Ageism and Writing
The author Nicola Morgan has had two interesting articles this week about authors and age. (She blogs here.) The questions were asked by one of her readers if it is more difficult for an older author to get their first book published, and if so, at what age did it seem to make a difference, and why did age matter at all?
I read through the first few paragraphs of the first article with trepidation. I started imagining a year or two or five down the road, with my finely-polished manuscript in hand, ready to begin knocking on agents' doors and having them slammed in my face because I was no longer considered young enough to publish. I am not sure which I felt more strongly, depressed or angry.
I kept reading and learned that statistically speaking, yes, it can be harder for an older author to get published (and by older, one agent said over 50 years old) because there is a perception that older people are less technologically savvy, less fit for the grueling travel of a book tour, and some agents simply want to represent younger authors because they are more likely to have many decades of book writing in front of them.
At this point, I was less depressed but definitely more angry and I was arguing back in my head, "But I am technologically savvy, healthy as a horse, and, pay me enough to retire and I'll write all the books you want." Amazing how much I wanted to be published when I thought it had just been ripped out of my hands.
Ms. Morgan ended her article with the reminder that in the end, it is the story that makes the deal. Write a fantastic book and you are not going to be turned away, regardless of age. However, the older you are, the more fantastic that book will need to be.
But no pressure.
Her second article was a follow-up to the first and said actually age probably matters most for authors who write in the children and young adult genres. The author's voice, especially in those genres, needed to be fresh and modern to appeal to that demographic. Here is where age could play a role, if the author has not kept up with modern writing.
Her biggest piece of advice to authors was not to offer their age to prospective agents in the first place. Let the writing shine and speak for itself. Just make sure that when it does, it does not tell your age.
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As readers, does it matter to you how old an author is? Would you find it harder to buy into a plot about a twenty-something year old if you knew the author was approaching sixty? Have you ever been able to guess an author's age by the writing and if so, did it cause you to enjoy the book less?
authors, fiction, publishing, writing in About Writing 
Reader Comments (5)
This is FASCINATING to me. Ageism in relation to being an author has never even occurred to me. Huh. I have to say – keeping in mind this is just my initial, knee-jerk thought on this – I actually think the idea of an author being a bit older is quite appealing to me. Older equals more life experience. I have NO idea how that could not then equal deeper, more enriched and layered writing. Joyce Carol Oates jumps immediately to my mind as an older author I truly enjoy. (I know she published her first book quite young, but she just published another one, dangit, and she is in her 70's now!!) I'd have no problem reading a story about a 20-something-year-old written by a much older author. He (or she) was 20-something once. And he still carries within him that younger version of himself.
I hadn't considered it either until reading these articles. However, thinking about it now, it makes sense. After all, publishing is a business like any other and the bottom line is... well, the bottom line. How much $$ can we squeeze out of this opportunity? Is the investment worth the expected payoff?
That said, it was stated in one of the articles that writing is one profession in which ageism is less of a factor. Try to waltz into a company at age 50 and land your first job. And that is what the articles were talking about... publishing your first book. Established older authors are less impacted.
Anyway, I agree with you that older authors bring much more to the table in terms of life experiences. I prefer the language they use as well.
We haven't even discussed the issue of female authors having to pretend to be male to be sold. The comment was made that some men don't want to be seen reading a book with a woman's name on the cover. How enlightened is that?
I don't know that I have ever thought about an author's age in relation to the story. If the story is good, age doesn't matter. Similarly, if a man is writing in the voice of a woman, (or vice versa), and that voice is authentic, I don't notice. In fact, it often fascinates me that the author CAN write so authentically while not being the "right" age or sex. To me, that makes them more of an artist.
Age and gender aren't a factor to me, all that counts is that the story is engaging, intriguing and that the author has the vision and skill to pull it off. A good writer should be able to empathise and communicate any age or sex, and realise that within the context of the story.
However, publishing is driven by commercial pressures and these are likely to have some influence, no matter how flimsy the logic.
I never gave this much thought. I would have thought older authors would have been taken more seriously, as older and hopefully more responsible people. It certainly would not make a difference to me. Good writing or an interesting story is just that and independent of age of the author. I just finished reading memoirs of a geisha, and that was the voice of a young Japanese girl from a middle aged man! If you're talented, that is what matters.