Organization: ​She Writes Press​1

https://shewritespress.com
Applicant Last Name: ​Wenger
Applicant First Name: ​Madilynne
Applicant Email: ​wengerma@appstate.edu

Project Title:
Closing the Gender Gap in the Literary World

Problem:
Over the course of time, there has been a gap in the rate of female writers getting published in
comparison to male writers.​2​ There has always been a higher percentage of male writers that get
published than female writers. There is a small exception of two times in the last forty years that
the NY Times Best Seller List has reported an equal 50/50 split between male and female
writers, but women have never been able to make it above that fifty percent mark.​3​ Even without
the added hardship of being a woman in yet another male dominated area of work, the odds of
being published have diminished drastically because of the lack of financial flow into the world
of literature. On average, only three out of every 10,000 manuscripts that are sent to a publishing
house in the United States get published. The odds are even worse for first-time authors, who are
most often female, because of their lack of credibility.​4​ Can this gap between male and female
writers becoming published be closed through the use of a female oriented editing and publishing
staff? I plan to use this grant money to solve this problem by putting together a gender specific
staff to help guide women through the path to getting published and bring a wider range of works
to the world of literature.

Specific Goals:
My project is a program that offers the chance at a partnership between authors and publishers in
a way that will not put them in any financial debt. It will give the opportunity for new materials
to be published from fresh, female minds who have not been presented with this opportunity
before, or who have been discouraged to pursue a path in the field of creative writing. The
program will provide a service that is specific to females and relieve the financial burden that so
often comes with the life of a creative writer trying to put their name and stories out into the
world. By the end of the 12-month period, I hope that there may be at least one, if not more,
published works that were written, edited, and published by women.

Broader Significance:
Writers, such as well-known fiction author Stephen King, have discussed the financial issues
they have with trying to become professional writers and there have been studies on the numbers
that these writers report. King wrote in one of his books, ​On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft​,
about his experience with getting is first advance from a publisher to write a book. The advance
was only $2,500, which may sound like a large sum to some people, but it barely does anything
in reality. He still had to work as a teacher and was a father, so the novel in question took just as
long as it would have without the advance.​5​ There are journal articles about the number of
writers who have not been able to get published and there are others highlighting the average pay
decrease in the last ten years for published writers in general. Between the years 2009 to 2015,
the average income of a full-time author decreased 30 percent, from $25,000 a year to $17,500 a
year.​6​ Not all writers can afford to take the time to commit to being full-time until they become
published at least once, or more, to build up a reputation. This is an even greater issue when the
gender gap is included in this equation. The rate at which female writers are published is
significantly less than that of male writers and it is likely that this will not change without more
than one push. In most genres, during the course of the last 70 years, men have dominated the
publication sales, leading by at least 10%. This is due to the fact that these categories are aligned
with stereotypical male interests, and most of the changes in the increase in percentages of
female written stories are due to the romantic aspects that are intertwined within the stories of
these categories. Women are often turned away from editors and publishers because of the
stereotype that female literature holds: sappy, romantic, redundant.​7​ This stereotype has
discouraged so many women from pursuing their dreams of being a professional writer because
of the fear that they will be turned away because of the discrimination against female writers.
There is a chance that the next great female author, or author​s​, that will be studied in future
literature courses is within this generation and they need the chance to let their voices be heard.
If the trend of the gender gap in the literary world is to change in any way, there should be
something to help women achieve their dreams. My project will help to find a woman that will
be included when someone uses the phrase, “One of the Greats,” in reference to literature.

Project Design:
This project is a financial assistance program designed to give female writers a low-cost way to
step into their future. The program will include a review committee, editorial staff, and a
partnership with a publisher that will help to get these writers’ works into the world. Everyone
involved will be female in order to work around the stereotype that has been associated with all
female writers. There will be a submissions process, during which there is a chance for women to
submit any piece of their own writing, with a limit of 35 pages per writer. The page limit is set in
place for time’s sake because the pieces will then be reviewed by the selected committee and six
works will be chosen to send to the editors who will go over each one individually. The stories
will remain anonymous until the final six have been chosen so as to avoid any bias in the review
process. There will be a master list that has the titles and accompanying authors so as to keep
track of who wrote what. The authors of these works will then meet with the editorial staff where
they will be briefly interviewed, and then advised upon revisions. There will be a window of
time, during which the authors have the chance to make their revisions for resubmission and then
the works will be sent to the publisher for one last review. The publisher will choose at least one
story to take interest in and partner with the author to publish the selected work.

Timeline:
- 2nd week of January 2020 - January 31, 2020:​ Submissions will be open and female
writers are encouraged to submit original works for review and consideration.
- February 2020 - April 2020:​ The review committee will go through the submissions,
make notes about the pieces, and select six works to move onto the next stage.
- May 2020:​ The selected works and accompanying notes will be passed of to the editors
and thoroughly reviewed by each one.
- June 2020:​ The editors will meet with the authors of the selected works for brief
interviews and a discussion on revisions that may help them when they meet with the
publishers.
- July 2020 - September 2020:​ The authors will have time to make any revisions they so
choose for resubmission. The resubmission deadline will be September 30, 2020.
- October 2020 - November 2020:​ The works will be reviewed again by the editors and
then passed on to the publisher if they find it to be compelling enough to move on.
- November 2020 - December 2020:​ The publishers will meet with the authors of the final
pieces and work with them to take the last couple of steps to being published.
- December 2020 - January 2021:​ The final revisions of the selected work will be
published and the author will have started to build a platform as an established author.

Personnel Involved:
There will be editors from the publishing house, She Writes Press. She Writes Press is a female
owned and operated publishing house that focuses on publishing female writers specifically. I
will be in charge of the master list of stories and authors that will help to keep the review process
as anonymous as possible. The review committee will be comprised of other female seniors in
the creative writing major, so long as they have not submitted a piece, as well as professors in the
English department here at Appalachian. This will give the chance for those pursuing a path in
creative writing to see what all goes into the process of becoming a published author, so it will
also be a learning experience even for those who do not submit a piece.

Sustainability Plans:
There is a small chance that the program will be sustainable in a way that makes it possible to be
repeated in the future. If the program works, a small percentage of the published piece(s) will be
put back into the fund that made all of this possible. This project is likely to take up most, if not
all, of the granted funds so as to make sure that the process is the best is can be to help women
get published.
Expectations:
The expectation for this program is for it to put more female written works into the world and to
give women writers hope for a chance in the field of professional creative writing. If nothing
else, this will be a learning experience for everyone involved, whether they are gaining
knowledge from experience or observation. There are many opportunities to learn something
new in the world of creative writing, especially when there is a focus on gender and the chance
to improve the likelihood of closing the gap between male and female writers being published.

Budget:
- Partnership with publishing house and accompanying editors:​ $2,000 - This will pay
them for their time, as well as a contract that will be established.
- Printing of materials:​ $500 - Paper is expensive when printing hundreds of copies of
stories.
- Review Committee:​ $800 - It is likely that some of the people within the committee will
need financial assistance to offer their time.
- Publication of materials:​ $1,000 - There will be assistance from the program to help
with the publication of materials as a thanks to the publishing house and to alleviate some
of the finances from the author.

Notes:
1. She Writes Press. She Writes Press (website). Last modified 2019.
https://shewritespress.com/about-swp/
2. Rosie Cima. “Bias, She Wrote: The Gender Balance of The New York Times Best Seller
list.” The Pudding, Last modified June 2017. https://pudding.cool/2017/06/best-sellers/
3. Illustrated analysis of percentages in article by Rosie Cima, “Bias, She Wrote.”
4. The Purple Crayon Blog. “The Odds of Getting Published Stink—and Why You
Shouldn’t Care.” May 2010. http://www.underdown.org/publishing-odds.htm
5. Stephen King. ​On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.​ (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
2000), 83.
6. Douglas Preston. “Why Is It So Goddamned Hard to Make a Living as a Writer Today?”
The Authors Guild Bulletin​, Spring/Summer 2017.
https://www.authorsguild.org/the-writing-life/why-is-it-so-goddamned-hard-to-make-a-li
ving-as-a-writer-today/
7. Rosie Cima, “Bias, She Wrote.”

Selected Resources:
Cima, Rosie. “Bias, She Wrote: The Gender Balance of The New York Times Best Seller list.”
The Pudding, Last modified June 2017. https://pudding.cool/2017/06/best-sellers/
King, Stephen. ​On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.​ (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000).
Preston, Douglas,. “Why Is It So Goddamned Hard to Make a Living as a Writer Today?” ​The
Authors Guild Bulletin​, Spring/Summer 2017.
https://www.authorsguild.org/the-writing-life/why-is-it-so-goddamned-hard-to-make-a-li
ving-as-a-writer-today/
She Writes Press. She Writes Press (website). Last modified 2019.
https://shewritespress.com/about-swp/
The Purple Crayon Blog. “The Odds of Getting Published Stink—and Why You Shouldn’t
Care.” May 2010. http://www.underdown.org/publishing-odds.htm
 Annotated Bibliography

Cima, Rosie. “Bias, She Wrote: The Gender Balance of The New York Times Best Seller list.”
The Pudding, Last modified June 2017. https://pudding.cool/2017/06/best-sellers/

This article outlines the gender gap that exists within The New York Times Best Seller list and
the fluctuations in the percentages of male and female authors over the years. It also discusses
the differences in genre sales in comparison to the gender of the author and the years in which
the various genres were most popular. There is also a breakdown of the gender bias that stands
within each genre of writing that ends up on the NY Times Best Seller List.

Dreifus, Erika. “After the MFA: Fantasy, Reality, and Lessons Learned.” ​Poets and Writers,​
September/October 2014.
https://www.pw.org/content/after_the_mfa_fantasy_reality_and_lessons_learned

This article talks about how difficult the path to publication really is for creative writers,
specifically. The author received many degrees before pursuing the path of creative writing by
getting an MFA in the concentration of creative writing in the hopes that it would help her to get
her works noticed. The author goes on to reveal that this path ended up not helping as much as
she had once hoped, in fact she has many works unpublished and had to sacrifice writing because
of the field of work she ended up in.

King, Stephen. ​On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.​ New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000.

Stephen King is a well-known author with many published works, and in this book, he describes
his experience of becoming a writer and gives advice to aspiring creative writers. He has two
main points that he focuses on: the process of writing creatively, and the reality of the finances
that come with the decision of becoming a writer. He relays his experience of starting out as a
writer and how difficult it was with the small advances he was given for each publication in
accompany to the short deadline that was given to him by the publishers. There was a point in
time that he ended up having to majorly consider quitting his job just to make the deadlines,
which would have drastically altered his life due to the lack of finances that he would have been
receiving.

Lambert, Troy. “Getting Paid: How Do Authors Make Money from Library Books?” Public
Libraries Online, last modified August 18, 2016.
 http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/08/getting-paid-how-do-authors-make-money-from-
library-books/

This article explains how authors get paid from having books in public libraries. Many authors
sell their manuscripts to the publisher, who then sells the rights to a library, online or otherwise.
The author then receives part of the profits from those sales, but it is not nearly as much as if
there were to be multiple publications purchased by individuals. Many of these authors hope that
by releasing the rights to libraries, that the word would get out about their books and then sell
more copies but that is usually not the case and they end up losing money.

Preston, Douglas. “Why Is It So Goddamned Hard to Make a Living as a Writer Today?” ​The
Authors Guild Bulletin​, Spring/Summer 2017.
https://www.authorsguild.org/the-writing-life/why-is-it-so-goddamned-hard-to-make-a-li
ving-as-a-writer-today/

This article highlights the decrease in pay for writers of all kinds and how this is impacting the
lives of not only writers, but also the world. Writing is a core part of people’s lives and when
writers cannot afford to write anymore, the world is suffering because there is less being
published. Many salaries for writers have been cut by more than half which makes it difficult for
them to afford research, reporting, or other resources that various writers need in order to
complete a piece worth publishing. This is also impacted by the fact that publishers are not able
to provide advances to writers because the publishers are also suffering financially.

She Writes Press. She Writes Press (website). Last modified 2019.
https://shewritespress.com/about-swp/

She Writes Press is a publishing company that was founded by two women, Kamy Wicoff
Brooke Warner, in 2012 in an effort to break down some of the barriers of the publication
process. They have an all-female staff and focus on connecting and helping women writers to get
a better chance of being published. They do not base the author(s) on their platform, or lack
thereof, but instead focus on the stories that have been written and whether those are worth
publishing. She Writes Press is for women writers to have the chance to launch their writing
careers and put them at a level where they may be able to actually compete in the world of
professional writing.
The Purple Crayon Blog. “The Odds of Getting Published Stink—and Why You Shouldn’t
Care.” May 2010. http://www.underdown.org/publishing-odds.htm

This blog entry brings to light the likelihood of a writer getting published in today’s economy,
highlighting how much competition there actually is within the world of creative writing. There
are tens of thousands of manuscripts that enter a single publication house yearly. Most of those
get thrown out, leaving around 200 to be gone through, and on average, there are usually only
3-10 manuscripts that actually make it through the process to reach publication. Publication is
not even a guarantee for profit for the author since income all depends on how many copies end
up being sold along with how much of the profit that the publication house is asking for.