Woman walks into Barnes & Noble, then couldn’t believe how female-dominated the commercial fiction section was: ‘There’s a pattern’
She has a point
A woman questions her followers about her observations at a Barnes & Noble she recently visited. In a TikTok video, Janey Illustration (janeyillustration) said she found some books listed under Commercial Fiction in the shop that didn’t seem appropriate. She even read out the category’s description, which states: fiction written to entertain a broad audience and achieve high sales, often prioritizing plot, accessibility, and readability over literary experimentation.
Janey said she observed a pattern within the category that included books like The Handmaid’s Tale, Circe, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and Lessons in Chemistry. “I think the pattern is that most of these were written by women, and it centers around female experiences or queer experiences,” Janey said.
She then asked her followers if her anger was justified while also picking some books she would have put in the section herself. “That’s what pissed me off in the bookstore today. Uh, am I overreacting about this? What do you think about this?” She added, “There are certain BookTok books that I would put into that category. Right? I’d put a lot of Sarah J. Maas into that category and I wouldn’t consider that to be an insult.”
Speaking about The Handmaid’s Tale, which explores a dystopian world where women have no rights, Janey said, “Putting The Handmaid’s Tale into prioritizing likability over experimentation is wild to me. ‘I Who Have Never Known Men’ is experimental fiction? It’s philosophy and feminism. I just. I feel like there’s a pattern. And I also feel like a man made that display.”
“You are not overreacting”
Janey exited Barnes & Noble and headed to the parking lot. She noted that she realized popular books on BookTok were categorized under the commercial fiction section, but not because the authors favor “likability over experimentation.” She added, “A lot of these are very introspective and philosophical reads. And they do experiment with dystopian fiction, right? With imagining the world in different ways.”
She emphasized, “Just because a bunch of women got on board and read them does not mean that it’s prioritizing one thing over another thing. It doesn’t make them less literature than other novels that you would put into that category.” She also claimed that if there were a category “opposite of” commercial fiction, the person assigning books would only include the ones written by men.
Like the books Janey spotted, her video also gained significant momentum, with about a million people watching it. Over 5 thousand people also commented on her video.
Some people assured Janey that her observations were valid. One person wrote, “You are not overreacting.” Another person said, “You’re not overreacting at all. It’s definitely a gaslighting/warning/misogynistic warning there.”
A few people had problems with the commercial fiction category itself. One person commented, “the label itself is just weird to me.” Another remarked, “That description feels insulting to any book. I don’t see why any bookstore would use that anywhere. I wonder if someone just copied an AI summary by mistake? And maybe also mixed up the table theme? I almost want to ask them what’s the deal.”
Later, Janey mentioned in a separate post that she contacted the branch, and they told her that her experience was specific to that Barnes & Noble. They also took down the sign.
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