Chellie.com

[chellie1]

Hi, Dolphins!

My friend, Jan King, sent me a note asking for participation in a survey on women and books. I think it looks really interesting and I'm planning to take the survey myself, so please read the following and take the survey, too! I'm looking forward to the results!

Chellie--

I hope you are doing well. I keep up with you through your emails, which I always appreciate!

I’ve gotten involved in something I could really use your help in publicizing. I am working on a study to take a look at how women purchase and recommend non-fiction books, and why and how they decide to become authors. I’m including a piece about it below, and we have a web site where the press can learn about and women can take the survey that is the basis for this study.

We launched the survey this past Thursday on International Women’s Day and it will run through Mother’s Day (5/13/07). We plan to release the results at Book Expo America in New York in June.

If you could pass this on to anyone you know who could encourage more women to be a part of it, would be much appreciated. I’m available to do radio and print interviews as well. I hope you will take the survey yourself at http://www.WomenAndBooks2007.com, and see info for the press at http://www.WomenAndBooks2007.com/pressroom.

Thanks for your help and please stay in touch! Best wishes, Jan

Jan B. King
jan@eWomenPublishingNetwork.com
www.eWomenPublishingNetwork.com
310-990-8807
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

As you know, women continue to be vastly underrepresented as authors of published books.

After doing the count myself during the last 52 weeks, I found that women authored fewer than 15% of the New York Times Best Sellers (21 books out of 143 unique titles).

But according to most consumer research, women purchase at least 66% of non-fiction books.

To begin to solve the puzzle of the disparity between women’s purchasing and women’s authoring of books, I partnered with a survey research firm (http://www.ContentConnections.com) to create the Women and Books 2007 Study (http://www.WomenAndBooks2007.com/pressroom).

I personally believe there are a number of reasons why women are slow to catch up in non-fiction book publishing, but the tides are changing. When I work with women authors, I help them change their thinking about their books, which helps increase their chances of publishing success.

There are three major reasons women have failed to gain the success they'd like with their books. The first is in the way many write their books. After reviewing thousands of manuscripts, I find that women undermine their own communications in the way they write. They have a greater tendency than men to use passive voice, to credit others and quote others extensively, all of which undermine the power of the writing. Women are also far less likely to have their work peer reviewed, so they make some easily-correctable errors. Many women think they have to do all the work on a book themselves. Men know you can outsource many parts of the process, meaning the work gets done more quickly and more professionally.

But it isn't only the way they write that keeps women from being successful in the book publishing arena. Even after women's books are written, they aren't as aggressive as men in publishing or promotion, so even their published books tend to be less successful. Women are also less aggressive in networking to establish personal relationships with publishers, and less likely to aggressively negotiate for a good contract with a publisher for fear of losing the publishing offer.

Finally, when in comes to marketing and promotion women are shy to ask others to promote them. Many are uncomfortable with attention focused on their thoughts put to paper. They are more likely to succumb to the fears that plague most authors - fear that their ideas will be ridiculed or considered inconsequential.

Women will continue to make strides and bring their voices to the important issues through their books. It is very gratifying to help a woman with an important contribution make that available to benefit everyone through a book.

I would love to have an opportunity to discuss the study as well as how women can change their publishing fortunes.

For my background, please see http://www.SmartWomenPublish.com or http://www.janbking.com. I founded an organization called eWomenPublishingNetwork (http://www.eWomenPublishingNetwork.com) as a publishing resource for women in 2004.

Cheers,
Chellie