Those pink ‘chick lit’ covers make me see red – Jojo
READERS are needlessly put off women writers because of glitzy “chick lit” covers, a leading author said yesterday.
Me Before You novelist Jojo Moyes says the cliched designs of women’s books were stopping potential readers from picking up stories they might otherwise have enjoyed.
She said: “Supermarkets wanted things that are easily categorised, but people don’t want to read something pink and glittery.
“My favourite covers are just words on the front in very nice fonts with just a tiny image and it’s no coincidence that I have a lot more male readers who aren’t being put off.”
Publishers tend to design books so readers think they know what they are getting before they even read a word.
But Ms Moyes, 48, said she did not want her books or those by other women writers to be judged so superficially.
“So many women who write about quite difficult issues are lumped under the ‘chick lit’ umbrella,” she said. “It’s so reductive and disappointing. It puts off readers who might otherwise enjoy them.”
The former journalist said she had been “lucky to get a wider audience”.
But she wished books would now be presented in a different way, adding: “If it was up to me, we would all discover things in a huge massive jumble. The boundaries are being blurred with women writing domestic noir and thrillers. I want to see covers that are a bit more gender neutral.” The Me Before You series follows the life of a working-class girl who ends up as a carer for a wealthy banker paralysed after a motorcycle accident.
She said: “Me Before You was really a story about two polar opposites colliding and gradually changing each other’s points of view.”
The first book was made into a film in 2016, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin.
The book series has just seen its third and final instalment, Still Me. Ms Moyes said rather than being judged by a cover, books should be about whether it actually entertains.
“I just try to tell a story which will maybe make people feel something, and perhaps think a little too. Ultimately, fiction is entertainment and no matter how beautifully or thoughtfully done, it succeeds or fails based on whether people are entertained,” she said.