[Global Times Special Correspondent Ma Ning] In the English publishing world, the influence of female writers is increasing day by day. The American magazine "Publishers Weekly" recently released its 2023 English bestseller list, in which female writers dominate. Of the top 25 bo

[Global Times Special Correspondent Ma Ning] In the English publishing world, the influence of female writers is increasing day by day. The American magazine "Publishers Weekly" recently released its 2023 English bestseller list, in which female writers dominate. Of the top 25 books on the list, 17 are written by female authors. Not just on bestseller lists, but also on the English-language publishing industry as a whole, female writers are becoming increasingly influential. Research by Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the University of Minnesota, found that as of 2020, the number of books published by female authors in the U.S. market exceeded that of male authors for the first time. Women authors also make leading contributions to the U.S. publishing industry’s continued revenue growth.

American writer Colleen Hoover and her book "Lily's Choice" (it ends with us). The book ranked first on the English bestseller list for two consecutive years.

Waldfogel's research was based primarily on the number of books published by female and male authors over the past 70 years. By studying data from several major book selling platforms, reading communities and libraries in the United States, Waldfogel found that the proportion of books published by female authors in total published books has increased significantly, from 20 percentage points in 1970 to 50 percentage points in 2020. percentage points or more. As of 2021, book sales by female authors in the U.S. market have overall exceeded those by male authors. In other words, female writers in the US market earn more overall than male writers. But this does not entirely mean that female authors are replacing male authors. In fact, the overall size of the U.S. publishing industry is also growing, with an increase of 12.3 percentage points in 2021 compared with the previous year. An analysis by

pointed out that in Europe and the United States, compared with many creative fields that are still dominated by men, the book market is an outlier. So why are women surpassing men in the book publishing industry?

Ward Fogg speculates that this may be related to the flexibility of the writing profession. Writing a book is a one-person job, and the author can decide when and where. Even today, when women are becoming more financially independent, women still take on more housework than men, so flexible work is attractive to women. National Public Radio also believes that perhaps because writing a book is a one-person job, this industry has less discrimination and obstacles against women, unlike industries such as film production and technological inventions, which are controlled by many group companies. The reliance on capital is relatively large, and capital may resist female creators who have long been historically disadvantaged.

female writer Jesse Gaynor believes, "Women tend to be passive socially and don't like to make too much noise. I personally don't want to trouble others. If you write a book, you can ask your agent to be the troublemaker." thing.” At the same time, book writing is not a high-paying industry in general, especially in the beginning. Gaynor noted that women may be more accepting than men of a career in an industry with a low starting point for income.

Of course, there are also American publishing groups with capital giants like Amazon. However, one detail is that many small or individual publishers in the United States are dominated by female creative groups. It is also worth mentioning that in the United States, the book market consumption is also dominated by women. A survey shows that in the past 20 years, American women are more willing to read than men, especially novels.

In addition to the overall advantages of female writers, looking at the breakdown, older female authors are also ushering in a wave of career spring in the publishing industry. The British "Guardian" reported that experts have found that older women are experiencing a wave of book publishing because "avant-garde and liberal women are entering their 80s." British publisher Cherry Potts said publishers are more willing than in the past to embrace the voices of older women, rather than simply ignoring the group or simply treating them as comfortable and serene old ladies. At the same time, there are a lot of people in the UK who are willing to read books written by older women, often middle-aged white women.

In our country, there are also statistics showing that the proportion of female science fiction authors increased by 13 percentage points from 2017 to 2021. The benefits of the substantial growth of female authors are not just financial or profitable. They will explore perspectives and angles that may have been rarely explored before, and this exploration can bring more diverse inspirations to readers.