On opening a lovely book post from Bluemoose Books we were surprised to see they were only publishing books by women authors in 2020. Why? Surely this is no longer an issue?
Women on top in 2020
At the time of writing the best selling books in the UK consist pretty equally of men and women authors. Kate Atkinson/Jo Nesbo. Lisa Jewel/Mark Billingham. The Booker Prize was won by not one but two women last year and not one but two women knocked David Walliams off the top selling spot in 2019 (Pinch of Nom by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris). It seems confusing therefore to someone on the outside looking in as to why an independent publisher would seek to limit its author list to women only.
A long time ago…
Historically women in the literary world have struggled. Their work has not been considered worthy or serious enough, often being downgraded to ‘chick lit’ or ‘romance’. “Women are viewed as a niche group, dealing solely with women’s issues, whereas men (even in the same area) are thought of as dealing with important, universal themes.” Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and A Pocket Full of Crows.
This view wasn’t just limited to women’s work though with Elif Shafak (author of 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World) noting ‘a man author is primarily a novelist…a woman author is primarily a woman‘.
That’s the work receiving discrimination, the person, and even the recognition – since 1969, 31 men have won the Booker Prize as opposed to just 16 women. And doesn’t it sometimes seem as though Jane Austen was the only woman to have been published before the 19th century?
Right here, right now
Whilst things have moved on slightly since Austin, as recently as 2015, author Catherine Nichols decided to do a little experiment to see if the publishing world really was as gender biased as the figures suggested. Firstly, she sent her novel to 50 agents using her own name and received just two manuscript requests. But when she sent the same material to agents, using a male pseudonym, the novel was requested 17 times.
“He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book, My novel wasn’t the problem, it was me – Catherine.”
In 2018 a study in North America involving 2 million books revealed titles by women sold on average at less than half the price of those by their male counterparts. This statistic goes someway to explaining why women often only write part time (and are therefore viewed as hobbyist writers!) In 2019, yes only LAST year, a report revealed that there is a marked bias towards male authors when it comes to things like marketing and press attention. Reviewers are more likely to be male, reviews are more likely to be for male authors. I could (unfortunately) go on quoting reports.
So fresh and so cool
If that wasn’t enough, Bluemoose have picked up on a new way women authors are being discriminated against. “It was reported in The Bookseller about 18 months ago that literary agents were asking their authors, women writers who were looking to get their 3rd or 4th book published, to write under a pseudonym so as to present to the publishing world as a new writer.” Kevin Duffy from Bluemoose told us. “It felt to us that the writers themselves were being erased and discounted as a mere marketing adjunct to get their stories read. Their previous writing careers were being dismissed on the altar of sales and marketing, not shiny enough for the ‘new best thing’ to capture review coverage and promotional support from booksellers.”
To Bluemoose taking away a readers access to a writers back catalog of work seemed utter madness. “So we decided to dedicate and celebrate 2020 as the year of publishing books by women over the age of 45.”
What can I do?
Well for a start you can support Bluemoose in their #bluemoosewomen2020 campaign. Saving Lucia by Anna Vaught is the first book to be published exploring the history of mental illness treatment via women who have been silenced and denuded. You can check out our blog for reviews of brilliant books by brilliant women authors or just simply be aware that the problem still exists. The struggle is real and if you see it, question it, call it out..