Why Did Men Dominate 80’s Bestseller Lists?

Male authors, by far, were the more commercially successful and popular, of the two leading genders, in the 1980s. No other decade in the past 70 years was like it.   

Even the very next decade saw a far less skewed male-to-woman bestselling author ratio. And in the 2000’s, we saw a 6-5 male-to-female ratio for the decade’s most repeated best-selling achievements.  

Fewer male readers buy books. Did women buy these books for guys who may not even have read the books in the 1980s? 

Did these male authors have huge cross-over female readerships? 

Did the male author market his books more aggressively? 

Did publishers put more resources behind male authors?

Were there fewer women writers of commercial fiction back then?  

According to a study of The New York Times Bestseller lists of the 1980s, only one woman made the top 11 spots, based on which authors had the most NYT best-sellers in that decade. Stephen King topped all with 14. 

Dick Francis had 11as the runner-up, and L. Ron Hubbard tied with the only woman, Danielle Steel, for third, with 10 apiece. Then the next seven are men, with five tied for seventh place, each with seven bestsellers.  

Today things are more balanced but shifting towards women holding court on the bestseller lists. 

“To agnostics: Just because it says anonymous doesn’t mean has no author.”

— Actor and Author Matthew McConaughey

 

“We must learn the consequence of negligence - it’s not just what we do, it’s what we don’t do that's important as well. we are guilty by omission.”

— Actor and Author Matthew McConaughey

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.