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Chick-Lit: The Multi Million Euro Industry Damned with Faint Praise

by Sile Murphy

The "women"s’ section of any bookstore is instantly recognisable. Placed just inside the door to maximise passing trade, tables are piled high with pink or pastel books , covers invariably adorned with animated images of handbags, high heel or love hearts. This "women only" genre named chick lit, was realised in 1996 when Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones diary was published and publishing house marketing departments saw its branding potential.

Bridget Jones Diary entertained as the narrator struggled through the conflicting advice and suggestions from magazines, self help books and the urbanite’s new family, her friends. Trying to figure out a career, a man and a size 8-waist line Bridget Jones spoke to a whole new generation of women - young women who reached en masse for a higher standard of education and therefore a higher level of professionalism than ever before.

The book was heaped with the all the contemporary cultural references of life in big city. Until then, books designated as women’s were Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins type novels with their glamorous or elitist characters dashing from polo games to the houses of rock stars. These could not appeal like a 30 something girl (for it was in the 90’s that women became referred to increasingly as girls) battling her desire to be independent with her desire to find the perfect man, all the while drinking too much cheap wine and berating herself for not being thinner.

The success of Bridget Jones Diary (the two book serial sold over 15 million units) was matched by the New York City based Sex and the City. Soon what was previously just a few authors capturing the female zeitgeist became publishing phenomena. And if Bridget Jones initially spoke to them then it was the publishing houses that began aiming books at them. Women buy and read more than men and the highly perceptive publishing industry began to recognise and facilitate this. That the industry is notoriously risk adverse means new authors need to be able to fit neatly into the designated bookshop sections or be penned by a recognisable face to secure a publishing contract. The marketing departments of publishing houses are now often better staffed than the departments that source new talent. To succeed, new authors must reach a considerable market with as little marketing and advertising as possible.

Soon just having a female author and a relationship at its core narrative was enough to label a book chick lit. But like so much that is heavily marketed, the chick lit phenomena has become a caricature. The prose is often saturated with poorly disguised consumer references that stray depressingly close to product placement, the issues formulaic and the endings sentimental. The phrase chick lit became a by word for writing to a template for a form of female pornography, shopping and relationships.

A lot of criticism of chick lit comes from female authors themselves. They find it patronising or offensive when their novel is tarred with the pink brush, that it de-legitimises them as authors. Terrified of being type cast as another chick lit author they pen misery type memoirs. New female authors have been responsible for some exceptionally dark and gritty literature, devoid of anything but darkness and pain.

Chick lit’s core problems revolve around relationships and references to a consumerist lifestyle. In literary circles, these humorous and commercial novels do not win Booker prizes or even a positive review in a paper of record. For the critics this apparent lack of gravitas means chick lit can never be considered real literature. To capture imaginations, create characters that readers can empathise with and in doing so sell millions of books, is all very clever, unless the empathetic reader is a woman.

Some of the criticisms of chick lit are acceptable. It is rare that a book emerges from this genre as refreshing as Bridget Jones Diary seemed in 1996. The writing can be cringe worthy reading, not unlike the diary of a teenage girl where the consumer references are crass and shallow. However, this criticism does not apply only to chick lit. Most genres, be they sci fi, thriller or misery memoirs have absolute abominations within their ranks, clearly published to maintain the money flow. They rely on bland blurb and a buying decision made on the back of a stronger book. Some books like some parts of life are merely fluff and some can capture real life experiences. Sometimes it is just a matter of separating the masterpiece from the marketing.