Bestselling writer Jennifer Weiner revisits her complaint that male novelists get reviewed more in the NYT:
Of the works of fiction whose authors [last year]were reviewed twice (either with two full reviews, or review plus roundup) and profiled, one was a woman and ten were men. The men who received two reviews plus a profile were David Foster Wallace, Albert Brooks, Julian Barnes, Kevin Wilson, Nicholson Baker, Tom Perrotta, Russell Banks, Jeffrey Eugenides, Haruki Murakami and Allan Hollinghurst. The only woman who received two reviews plus a profile was Tea Obreht (who also received a mention in the TBR column).
Teddy Wayne points out that the rule may hold true for the upscale 1% of writers, but since women buy about two-thirds of all books and 80 percent of fiction, "being a midlist male author who writes about males is a distinct financial disadvantage" :
Not only will you not get reviewed in the Times, but you won’t get reviewed in the women’s magazines that drive sales, like People and O, the Oprah Magazine. Book clubs will ignore you. Barnes & Noble will relegate you to the back shelves. … For the most part, however, male authors are somewhat like male porn stars: getting work, but outearned and outnumbered by their female counterparts, who are in far greater demand from the audience (for very different reasons). There are the superstar exceptions, the Jonathan Franzens and Ron Jeremys, who prove the rule. Nearly everyone — insecure writers most of all — thinks they deserve more than they have.
Andy Ross, an agent, adds his two cents.
The Dish 