes to a quality book, as long as editors “fall in love with it” they’ll hopefully take it on. Then we’ll decide how we want to market the book and more and more the author’s back story comes into the promotion of it. Two of my suspense authors, entertainment attorney, Robert Rotstein’s legal thriller, Corrupt Practices, and real-life cop, Neal Griffin’s cop story, The Benefit of the Doubt were sold to publishers last year, in part, because both write what they know (and interestingly, both feature strong female characters). So they try hiding behind a pseudonym to promote those books. I’d like to think it would be a similar story if either of them were women. But again, my inner Helen Reddy rears her ugly head.
As authors become more active in selling their books—hosting websites, doing readings, attending conferences—it’s harder and harder to hide one’s gender. Ultimately, that doesn’t matter.
So times, they may be a’changin’ and I’m even hearing about female writers who are pushing back. According to a WSJ article last year, Seanan McGuire (a woman) refused to write under a masculine name (though she did write under the pen name Mira Grant, I’m guessing because her first name was somewhat unpronounceable) for her horror/zombie trilogy. The first two books were nominated for awards and the third became a best-seller.
And speaking of best-sellers, interestingly, that collection of poetry that was first published by “Ellis and Acton Bell” failed to generate a real readership back in the day. It was only when the Brontes stepped out from behind their male pen names that they found their real success. And the rest, as they say, is history.
And speaking of best-sellers, interestingly, that collection of poetry that was first published by “Ellis and Acton Bell” failed to generate a real readership back in the day. It was only when the Brontes stepped out from behind their male pen names that they found their real success. And the rest, as they say, is history.
