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Frugal Chariots & Other Nonsense
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September 20, 2003
Anybody out there want to explain the term "Women's Fiction" to me? It's pissing me off because I've discovered that this is a fairly well used catagory on book sites including Amazon. Glancing at best sellers in that catagory I can almost see books like Blessings and The Wedding maybe getting their own catagory, but what puts Time Traveler's Wife, or Love Me there? And why is it "Women's" fiction instead of something more indicative of actual content. We don't call Clancy, Grisham, Deaver, Griffin etc. "Men's Fiction". Nor would it be appropriate to do so.
Replies: 3 comments There seems to be this notion in the publishing world that general interest fiction, beyond the bestseller lists, is no more. Everything gets pigeonholed and pushed on some demographic or other. I'd guess that the Women's Fiction classification is something that's fought for by editors and marketing people, since lots of market research claims that women in their peak earning years (30-50) buy more adult fiction than almost all other demographic groups combined.I suppose it could be worse; most sf and adventure fiction is aimed at men, but the moniker Men's Fiction is reserved for porn. The marketing siituation in the publishing industry drives me wild on occasion. With enough spit and polish applied, right now I'm capable of writing what's described as general interest midlist fiction. Which means marketing purgatory's my lot. Maybe in twenty years I'll be practiced enough to write something better, but there's no patience for long term devlopment in this culture. Posted by Mike @ 09/21/2003 10:26 PM EST I dunno. I think the analog to porn is romance. "Women's Fiction" just seems to distinguish itself by being boring.Posted by Elizabeth @ 09/21/2003 11:39 PM EST But, yeah. I get your point. We get what we pay for.Posted by Elizabeth @ 09/22/2003 08:10 AM EST |
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