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Hey Reader,

We all love a good slogan and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s famous line “well-behaved women seldom make history” is just perfect for a cute pink tee or a morning coffee mug.

It’s become an inspirational quote; a rousing battle cry to disrupt and rebel and be seen.

But when Ulrich wrote that line, she was studying diaries and church records, noticing that the daily lives of “ordinary” women — those who complied and behaved and shrank and were good girls — rarely survived in history books.

Erasing women in history

The women who built and led communities and kept stories and traditions alive went unnoticed because they didn’t create dramatic headlines. The names of the “good wives” in Puritan towns literally only survived in family bibles, gravestones, and occasionally wills… while men were routinely part of business transactions and recording history.

Women make up 50% of the global population, but occupy only around 0.5% of recorded history, according to historian Bettany Hughes.

Which is interesting, because in pre-history — from around 40,000-5,000BC — women featured prominently in art and culture. They held powerful positions as priestesses and landowners. But as society became more militarised, the balance of power shifted. Men took over storytelling and suddenly, women’s contributions were edited out completely, diminished, or rewritten to fit a narrative that centred men.

The overwhelming majority of historical sources are written by men, about men, and preserved by men. Then distorted by men to fit whatever political agenda suits them at the time. That hasn’t changed; those who write history (including, now, women) write it with bias because humans are inherently biased. We’re never going to get a totally impartial account of our history which is why it’s so important to hear from as many voices as possible. Right now, we don’t. And that is a problem.

Of course, when we talk about “women” we’re using talking about white cis women, but we’re the tip of a very big iceberg: women of the global majority, disabled women, neurodivergent women, poor women, LGBTQ+ women have all been erased even more thoroughly. When you’re already marginalised in one way, history is exceptional at making sure you disappear completely. Just look at the way everyone but straight white men are being erased from governmental websites in the US under the Trump administration.

The publishing gender gap: Who gets to write history today?

As for those working in publishing, there are gaps there too, which feed into which books are chosen for publication, how much authors are paid, and why. The gender pay gap in publishing is an average of 12.8% in favour of men, with far more women in lower-paying roles like editorial and marketing, and far fewer women in positions where advance decisions are made, like acquisition.

Things are finally changing in the traditional publishing world, but slowly. According to Words Rated as of 2021, women authors in the US comprise about 50.45% of all authors and their earnings are slightly below those of men’s (96% on average). In the UK, women now publish more books than men, but only since 2020. So things are looking up for women in terms of publishing numbers, but what about global majority (i.e. not white) authors and other minoritised groups?

Only 17% of those working in UK publishing are from the global majority and just 15% identify as LGBTQ+. And for disabled and neurodivergent groups, the picture is bleaker: only 16% of those working in the publishing industry have a disability or long-term health condition.

Let’s not pretend this is just a UK problem. In the US, 68.7% of literary employees are straight, 83.5% are nondisabled, and 71.3% are cis women. The people making the decisions about which books get published, how much authors are paid, and how they’re marketed are overwhelmingly white, straight, nondisabled, and often male. And that shows in the numbers.

Who gets the biggest advances?

As for earnings: on average women authors earn 89 cents to the dollar compared to men for the same type of work. Women’s salaries generally are 96% of men’s, but this varies wildly by genre: men dominate the highest-earning genres like spy thrillers and nonfiction books on politics. Women earn more in historical fiction.

Women authors receive smaller advances on average than men, even when we take into account genre and experience. And a 2024 analysis of the Big Five publishers found that LGBTQ+ authors are paid less than straight authors — despite often selling more books! This suggests systemic bias in negotiations for book advances, not just sales performance. In the UK, women earn 96p for every £1 men earn, including advances and royalties.

Men dominate high-earning genres, too: spy and politics novels, adventure novels, and technical nonfiction (where men write 85-97% of bestsellers) — these genres earn higher advances. Historical fiction and romance, dominated by women authors, attract lower advances, despite their popularity.

There are many intersecting reasons for this disparity that start long before a person decides to write a book: educational biases, fewer opportunities for women in technical industries or political fields, gatekeeping… If you’re a woman of the global majority, or disabled, or LGBTQ+, or working class, the barriers are even higher.

The marketing challenge

There’s bias in promotion, too. Men’s books tend to receive more budget for marketing and more shelf space in bookshops, especially in “prestige” genres like literary fiction, politics, and business. A 2023 study found that books by men are more likely to be featured in major review outlets (e.g. The New York Times Book Review), even when women’s books sell equally well.

Despite making up 50% of the population, women’s books are often marketed towards niche audiences like “women’s fiction” and romance, which limits their reach. As if only women are the audiences for fiction written by women. It’s no wonder so many women writers adopt a gender neutral pen name.

It’s worse for authors from the global majority, disabled, and LGBTQ+ groups: these authors report that their books only tend to receive major campaign efforts when they align with “diversity trends” like Pride Month or Black History Month.

Again, this isn’t surprising when you consider that men (mostly straight white men) hold 64% of senior aquisition roles, where marketing and advance budgets and decisions are made.

Self-publishing: an equitable utopia?

But what about self-publishing? Is it the promised democratisation we hoped for?

Well, yes and no.

LGBTQ+ authors earn more than their straight counterparts by about 20% and are overrepresented among indie authors. This makes sense because these groups have been historically excluded from traditional publishing, so of course they’re going to flock to the indie world — and they have a loyal and enthusiastic fanbase of people hungry to see themselves represented in such books. Self-publishing is better for women, too — we earn on average 41% more than our male counterparts.

There’s a reverse gender pay gap in self-publishing, which is very interesting — with far fewer gatekeepers, the market generally decides what it wants to buy and authors tend to have more success building loyal followings.

Self-published authors experience more equity in marketing, too — up to a point. They control their own marketing budgets and platforms like Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital offer open-access tools at low or no cost. Email lists and social media, especially BookTok, can be brilliant for all authors. Women, LGBTQ+, and global majority authors are overrepresented in self-publishing and often outperform men in marketing ROI because they have stronger community engagement. Where people are excluded from traditional publishing pathways, they’ll flock to indie platforms — and their audiences, who are desperate for books that represent them, will flock with them and stay very loyal.

It’s not all roses, though: self-published authors bear the full cost of book production and marketing, which can be considerable (the average spend is $1,000-$5,000 per book) which is a barrier for marginalised groups with fewer resources.

This has always been the case: self-publishing isn’t new. Virginia Woolf self-published, as did many famous authors of the past. But what isn’t often talked about is the privilege they held: many of these authors were independently wealthy because then, as now, to publish your own book still carries a cost.

The reading gap: why men aren’t picking up books by women

​Research by the Women’s Prize Trust shows that while women read books by men and women equally, “men overwhelmingly reject books written by women in favour of male authors.” This is a real problem for a variety of reasons, with empathy being one of them, of course — if men read more books by women, they might understand the world and the challenges faced by women a little better.

But it’s also a problem from an opportunity point of view: if men aren’t reading books by women, they’re less likely to value books by women as highly as books by men. Which feeds into the decision-making and gatekeeping processes.

It’s not just gender, either. White readers overwhelming read white authors. Straight readers overwhelmingly read straight authors. The cycle of exclusion continues because the people with the most power in publishing (and in society generally) are the ones whose stories get centred, whose voices get amplified, and whose books get the most attention.

The bigger picture: why does this all matter?

All of this means we don’t get to see the true picture of who we are as humans, the reality of our history, and an accurate idea of the world we live in.

Historical biases mean we only get one side of the story; the saying “history is written by the winners” is a cliché for a reason. When you’re the only one whose voice is platformed and heard, it’s easy to write a version of history that suits you and paints you in the best possible light, which is how the horrors of colonialism got swept under the rug for centuries.

Is there a backlash when the colonised finally to get to share their side of the story? Yep. It’s frustrating and understandable — nobody wants to learn that their way of life grew out of violence and oppression. It’s not a fun thing to learn (much less fun to live it). But we can’t learn from history and do better in the future if our history is inaccurate, incomplete, and sometimes an outright lie.

We can’t see how we became who we are, and imagine who we might become, if our ideas are founded on fiction.

Everything is propaganda, and everything is stories — even the takes we agree with. Storytelling is how we share information and make sense of the world. It’s always going to be biased. There will always be people who disagree with our point of view and our memory of how things happened — which is another reason it’s SO crucial to have as many stories and points of view as possible… even and especially if we disagree or find them difficult to swallow.

Every new voice, every new perspective, adds to our picture of the world and helps us to see a truer version of life.

Be a nuisance

When Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote, “Well-behaved women seldom make history” she wasn’t making a rallying cry; she was simply making an observation.

But I think it’s a good reminder that if we want to have a voice, and have it heard, and start a movement that might change minds and then the world, being “well-behaved” isn’t going to cut it.

So, what can we do?

Read widely. Seek out books by women, by people of the global majority, by disabled and neurodivergent authors, by LGBTQ+ writers. Find books by people who are different from you. Buy them. Review them. Recommend them. If you’re a man, make a conscious effort to read books by women because right now, most of you aren’t.

Call out lists of recommended books that are overwhelmingly pale and male, and get in the comments with great books you’ve read by other authors.

Demand better from publishers. Ask for transparency in advances and marketing budgets. Support imprints and initiatives that centre marginalised voices. Penguin Random House UK pledged to make their new hires and acquired books reflect UK society by 2025 — hold them to it. Push other publishers to do the same.

Amplify marginalised authors. Share their work on social media. Follow them. Engage with their content. If you’re an author, perhaps you can mentor someone who doesn’t look like you.

And if you’re a writer from a marginalised group, don’t wait for permission. Self-publish if you have to or WANT TO. Crowdfund if you can. Build your community. The gatekeepers won’t always let you in but the readers will find you.

The world changes for us when we’re able to see it through other people’s eyes. And isn’t that such a gift? To be able to look at something we thought was true, realise it’s not quite what it seems, and see things more clearly?

I think so.

Be a nuisance. Be loud.

You have a voice. Use it.

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TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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