Two articles about the publishing industry popped up just
hours apart and together paint a interesting picture for
hard-boiled writers getting published at this time. Some
tidbits.
From The Far East Economic Review: http://www.feer.com/_0104_12/p064current.html
The Crying Game By Suh-kyung Yoon/HONG KONG
With their tear-filled tales of
personal struggle,
Asian women writers are hot
publishing properties.
But are they just pandering to
Western prejudices?
True, an Asian memoir has never been a book-club selection,
but the book club has hammered home to publishers the
importance of women readers, who account for almost 80% of
all book purchases.
Like their covers, most autobiographies published by Asian
women in English are relentlessly tragic. Unlike Angela's
Ashes, Frank McCourt's memoir of growing up poor in Ireland,
humour is rare. Women tend to be depicted as victims of a
patriarchal society that binds their feet, rapes them,
marries them off to wife-beaters or throws them into labour
camps. Even Madame Mao, one of the most powerful figures
during China's Cultural Revolution, is reduced to an Oprah
guest--a long-suffering wife who loses her mind trying to get
her husband's love and attention--in a fictional memoir by
Anchee Min published last year called Becoming Madame
Mao.
From Publishers Weekly:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/articles/20010409_95141.asp
The Guys, theGals -- Who's on First? Lucinda Dyer Do male
authors and heroes outsell their female counterparts, or vice
versa -- or is it a draw?
When Bantam executive editor Kate Miciak put together her
first mystery list some 15 years ago, she remembers
management being "baffled" at the fact that it was composed
almost entirely of women--including Sue Grafton's "B" Is for
Burglar and the debut of Elizabeth George. A feminist plot?
Miciak was simply more interested in the psychology of crime
than in the action, something she didn't find in many
manuscripts from men.
As for sales, allow Rue Morgue publisher Tom Enid to debunk
the myth that the numbers were always dominated by the good
old boys. "Most of the boys had a hell of a time making a
living. Only a few writers from the '30s and
'40s made it big--Hammett, Chandler, John D. Macdonald.
Christie outsold them all."
Freed at Mysterious Press believes that the hard-boiled PI
may have a real future with younger readers looking for a
tougher mystery.
But not everyone sees a vacant seat at the bar for the
hard-drinking PI.
"There's a place, but it doesn't seem to be for us," says
Morrow/Avon senior editor Jennifer Fisher. "There are always
going to be the Sam Spade-type characters, but the question
is whether they can sustain serious sales that build over
time. Our publishing program doesn't seem to lend itself to
really doing well with that sort of mystery."
Dutton's Tart believes that men are holding their own, citing
the continuing success of Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane
as well as the attention that George Pelecanos and Dutton's
Michael Garrity have been receiving. That said, he also notes
that female writers seem to be taking the lead, a trend he
sees as a reflection of the readership of mysteries.
"Having for years missed the opportunity to sell books with
strong female characters," says "Drood Review" editor Huang,
"publishers have now overcompensated, throwing all their
energy and resources into publishing these women. Women
deserve their success, but too many of even the best male
writers aren't getting a chance to reach their
audience."
And of course there is more when you click on those two
sites.
Thank you for the bandwidth. Frederick Zackel
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