It’s a Woman’s World

I know many will disagree. I mean, we’ve heard all of our lives how it’s a man’s world and women have an unfair disadvantage. Yet, I know that’s not always the case. To be honest, while that might be true in quite a bit of the professions that dominate the work force, even most of them, it’s simply not true in all of them. How do I know this? Because I happen to be in one of those industries where it truly is a woman’s world.

I didn’t realize this until I started to attend author events and then it was very obvious. The Book Obsessed Babes had fifty authors and only four of them were male and I believe only two of us were in the erotic romance genre. Seth is in his twenties so on him it may look hip, whereas on me it comes across as a dirty old man. I was referred to as one of the ladies all weekend, because everyone forgot there were male authors in attendance. One person came to our table and just assumed that one of the girls was the author of the books and I was there merely to assist and support her. One lady said she wanted her son to reach out to me, because he wanted to write erotica, but was scared of being a male in the female pond.

Picking up the latest edition of RT Magazine, it’s obvious, that male authors are the minority, at least in certain genres. And not just authors, either. The blogger world is dominated by ladies as well.

A Facebook friend, also a male author, was complaining about women pretending to be male authors and then when the male author is supposed to appear at a signing, there’s his “personal assistant” filling in for him. My first thought was why in the world would any lady want to pretend to be a male in a female dominated genre. It’s not the smart move on their part. Readers will gravitate toward a female author quicker because it’s what they know. It’s tradition. It is far easier to believe that a man is writing and putting his wife on the cover of the book as the author than it is to believe the reverse.

Why is this the case? Again, I believe it’s because it’s traditional. Men write scary dramas, science fiction and even fantasy. They write westerns, memoirs, and biographies. Unless they’re Nicolas Sparks, they do not write romance and, while they may write porn, they do not write erotica. However, I’ve never liked to stick to traditions. I do write drama and fantasy, but I also like to write about relationships, about romance, and yes, even about sex. It’s worth it to be in the minority to be able to write what I want to write.

This genre may be dominated by females, but that’s okay. I’ve always been comfortable being surrounded by the ladies.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Until next time, keep chasing your fantasies!