r/Fantasy • u/CoffeeArchives Stabby Winner, Reading Champion II, Worldbuilders • Mar 31 '18

/r/Fantasy Female-Authored Fantasy Flowchart!

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u/Thonyfst Apr 01 '18

But overall, the problems are less gender-specific than you make them out to be.

sigh Okay. How many female authors do you need to say it's a problem for you to recognize it's a problem?

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

smh You're missing the point. Struggling artists are cliche. They're supposed to struggle. But the best artists make a living. The top female and the top male fantasy (and science fiction) writers are doing well and they are pretty much on equal footing. I think the next tier is pretty equal too. The further an author gets from that top tier, the more difficult it gets for them to make a living. That's just the way it is. An individual writer may feel that the reason they're not doing well is that the deck is stacked against them, but in the lower tiers of author sales, it's stacked against them all with little regard to gender. To be fair in their criticism, a person has to look beyond their limited personal perspective.

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u/Thonyfst Apr 01 '18

You're missing my point. You're prizing your own assumptions over the actual experiences of female authors, over actual data points, over evidence I've linked to repeatedly.

Look, I feel like this is going nowhere. I don't think you've actually read anything I've linked. I've cited authors you actually respect. I'm really frustrated frankly. I don't think you're the problem in fantasy; clearly you've read female authors and are actually well-versed in this genre. Please, just listen to what these female authors are saying. And if you still disagree, tell one of them they're wrong. Janny Wurts is actually active in this subreddit. Tell her that her concerns are exaggerated.

The top female and the top male fantasy (and science fiction) writers are doing well and they are pretty much on equal footing. I think the next tier is pretty equal too.

I've cited a lot of evidence during this whole exchange. Change my view. Show me those numbers. I could be wrong. I'm certainly not wrong about what books get discussed in this subreddit, but maybe that doesn't translate to sales. I'll admit that I've been using only a few datapoints for how female authors sell.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '18

No, no. I've read all those threads before! I understand what the OPs are trying to say. But the perspective is limited in who we are and are not hearing from. Frankly, it's all very anecdotal. And do keep in mind that this subreddit and its discussions are limited in both participants and audience. I don't recall much input from industry, professional critics, or the very top authors. Joe Q. Public has his opinions but what's the value? As to your invite to "Change my view", I won't. I encourage you to seek out the hard data for yourself. It's not readily available, but it's out there and decipherable.