25 April 2013

Female Authors in SFF

Soapbox time.  You've been warned.

First, some relevant links:
VIDA: a look at statistics involving women authors, reviewers, and reviews.  (Lots of graphics for the not-statistically-minded.)
Strange Horizons: a look at the same in the science fiction and fantasy genre.
Author Keri Sperring on "Why I Started #womentoread": in which a sff author asks for recommendations of female sff authors to give to people who may be missing them because of a lack of marketing promotion.

Now that you're up to date, I hope we can all agree that there is a discrepancy in that data, namely that women are under-represented in reviews relative to the number of books they publish.  From my experience as a bookseller, there are two types of books: frontlist titles (i.e. those on display, usually easy to spot because you see the cover instead of the spine) and backlist titles (i.e. on the shelves).  In a brick & mortar store, frontlist titles are the overwhelming majority of sales.  A former manager of mine once quoted frontlist as 70% or more of the sales for the store; in the children's department I ran, that was definitely true (we were required to keep weekly sales logs, so I had the data to prove this).  So, if your books are only in backlist, your sales will be commensurately lower.  I know from 5 years' experience that simply putting a book or series on a display does increase its volume sold, regardless of price.

The internet and social media can be a powerful tool for equalizing the playing field between traditional marketing and deserving authors.  Marketing is all about an information disadvantage: the marketers or retailers know what you've been buying, how much an item actually costs to produce, and whether you can get it elsewhere.  They set their prices and displays to encourage you to think you need it right here, right now.  The internet can let you know that you do have a choice.  Your expenditures in retail are tracked and stores respond!

I don't have a twitter account, so here's my contribution to Sperring's #womentoread request.  I have read and enjoyed every one of these authors immensely.

Mary Robinette Kowal: Alternate history fantasy novels set in Regency-era England; her portrayal of that society and the characters within it are really exquisite.

Anne Bishop: dark fantasy, particularly known for her powerful characters.

Kate Elliott: epic fantasy, fantastic characters, and a serious look at the societal forces that shape a person.

Robin Hobb: epic fantasy, complex characters who change realistically with events.

Kate Forsyth: Celtic fantasy, sword & sorcery, great page turners.

Jacqueline Carey: alternate history/mythology fantasy, set in Europe (mostly...).  Great spy & intrigue novels.

Trudi Canavan: high fantasy, lots of magic, easy reading that really pulls you along.

Madeleine L'Engle: probably the first female sff author I ever read.  Mostly children's/YA work, magic-within-our-world plots.  A great entry point for younger readers.

Karen Traviss: I've only read her Star Wars work (although her own novels are on my to-read list) but, even by non-SW Expanded Universe standards, her books are excellent.  She fabricated a whole culture and populated with realistic characters who react and grow into it.

C. S. Friedman: Epic, high, dark fantasy; mind stretching sci-fi.  I cannot recommend her highly enough to fans of "traditional" sff.

These are just the ones I read and liked.  There are so many others that may speak to you!  Browse those bookshelves or use a dedicated reading site like Goodreads to find a recommendation!

Liebster Questions

My very good friend Jennifer over at Mouse and Home (she's a huge Disney fan) added me to a blog linking set up called the Liebster Award.  It's eleven questions from her and then eleven random facts about me.  I'm usually not big on chain-mail via the internet but her questions were really awesome, like her, so I thought I'd give it a go:

1. If you could meet any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?

This is a tough one for me.  I admire many people but have a horrible problem thinking up something to say when I meet them.  (I admit freely, me meeting Fred Haise was all fan-girlish.  We won't even discuss the couple of author signings I've been to.)  There's an Austen quote that describes me well: "We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.”
So, since I have to choose: Elizabeth I.  I'd like to know if she ran her court and created her mystique on purpose or partly by accident.
2. What is the last book you read that you couldn't put down?
Mary Robinette Kowal's Without a Summer (my review).  It's third in a series and, while the first was good, they get better as they go.  The book is just so well done in every aspect that you can tell a clever, exacting mind put it together.  Actually, I'd like to meet her, too.
I'm half way through Robin Hobb's Ship of Destiny.  It's also fantastic, although "can't put down" is a hard description for an 800 page book!  It's the third in a trilogy and it's been two years since I read the first two... yet it's so memorable I picked it right back up without missing a beat.  Another author I'd like to meet; I got to participate in an online Q&A with her recently, which was awesome!
3. Name someplace you never want to visit.
Anywhere without air conditioning.  It's in my top 5 inventions of mankind for a reason!  Seriously, though, I've been to Jamaica once and have no inclination to return.  I had fun but feel like I did everything I was interested in.
4. Do you have any hobbies? What are they?
Loads.  Sewing, tea drinking/history, cross-stitching, I'm a beginning quilter... and reading, reading, reading, which is more a lifestyle.  I'm also learning to scrapbook digitally but I'm not very good at it yet.
5. Is there a song that would be your "theme song"? 
Five for Fighting's Superman and/or Nickel Creek's Reasons Why
6. If you had a day all to yourself, what would you do?
Oh my, I thought those went out the window with motherhood... read, take myself out for breakfast, tea, and dinner (this was unlimited money, too, right?  Right?),  maybe do something crafty or visit somewhere I can't easily go with my "zoo".
7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be, and why?
I actually really like Florida.  But honestly, I'm enjoying living all over the country as a military spouse.  I'm really hoping that one day a place feels like home for both of us!
8. Are you OCD or ADD when it comes to housework?
You could just stop after the first three words of that question: yes.  I have to be careful what I commit to because I get it done right.
9. Who is your favorite Doctor?  (If you don't watch Doctor Who, feel free to simply respond with Doctor WHO?)
Yikes, hard call, and I've only watched 3 of them!  I hope to go back to the originals one day.  Definitely 9 or 10... 9 had so much potential left but 10 just loved the role so much and was terribly witty.
10. What is your favorite TV show?
TED Talks on Netflix. ;-)  For a reader, I watch way too much TV.  Currently, probably Downton Abbey or Doctor Who or How I Met Your Mother.  Of all time... Deep Space Nine?  Scrubs?  Gilmore Girls?  Battlestar Galactica?  I'm not sure... I enjoy anything that makes me laugh and think.
11. What is the best and worst jobs you've held?
The best is a toss up between my engineering job (because, hey, I got to design space stuff) and my book seller job (because, duh, book discount and talking about books with people).  Worst job was one I only held 2 weeks... the manager never set my schedule more than 2 days in advance and I wasn't allowed to do anything except clean the display cases and ring up sales.  It was boring and annoying all at once.
11 Random Facts About Me:
1. I got married much earlier than I expected to in life.
2. I enjoy entertaining but only small parties of people I know.
3. I have never dyed my hair (yet...).
4. I have donated my hair once before and will do it again very soon.
5. I have tracked how many pages I read each week since August 2006.
6. I LOVE dessert... the richer, the better.
7. I'm currently on a no-dairy, no-eggs, no-peanuts diet.
8. Weight lifting is my preferred form of exercise (followed closely by zumba!).
9. I think I'm bad at the give and take of conversation.
10. The older I get, the more awed I am by the philosophy of science.
11.  I am torn between owning all the books I've read and only having really excellent books on my shelves.

If anyone is interested in participating, I will write up 11 questions for you!  Hope you had fun and learned something about me in the process.