Sexism in publishing - writer receives eight times as many responses after using male name

A female writer had uncovered a serious and worrying case of sexism, right at the heart of the publishing industry.

Catherine Nichols submitted her novel to 50 agents, only to receive just two manuscript requests. However, when Nichols sent out her book under a male name, she received eight times more responses. In an essay for Jezebel, Nichols writes: “He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book. Fully a third of the agents who saw his query wanted to see more, where my numbers never did shift from one in 25.”

“The judgments about my work that had seemed as solid as the walls of my house had turned out to be meaningless. My novel wasn’t the problem, it was me – Catherine.”

Responses from agents in regards to Nichols’ novel remarked mainly on the female characters, with one writing: “beautiful writing, but your main character isn’t very plucky, is she?”