Top > Business > 2006 > July > 2006-07-26

Chick Lit Bringing in the Money

Has the ?chick lit? phenomenon made a difference in getting women to buy books? A look at the numbers says that it has, but are such books as ?The Devil Wears Prada? really better than the romance novels that so many women have seemed to really love over the years? If you look at the covers, and the stories of romance novels, it would seem that such books are really full of hot air and little plot that can engage or inspire women. However, books like ?The Devil Wears Prada?, and the ?Shopaholic? books, are different.

These ?hip?, chick-lit books present women of various types with real-world problems (or ?real life but beefed-up for the sake of the plot problems?), and this probably not only increases their sales figures but also allows those women reading them to identify with the main characters, or even with some of the supporting characters. And women in countries around the world will sometimes be willing to pay the cover price plus import expenses to get their hands on this sort of literature.

We?re talking about self-empowerment literature, where women ? where anyone, really ? can live vicariously through the (often) first-person narratives of the characters. With chick-lit books now being made into movies, somewhat successful movies at that, there are likely to be many, many more aspirants who wish to write the next great chick-lit books. It is entirely likely that there will still be plenty of eager readers willing to buy them.