Gender inequity and book promotion?

[Christa M. Miller]

Was reading an interesting Huffington Post entry about women for president, and a lot of the points the writer made seemed salient as far as book promotion. What do you think? Do men have a different style than women? If so, does it matter as much as figuring out how to promote books in a way that works for you as a human being? Or - is the inequity less significant among introverts (writers) than among extroverts (presidential candidates, lawyers, etc.)?

Edited to add the link - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-reardon/to-my-daughter-what-...

[Lyn LeJeune]

If i think of all the author readings and tours I've attended, I'd say there is a significant difference. First, there's a bigger crowd (if there is a crowd) for "women's books" than for men, unless the book is about war.
(help us all). Women tend to talk about themselves and how they got to be a writer, and their life, and some very Oprah type stuff. Men seem to dive in and only answer questions about their lives during the answer and question period. Now, please, that's how men and women act in general. No? What do you think. Should we change? Should we try to be a little more like each other?
Lyn LeJeune at www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com Rebuild the public libraries of New Orleans

[Stephen Blackmoore]

I'm sure there are definite differences between how men adn women promote, but I think it has more to do with differences between extroverts and introverts and the desires of their audiences. As Lyn pointed out, men and women tend to focus on different things, and I think the audience is going to be more receptive to those things that they find in common with the author.

This may simply be stating the obvious, but if someone plays to what their audience wants, there's a stronger rapport. I think extroverts tend to be better at that sort of thing. They like an audience, they want the audience to like them and they're usually pretty skilled at it. Introverts, on the other hand, not so much.

[Sandra Ruttan]

Funny... I almost always go to see men.

When Michael Connelly was here he talked a little bit, read a little bit and then said he'd turn it over for questions because he thought just listening to him talk would be boring. That way, he gave the audience exactly what they wanted.

I'd heard him before so I knew he's an introvert. Big time. And I've heard others express surprise over that. #1 bestseller, you'd think he'd come off as confident and self assured. Not saying he isn't, but he comes off as shy.

This is why I'm all for pairings. One of the best panels I've ever been to was The Great Gender Debate at Harrogate last year. Val McDermid & Denise Mina on one side, Ian Rankin & Mark Billingham on the other, with Natasha Cooper moderating. The back-and-forth was brilliant.

And fwiw, George Pelecanos was guest of honour the one evening and, despite being a shy person as well, was so interesting that the bookstore sold out of every copy of every single one of his books, and The Night Gardener was available there ahead of general release. Of course, the women were swooning over him.