The career novelist

The reality

Looking at the industry more closely, there are some other bright
spots.
For one thing, this is a great time to be a woman in the publish-
ing business, whether one is working in the industry or as an author.
Not only are publishing salaries at parity, but the glass ceiling is
much higher in our business than in almost any other. Indeed,
women preside over many of our biggest publishers. Their corporate
masters may still be men, but publishing women even so exercise a
degree of power previously unknown.
This is also the era of the woman author. Women have always
appeared on best-seller lists, but never to the degree they do
today. Genre fiction has likewise been transformed. No longer are
women relegated to romances. Today, science fiction and fantasy
authors are 50 percent female. In the mystery field, Sisters in Crime
has led a revolution that has left male authors much poorer—and
openly hostile. Even the western is going female. Traditional
shoot-em-ups are giving way to revisionist treatments that give
equal time to women and Native Americans. A new organization,
Woman Writing the West, has been formed. It is small, as yet, but
no doubt it will grow.

Speaking of genres, it is worth noting the predominance of the
categories in current publishing and retailing. Once, sci fi, crime,
and romances were small sections in most bookstores. Today they
each claim as much shelf space as the fiction or literature section.
Publishers and bookstores both have seen the light: genre fans are
voracious readers, loyal to their category and inexpensive to reach.
Writers of thrillers, mysteries, science fiction ("SF" is the preferred
shorthand of insiders), fantasy, romances, and other genres enjoy
new levels of respect.

They are beginning to feel their power, too. Genre writers are well
organized. They meet at conventions. They have associations,
sometimes several per genre. So far, in my opinion, they have not
been terribly muscular in advancing their collective lot, but perhaps
that will change. Indeed, I can envision a day when category writers
will together demand from their publishers a level of support com-
mensurate with their worth.
I want to be around for that. Meanwhile, genre authors enjoy