augustbengal

Thanks!

Nothing like making stuff up to earn a living. I'm almost a politician. Ha.

Which tracks. Think about what fiction genres most men read - they are usually heavily dominated by men. Sure, there are women who write sci-fi or westerns, but a much smaller percentage. My point wasn’t to argue with the OP but rather to remark that most female authors write to a particular audience and more often than not it’s not him. When I sub to a publisher, they always ask who my target audience is. In fact, my agent puts that in the submission. As a women’s fiction author, I’ve never said “targeted to men over fifty.” If I have men over fifty who like my books, terrific. But they aren’t my target audience.

Also, I wanted to point out that no one has to read books or authors they don’t like. I don’t. Life is too short. You don’t like reading books by women, don’t. But don’t suggest that women are bad writers just because of a particular bias. There are many wonderful female writers … but you’ll more often than not find them in women’s fiction, book club fiction, romance, and literary fiction.

This is awesome. Lol

Being that more women are readers, it makes sense, at least to publishers. Women comprise 54.6 percent of readers, opposed to men's 35.1 percent. Publishers aren't stupid. They have to make money. They publish what sells. A white male debuting into publishing these days makes him a unicorn. For the past twenty years, males who weren't well-established didn't have as many opportunities as women and diverse writers. I watch deal memos since (dun, dun duh) I'm a female author...

I don't take offense that many of you can't find a female author you like. Most of us don't write for males. I do have a few avid male readers but when I look at my statistics, it's about 9% and that's for woman's fiction books. Yes, there are men who read women's fiction. My father who reads military/thrillers/police procedurals has yet to read any of my books, and I've published twenty-eight novels. He's proud of me, but he has no interest in my stories. You don't have to like women writers. Frankly, I read more female writers than I do male. But I don't look at it by gender. I look at it by talent. And if you're trying to say that males have more talent than females at writing, then maybe you do have an issue with women, whether you have daughters or not. Because that's not true. In the history of publishing, we don't see women emerging as writers until the mid-1800s and most were writing under male pseudonyms. Historically-speaking, women didn't start mattering to publishing until the 1980s and even then they didn't get serious deals. So pardon us while we catch up a bit to all the white guys who dominated the industry for centuries. Also, like male writers, female writers write for their audience - women. So their stories are about things women like, which differ from males. My dad adores WEB Griffith. I couldn't get through six pages of describing a weapon. That author knows his audience, and I wasn't one of them. You like male authors because they are writing for YOU. You don't like female authors for the most part because you aren't their target audience.

But as far as publishing goes, yes, there are more books by women but that's because more women read and buy.

I’m going to try The Library at Mont Char, based on your rec.

I read fantasy on occasion so I’ll see how it goes. Seems lighter on the horror?

Just curious, as a reader and author, how you find your next read.

I tend to find mine from reader groups online (like FB reading groups) and then some bookclub picks like GMA or Reese's, but that's because I lean toward popular book club fiction, for a variety of reasons.

But I'm looking for recommendations for suspense/thrillers, and though they are often book club picks, there are so many books out there, I'm curious how some of you find your next read. Do you follow people who rec to you? Or do you just check bestseller lists? Or do you only reader certain authors? Or is this the place you come for recommendations?

TIA

I just can’t risk using AI for any of my writing. I can use it for other tasks, but the actual writing won’t happen for me. I have a contract I don’t want to lose, and publishing houses have been pulling offers because of suspicion of AI.

But I think AI has some great uses and some writers use it for their actual writing. Each to their own in that regard. But I’ll stick with the “old-fashioned” way when it comes to my actual writing. ????

Yes. They announced it was starting on August 5th, I believe.

I follow The S**T No One Tells You About Writing podcast and the two agents have been discussing AI ad nauseam. But then again, all the publishing world is after 7 figure contracts were withdrawn due to AI.

As an author it’s scary to me. My books (17 of them) were fed into Claude to help create AI. So I keep thinking that if my publisher (I have a new one) fed my book into a program to check for AI, would it register as AI if they used my books with my voice, syntax, verbiage to create it? Makes me a bit nervous with books being pulled.

I think Ariel Lawhon's books are so well done - most are based on real life women but are fictional, historical novels built around their lives. The Frozen River was my introduction, but I just finished Codename Helene and it was inspiring.

I thought Remarkably Bright Creatures was very good. The Wedding People decent.

For Louisiana reads, try Ashley Elston and Jennifer Moorhead who both do suspense/thriller well.

I like Book Club fiction geared toward women, but I also like police procedurals and action books like the Jack Reacher series.

If chihuahuas were as big as a pit bull, you could probably triple it. I was bitten as a child by my grandmother’s chihuahua. The other dog that bit me was a lab during a scuffle with another dog.

Pitbulls/gs/doberman/rotties all are capable of killing a person. It’s rare that there aren’t warning signs though. Usually you know if a dog shows aggression - it presents long before an attack.

I have a pit bull mix. Never shown the slightest aggression toward another dog or human. If he attacked unprovoked, I would no longer have him. I love him. But I would never keep any kind of aggressive dog capable of killing. I also wouldn’t pass an aggressive dog to someone else to become their problem. If our dog showed aggression, I would be a good pet owner and taken him to be humanely euthanized. It would break my heart, but I would never endanger another animal or human.