Is the Publishing Industry Biased against Male Writers? Part II

Recently, I wrote a blog discussing my unscientific research into the publishing industry's attitude toward female vs. male authors. To summarize, it helps to be female if you hope to be published.

Even more recently, I've been researching the mystery genre and all it's various sub-genres. I find I like them all - in varying degrees. I even have an idea for a cozy series. Excited, I spent a Saturday doing research at Barnes & Noble. I found (horror-themed sound track here) no cozies written by men on B&N's shelves.

Okay, I thought, I would do some more research and Googled "Do men write cozy mysteries".

(Answer: yes they do, but the number is limited.)

However, of all the results I sorted through to find that answer, this one troubled me the most. Not because of the blogger's post, but the many comments.

 "I read very few men authors."

 

"I don’t read a lot of male cozy authors ..."

 

"I prefer mysteries by women ..."

 

"I have always gravitated to female writers ..."

SIGH! What's a fella to do? As if the publishing industry weren't already against us, it appears some readers are too.

I'll step out on a limb to say if the words men/male/women/female had been changed to women/female/men/male instead there would have been an uproar claiming discrimination.

(I'll step off the limb now ... with a noose firmly around my neck.)