Wow, Brooke, this is very interesting, and reflects what I know in my bones. As an upcoming She Writes Press author (Fall 2025), debut novelist, and 68-year-old, I have learned to hide my age in a variety of ways when querying work: minimize my extensive background, never include education years, etc. What "prestigious publishers" are missing is that 35% of the US population is older than 50, and many buy books. Why are they missing that? It's a significant market share. I'm not saying that people over 50 only want to read authors over 50, but it does create a built-in connection and shared experience that would be easy to market to. I suspect as Westerners (you and I both) we face other biases in the industry. Being on the East coast offers a great deal closer connection to industry influencers, I would say. But maybe that's worth an exploration like you did with age. I agree with you: complaining about these biases is generally unproductive. I am very glad that SWP if focused not on age, location, platform, or glitz, but on solid writing. When I look at the faces of the women authors in my Fall 2025 cohort, I am giddy. They are smart, funny, and the kind of sexy that comes with living a life of gusto and exploration. Thank you for seeing past the wrinkles and the grays.
Thank you for writing and submitting your novel, Kathy. Another interesting question about region. I think these days we're so online that you can become an influencer regardless of where you live. That said, young people have an advantage in the influencer space as well—because it's so much about images, video, etc. I find younger people are (again, generally) just better at social media. Maybe they also have more time and energy for certain platforms. Also, when I was younger (and especially pre-kid) being out in the world was a big priority—going to events, networking, industry stuff, readings. This necessarily falls off. So it could be that younger people are showing up more for the influencing and the events. But this is admittedly conjecture.
As someone who published at 30 but still considers herself a debut fiction author at 70+, I can say that nothing I wrote or could have written before can hold a candle to what I could write now. The missing element(s)? Life experience, perspective, wisdom. Maybe I'm just a super-late bloomer and everyone else can bring all that straight out of the gate. But somehow I doubt it. So, THANK YOU, Brooke, for opening the door for fiction writers with life experience!!
This. Lifting a glass to all late bloomers out there. I personally want to read novels that have some maturity baked in, some nuance, and often this comes with age and more experience.
Revealing and surprising, though I'm glad you took the time to gather the raw data. It's like Hollywood all over again for debut novelists. I wonder if the same is true of nonfiction authors for whom the appeal might increase with age.
I experienced this at Sewanee Writers Conference. So thrilled to get in, thought it would push my career. But not only did some (I mean only some) of the writers avoid me, I had a terrible experience with an agent who told me she wasn't accepting pitches. But the person who left her booth right before me was crowing that she'd asked for pages. This and a couple of other incidents were so disheartening. Now I'm excited to be publishing with SWP in June. I keep telling myself I'll be the Grandma Moses of writing!
Great piece, Brooke. Linked to the issue of age for women authors, is also the issue of appearance you make inference to. I've been an author for over 20 years and there were times I was subjected to-- or made aware of-- conversations about my appearance primarily in nonfiction where some had "concerns" I was "too feminine" (read young, girly, wore makeup, dresses and skirts, had long hair) and thus would not be taken seriously. I could spend a lifetime telling you my thoughts and feelings about this and what women are subjected to that men are exempt from. Yet another reason to love SWP for allowing authors to be their authentic selves in their work and life!
When I was preparing to publish my first fiction novel, Searching for Pilar, I was 69. I learned from a panel discussion about the age discrimination. Since my book was timely, I wanted to get it into print as soon as possible. I went through the publication process with Greenleaf Book Group and was very pleased. Between my own efforts talking to book clubs and non profit organizations I sold around 5000 books. Lesson here is hybrids are a great alternative for older writers
This is some excellent reportage, Brooke -- thanks so much for doing the internet legwork. I'm not surprised in the least -- it's good to be young in America. On a rare occasion, a septuagenarian like Harriet Doerr (Stones for Ibarra) can break through, but we're talking Halley's Comet-level frequency. Still, she made quite a splash, so perhaps the lesson to be learned is to be really young or really old with your first novel...!
Thank you for this revealing but not surprising deep dive, Brooke. One thing I noticed while querying agents with no success was that most older agents are closed to new queries because they have their established clientele and plenty of work. It’s the new, younger agents who are open to queries, and I reached out to many of them and heard back nothing. It makes sense to me that younger agents are looking for the books of younger writers. Finding an older agent in search of a debut author (with a memoir, no less) felt like a needle-in-the-haystack challenge. So within the industry, the value of youth might extend beyond authors to the agents and even the big five editors themselves. I’m happy to have found the right home for my debut book with SWP, where I don’t hesitate to share my age of nearly 58.
My son is a music agent with WME, and I see the same approach there too. He’s young and he signs young artists. The older agents are busy with their established artists. If they ever sign anyone new, it’s a well-known artist transferring from another agency.
I have to say- not surprised but not over 50? I think of all the talented and exceptional writers I know in their 50s, 60s, 70s and yes, 80s writing non-fiction as well as fiction. They bring such a gift of wisdom, depth, and spice of life to their work and how wrong that the prestigious publishers can't see that. Thank you, Brooke, for holding the hands of all of the amazing She Writes authors and for taking a chance on my story and the 73-year-old woman who finally found the voice to tell it. Because of you and SWP at 75, I feel brave enough to attempt fiction or fiction based on a true story. You and SWP have given so much to us.
Oooph… 😞 This is disheartening to read and of course, not surprising. But closing in on my seventh decade and with life experiences that I’ve finally begun to assimilate and metabolize, I can now share in a way I couldn’t have up until now. And as others have said here too, I’d much rather read words from authors, who are looking through the lens of experience, miles and time on the planet. So now that I finally arrived at a place of confidence in my value as a well rounded, fully assimilated human being with something worth saying , not just another pretty young face, the publishing world doesn’t want to hear from me… 😞
Depressing reading, Brooke. Ageism sucks. I got in with my debut in my 40s too; I was asked my age before the deal was struck and refused to give it, sending a photo saying ‘this is recent’ instead. The work should be the only factor, but it never is.
Wow. Not a shocker, but an eye-opener for sure. Thanks for investigating this! As a not-yet-debut author who's hurtling toward the "not young enough" line, I'm grateful to be living in a time and place where there are viable alternatives like SWP and SparkPress.
As a grateful and quite-fulfilled 5-times failed novelist at the age of 73, I look forward to even more failure. (Depends on your definition of "failure." Ha!)
Interesting to see the numbers, but sadly no surprise. As an older, unphotogenic woman without industry connections, I know the odds are stacked against me whatever I write.
Wow, Brooke, this is very interesting, and reflects what I know in my bones. As an upcoming She Writes Press author (Fall 2025), debut novelist, and 68-year-old, I have learned to hide my age in a variety of ways when querying work: minimize my extensive background, never include education years, etc. What "prestigious publishers" are missing is that 35% of the US population is older than 50, and many buy books. Why are they missing that? It's a significant market share. I'm not saying that people over 50 only want to read authors over 50, but it does create a built-in connection and shared experience that would be easy to market to. I suspect as Westerners (you and I both) we face other biases in the industry. Being on the East coast offers a great deal closer connection to industry influencers, I would say. But maybe that's worth an exploration like you did with age. I agree with you: complaining about these biases is generally unproductive. I am very glad that SWP if focused not on age, location, platform, or glitz, but on solid writing. When I look at the faces of the women authors in my Fall 2025 cohort, I am giddy. They are smart, funny, and the kind of sexy that comes with living a life of gusto and exploration. Thank you for seeing past the wrinkles and the grays.
Thank you for writing and submitting your novel, Kathy. Another interesting question about region. I think these days we're so online that you can become an influencer regardless of where you live. That said, young people have an advantage in the influencer space as well—because it's so much about images, video, etc. I find younger people are (again, generally) just better at social media. Maybe they also have more time and energy for certain platforms. Also, when I was younger (and especially pre-kid) being out in the world was a big priority—going to events, networking, industry stuff, readings. This necessarily falls off. So it could be that younger people are showing up more for the influencing and the events. But this is admittedly conjecture.
Not at all surprising. But nonetheless rattling.
As someone who published at 30 but still considers herself a debut fiction author at 70+, I can say that nothing I wrote or could have written before can hold a candle to what I could write now. The missing element(s)? Life experience, perspective, wisdom. Maybe I'm just a super-late bloomer and everyone else can bring all that straight out of the gate. But somehow I doubt it. So, THANK YOU, Brooke, for opening the door for fiction writers with life experience!!
This. Lifting a glass to all late bloomers out there. I personally want to read novels that have some maturity baked in, some nuance, and often this comes with age and more experience.
Revealing and surprising, though I'm glad you took the time to gather the raw data. It's like Hollywood all over again for debut novelists. I wonder if the same is true of nonfiction authors for whom the appeal might increase with age.
Maybe something to take up in a future post, Kate. Undoubtedly age bias doesn't loom so large for nonfiction writers.
Encouraging, Brooke!
I experienced this at Sewanee Writers Conference. So thrilled to get in, thought it would push my career. But not only did some (I mean only some) of the writers avoid me, I had a terrible experience with an agent who told me she wasn't accepting pitches. But the person who left her booth right before me was crowing that she'd asked for pages. This and a couple of other incidents were so disheartening. Now I'm excited to be publishing with SWP in June. I keep telling myself I'll be the Grandma Moses of writing!
Grandma Moses! Haha. Yes, great. And excited to be working with you, Terri.
Great piece, Brooke. Linked to the issue of age for women authors, is also the issue of appearance you make inference to. I've been an author for over 20 years and there were times I was subjected to-- or made aware of-- conversations about my appearance primarily in nonfiction where some had "concerns" I was "too feminine" (read young, girly, wore makeup, dresses and skirts, had long hair) and thus would not be taken seriously. I could spend a lifetime telling you my thoughts and feelings about this and what women are subjected to that men are exempt from. Yet another reason to love SWP for allowing authors to be their authentic selves in their work and life!
When I was preparing to publish my first fiction novel, Searching for Pilar, I was 69. I learned from a panel discussion about the age discrimination. Since my book was timely, I wanted to get it into print as soon as possible. I went through the publication process with Greenleaf Book Group and was very pleased. Between my own efforts talking to book clubs and non profit organizations I sold around 5000 books. Lesson here is hybrids are a great alternative for older writers
Love to hear this, Patricia.
This is some excellent reportage, Brooke -- thanks so much for doing the internet legwork. I'm not surprised in the least -- it's good to be young in America. On a rare occasion, a septuagenarian like Harriet Doerr (Stones for Ibarra) can break through, but we're talking Halley's Comet-level frequency. Still, she made quite a splash, so perhaps the lesson to be learned is to be really young or really old with your first novel...!
hahaha. Perhaps!
Thank you for this revealing but not surprising deep dive, Brooke. One thing I noticed while querying agents with no success was that most older agents are closed to new queries because they have their established clientele and plenty of work. It’s the new, younger agents who are open to queries, and I reached out to many of them and heard back nothing. It makes sense to me that younger agents are looking for the books of younger writers. Finding an older agent in search of a debut author (with a memoir, no less) felt like a needle-in-the-haystack challenge. So within the industry, the value of youth might extend beyond authors to the agents and even the big five editors themselves. I’m happy to have found the right home for my debut book with SWP, where I don’t hesitate to share my age of nearly 58.
Helpful info, Marty!
My son is a music agent with WME, and I see the same approach there too. He’s young and he signs young artists. The older agents are busy with their established artists. If they ever sign anyone new, it’s a well-known artist transferring from another agency.
I have to say- not surprised but not over 50? I think of all the talented and exceptional writers I know in their 50s, 60s, 70s and yes, 80s writing non-fiction as well as fiction. They bring such a gift of wisdom, depth, and spice of life to their work and how wrong that the prestigious publishers can't see that. Thank you, Brooke, for holding the hands of all of the amazing She Writes authors and for taking a chance on my story and the 73-year-old woman who finally found the voice to tell it. Because of you and SWP at 75, I feel brave enough to attempt fiction or fiction based on a true story. You and SWP have given so much to us.
❤️
I see the same thing happening in the art world all the time.
This reporting was important. Thank you for doing so. While I’m an eternal optimist, I lean in to reality.
Oooph… 😞 This is disheartening to read and of course, not surprising. But closing in on my seventh decade and with life experiences that I’ve finally begun to assimilate and metabolize, I can now share in a way I couldn’t have up until now. And as others have said here too, I’d much rather read words from authors, who are looking through the lens of experience, miles and time on the planet. So now that I finally arrived at a place of confidence in my value as a well rounded, fully assimilated human being with something worth saying , not just another pretty young face, the publishing world doesn’t want to hear from me… 😞
Yes, I think that's how so many writers feel. We've arrived. We've earned this. Luckily we can and do still put our words and messages into the world!
Depressing reading, Brooke. Ageism sucks. I got in with my debut in my 40s too; I was asked my age before the deal was struck and refused to give it, sending a photo saying ‘this is recent’ instead. The work should be the only factor, but it never is.
Wow. Not a shocker, but an eye-opener for sure. Thanks for investigating this! As a not-yet-debut author who's hurtling toward the "not young enough" line, I'm grateful to be living in a time and place where there are viable alternatives like SWP and SparkPress.
As a grateful and quite-fulfilled 5-times failed novelist at the age of 73, I look forward to even more failure. (Depends on your definition of "failure." Ha!)
!! Love this perspective. :)
Interesting to see the numbers, but sadly no surprise. As an older, unphotogenic woman without industry connections, I know the odds are stacked against me whatever I write.