Gender Identity

Jeff Cohen

I got an email from a reader not long ago saying nice things about my books, which is always a treat. One of those things was--and I'm paraphrasing--that the reader picked up my book not knowing the author was male and therefore was interested, since she doesn't read books written by men.

Really?

Publishers routinely tell writers that women do the vast majority of the reading in this country and for all I know, on the planet. That's true; it's borne out by countless polls and market studies. And one of the reasons there is E.J. Copperman is that the publisher of the first book with that author's name wanted to project at least a gender-neutral persona. The reasoning there was that women don't want to read books (particularly cozy mysteries) written by men.

I balked at the beginning, feeling that attitude was frankly insulting to female readers, who surely knew better than to dismiss a novel they might otherwise find interesting simply because it was written by a male author. But one of the other reasons a new name was required was that mine wasn't exactly setting cash registers around the nation on fire, so I had a very weak bargaining position. What the hell; the name was created (after some discussion) and the books were published.

And what do you know: They sold better than anything that had ever gone out into the world with my masculine-sounding name on it. So who am I to argue?

It still baffles me. I'm happy to read books by authors of any gender (and apparently there are limitless genders now; I'm so old) if the storyline and the characters seem interesting. I don't restrict my reading to authors of any sex, race, species (well, so far I haven't really been given that much of a choice) or any other demographic criterion. Tell me a good story and I'm yours. 

For some readers there seem to be other circumstances. That's the reader's choice, of course. This is a (relatively) free society--at least for the time being--and people may make choices on their reading habits using any formula they prefer. You want books only by left-handed people? Feel free. Books by people whose names start with "K"? Sure. 

Books only by people who happen to have the same bodily organs as you? There is no rule against it. Go ahead.

(By the way, this may be the proper place to note that I equally don't understand men who won't read books written by women. I do not discriminate in my complete and utter inability to grasp the concept.)

It's the seemingly arbitrary decision that confuses me. Some readers will say they've read books by (men, women, Druids, whatever) before and were disappointed. I get that. But I've read books by men and books by women and some have been wonderful and others have been lousy. Even if you've found that bias to be a consistent pattern, can you be sure the next book you pick up will continue the trend? How can you make that decision in advance?

You've read books and been disappointed and you don't want to try another book by that author? That I totally understand. I don't see how gender enters the conversation.

I can easily understand choosing not to read a book based on advance reviews. I tend not to do that, as I don't read often reviews of books that aren't mine, but I get what the function of book reviews is: To inform and offer a hopefully unbiased opinion based on the merit of the work. I certainly practice the idea of not buying more books from an author who has disappointed me in the past. I avoid entire genres because the overall subject matter doesn't interest me. That's personal taste in reading. 

But to limit your reading to authors of one gender? Clearly some people do that, and it works for them. Obviously, they have every right to do it. 

I just don't understand it, is all.

 

P.S. Pitchers and catchers report in 59 days.

Comments

[Lynne Patrick]

I don't understand it either, Jeff. How can anyone who enjoys, say, Lee Child not like Zoe Sharp or M G Gardiner - who was better known as Meg until someone (presumably) decided gender-neutral would sell better.

[KnyttWytch]

To me the "blurb" on the back is the clincher (especially for a new author or series), also when it comes to cozies the theme as well - frankly if someone can write well (and you can!) then what does the gender matter?