While I don't think talent matters from male to female authors, I do think generally the female audience is less choosy than the male readers out there. I think realistically women are more likely to be fine with reading a male OR female's work, where as men tend to gravitate toward other male authors. Again, generally, not everyone, but I do think it's a reality... which is fine. I'm not complaining, lol. It makes a lot of sense, since most women authors write topics aimed at a targeted female audience. So in a sense, I think male authors have more appeal overall, to a greater audience. But if you're truly talented and you've written a brilliant book that doesn't matter one iota.
My editor changed my name to my initials (A.J.) for that reason, which I thought was stupid, because I don’t think anyone is under the delusion that a man is going to pick this book up and read it.
I see no preference whether the writer is male or female. To me it's the content of the book that's important. My favorite author is Sara Douglass, I have read two trilogies and I have just started reading the second book of her Troy Game series, and she has yet to let me down. I find her fantasy books keep me coming back for more and I always have a hard time putting her books down and going to sleep . But the important thing is the writing, and not the authors sex.
Certainly the content is more important, but a lot of people might make assumptions about the content based on the sex of the author. When The Outsiders was published, they knew it was a boys book, that the content was much more appealing to boys. But S.E. Hinton is a woman. The publishers thought that if they put her real first name, people would be less likely to buy it because they figured a woman would not be able to write a story like that very well. I do also wonder how many Harlequin books are actually written by men even though I have yet to see a man's name on the cover of one.
