I recently read an article at upworthy.com (from March 2017) about how one used bookstore decided to bring light to the imbalance of male and female authors of fiction for Women’s History Month. They decided to turn all the male authors’ books backward so that only the pages faced outward. This left all the female-authored books normal to view so they would stand out more.

Okay, I admit, I found the article on Facebook and didn’t bother to read it at first due to its clickbaity title and quickly posted my opinion of what I thought the article was. However, I made myself read it before publishing here. It’s only a little different than I thought it would be. I’m glad I read it.

The article talks about the lack of female authors in the book publishing industry, how difficult it is for women to get published, and how it’s a boy’s club. One study in 2011 by a women’s literary group called VIDA found that men wrote more book reviews for major publications such as The New York Times than women. I’m certainly following on the coattails of The Lake Nona Book Maven here at Nonahood News. Of the 30-ish writers from the January edition of Nonahood News, there are at least 21 female writers. We’re very outnumbered. And I’m 100% okay with that. Gender should have zero influence on a good, well-written article or story.

Honestly, I’ve never gone into a bookstore looking only for male-authored books. I do, however, have some patterns that I follow when I’m searching.

First, I look for a large section of books by the same author. This tells me that, because they have more than two books published, they might have written stories that are good enough to sell a lot of books and to gain a following. If no one buys the books, then they won’t get picked up by publishers to sell more, right? This isn’t always true, though. Once in a while, a new author will emerge and publish a great book at the first attempt.

Second, if I haven’t found anything that piques my interest, then I look at covers. Yes, I’m one of those people who still initially judges a book by its cover. I’ve bought more than one book just because it was the genre I prefer and the cover was outstanding. Nothing wrong with having a nice-looking shelf.

Lastly, I look through my list of books that I’ve found on websites or recommendations from friends and family.

You’ll notice that I don’t mention that I ever look for male or female authors. That’s because the gender of the author has very little to do with the story for me. I buy books for the stories. If the author happens to be female, then that’s great, but it doesn’t make the story any better or worse for me. I don’t finish a book and think how much better it would be if a male or female had written it. Those thoughts never enter my mind.

The article did cause me to reflect on my current inventory and wonder how many books I have written by women. I tend to read fantasy, fiction and science fiction, but there are still many women authors in my personal 480-plus library. Here are some along with the number of books they’ve published. Susanna Clarke (1+), Margaret Weis (66+), Diane Duane (50+), Kathy Reichs (26+), J.K. Rowling (12+), Anne Rice (38+), Margaret Wander Bonanno (21+), Judith Reeves-Stevens (38+), Barbara Hambly (73+), Carmen Carter (4), Diane Carey (55+), Esther Friesner (50+), Susan Wright (15+), Rose Estes (33+), Kate Elliot (24+), Suzanne Collins(11+), Elaine Cunningham (31+), Veronica Roth (9) … there are plenty of women in my life. (+ indicates there are other non-fiction works or short stories written besides just books.)

Look, people are people, and not all of them like to play fair. Sure, there are publishers that screen out female authors, and that really sucks. It’s doing so much harm to filter out great writing based on gender. How many stories have never been published because of this? It actually makes me upset thinking that there are women out there with amazing things to show the world but are being held back by those who don’t see their value. And you know it’s true. J.K. Rowling decided to use initials because she was afraid that Joanne Rowling, a female, wouldn’t get picked up. Can you image NOT having Harry Potter in your world? That thought actually makes my heart hurt.

I think there’s good news despite all this. Recent articles and studies show that book sales are on the rise and that more authors are getting published. That means an increase of female authors as well. And with the boom in self-publishing, there are even fewer roadblocks to smash through.

Source by Robbie Couch:

www.upworthy.com/this-bookstore-found-the-perfect-way-to-show-how-sexism-affects-publishing