Authors of same sex preferred

OU might not be aware of it when choosing a book, but research shows that most of us prefer books written by authors of our own gender. A global study of 40 000 readers found a stark gender divide.

Male authors accounted for 90 percent of men’s 50 most-read titles this year, while the reverse was true for the women’s titles.

One of the “male” books on the women’s list was by Robert Galbraith, which is a pen name used by JK Rowling. According to Goodreads, the reading website behind the research, female readers also rate books by female writers more highly. “When it comes to the most popular books on Goodreads, we are sticking to our own sex,” said a spokesman.

Elizabeth Khuri Chandler, editor-in-chief and cofounder of Goodreads, said the aim in sharing the data “was to stimulate conversation and self-reflection” and “to create a space for some friendly conversation about the subject”.

She said: “It’s been fascinating to see our members discussing the male author:female author ratio of their reading. For the most part, people are saying that they don’t set out to read a male author or a female author. Some male survey participants said they thought more male authors tended to write in the genres they liked to read. It’s all about the book. But when they look at their lists, some of them are realising that maybe they might want to explore different authors.” – Daily Mail

Y