Sean Thomas, 53, the Londoner who is S.K.
But once a formula is successful, publishers try to replicate it. In recent years, many female readers have been drawn away from international espionage thrillers, a genre predominantly written by men, in favor of suspense novels told through the point of view of female characters, often compared with the 2012 juggernaut “Gone Girl.” Since then, certainly, men have written psychological thrillers under their own names and women have used pen names. Authors who switch literary genres say readers don’t like expecting one type of book while getting another. Retailers may rule out another work by an underperforming veteran in favor of a debut from a splashy newcomer. Pen names offer benefits, including the freedom of a clean slate.
Last year, women bought 59% of all fiction, according to NPD Books. Women hold a large share of the power in the reading public. The world has changed since the Brontë sisters and the woman born Mary Ann Evans, writing as George Eliot, had to disguise themselves with masculine-sounding pen names to be taken seriously. He said he chose the pseudonym partly because this book was unlike any other he had written and thrillers published under his real name hadn’t sold well. Ritter, a 43-year-old author from Princeton, N.J. “I didn’t want there to be people thinking I was trying to deceive them in any way, but at the same time I think it’s cool to have a little mystery,” said Mr. He won’t lie about his identity, created with help from a list of gender-neutral baby names, but he isn’t trumpeting the truth, either. Some online posts have referred to him as a woman, a mistake he sometimes ignores.
#FAMOUS GAY MEN AUTHORS MOVIE#
(The author’sĪvatar is a picture of Jamie Lee Curtis from the 1978 horror movie “Halloween.”) The first Riley Sager novel is one of five Book of the Month Club picks for July. “Final Girls,” out last week, is told in the voice of a woman in her 20s who is the only survivor of a slasher-movie-style massacre.