I have long wondered about the latest trend of having girl in the title of bestsellers. I assumed after I read Gone Girl that authors and publishers were just riding on the coattails of its success. Apparently I wasn’t alone in my query. Five Thirty Eight brought this interesting information to us in their article, “The Gone Girl With The Dragon Tattoo On The Train.”
Looking deeper at the trends and data, some theorize that the girl phenomenon started with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; however, there were successful books that had girl in the title as far back as 2005 and the frequency is still rising.
It comes as no surprise that female authors have the word girl in the title more often than male authors. It makes you wonder why they don’t use the word woman instead?
The fates of these girls are also dependent on the author’s gender. Female characters end up better off in the story line more often when the author is also a female. Better off as in alive or not harmed.
Melody K. Smith
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