Sunday, August 22, 2010

Writing in a "Man's Genre"



With only a few exceptions, guy authors rule the roost when it comes to thrillers.

I know that I was encouraged to adopt initials rather than use a clearly feminine name on the front cover.

What is that about?

The sad fact is thought that guys, for the most part, will only read books by guys. Weird, right?

I mean, clearly this must be some kind of primordial/reptilian brain type thing because it certainly doesn't seem that any rationale and let's be clear, well-read man, who stands at the bookshelf and consciously think... Oh, that's is written by a woman... the lesser sex, clearly it will not be a good read.

Yet, that is exactly what happens in the marketplace.

What I find weird is, shouldn't guys find reading about death and sex written by a woman titillating? Shouldn't their reptilian brain go - chick= good?

Alas, that is not how it goes.

And above all else I am a realist.

While I choose to use my feminine name, that doesn't mean I can't put a set of sexy eyes on the cover. When creating my cover I looked at a lot of pictures and many were far more "Plain Jane," than the ones I choose.

Why? Um, I've got to have something to entice that reptilian brain :-)

How is it working? Well, my readership appears to be about 50/50 so either the male thriller reader has become more evolved and will to read a female (unknown) writer or the sexy eyes are doing their job :-)


If you would like to read 50 pages for free of Plain Jane click here & here's a 50% off coupon code in case you want to read the entire thing: RH88E

4 comments:

  1. To be honest, I've never thought much about the author of a book, so long as their story is engrossing. But off the top of my head, I can't think of any female authors I've read recently. I'm more of a 'read by referral' type, so it could be my sources are slightly biased.

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  2. That's an interesting concept you've put forth there. I read the book cover first, and then the name, but then I'm a woman. Of substance. Looking for the substantial. LOL And you're right, you should have the CHOICE of whether you want to use your name or your initials.

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  3. Interesting discussion. This is an important issue. I'm a female author, an avid thriller reader, amongst other genres, and the gender of an author has never made any difference to me. All I care about is whether the story grabs me, I don't care if it was written by an alien (yes, I'm talking about you Pitticus Lore!). I don't think I've once thought about it when buying a book, but you you have a point, the thriller genre is dominated by male authors. This issue is also why J.K. Rowling used her initials, so as not to alienate/lose out on the boy readers.

    It's important that female thriller writers are taken seriously and have as wide a readership as possible, otherwise readers will just miss out on great books. Maybe there is also an underlying assumption that women will write books more heavy on romance & feelings, and that therefore the thrillers will be too soft, I don't know. If so, then it's import to dispel those myths.

    This is a genre I am planning on moving into with a couple of upcoming novels I have in development (one will be actually be a horror/thriller), so I also want a level playing field. I do believe that things will change as long as us gals get good exposure/word out mouth for our books. It may be uphill for awhile, but it will change.

    So, I say it's great that you chose to use your feminine name! Fortune favors the bold!

    Rai

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  4. Hi Cristyn,

    I've ordered my copy of Plain Jane. Looking forward to reading it!

    Rai

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