In mid-March Mary Tod asked if I'd publicize a survey she'd compiled on reading interests in historical fiction. She received an enormous response.
Mary has been reporting on the results over at her blog A Writer of History. She asked if I'd like to comment on the survey data dealing with favorite authors. My response: Of course!
Out of 805 respondents total, 602 gave the names of their favorite authors (see table). People were allowed to give as many names as they wanted.
Per Mary, in addition to what's above, 19 authors were selected as favorites by 10 or more people. 404 different authors were chosen by only one person; a further 99 authors were chosen by two people. More details at A Writer of History, along with the next 20 on the list and Mary's own thoughts.
My observations on the Top 20:
- There's a lot of diversity overall, but the top authors stand out - especially the top 5.
- Fifteen of the Top 20 authors are women. (The original survey had 668 women and 129 men responding.)
- Many of these authors write novels in series (Gabaldon, Cornwell, Sansom, Dunnett, Peters, Winspear, O'Brian, Plaidy, as well as Follett for his best-known books). Others write books with interconnected sets of characters or interrelated families (Penman, Chadwick, Moran for her ancient Egyptian novels).
- Several of these authors are deceased (Seton, Heyer, Plaidy, Austen, Dunnett, Peters, O'Brian) although for most, their novels have been reissued and are still in print - and ripe for discovery by new historical fiction fans. Per information provided by Mary, Seton, Heyer, and Plaidy are mainly preferred by the 40-and-older set.
- Biographical fiction, especially about royal women, is popular! (No kidding, you'll say, but it's nice to have some data to back it up.) This correlates with the conclusions drawn from readers' stated preferences on Mary's survey. Readers' three favorite story types were those about (1) strong female characters, (2) the lives of significant historical figures, and (3) the lives of lesser-known historical figures.
- Most of the Top 20 authors write British or European settings - predominantly medieval and Tudor/Renaissance. Some have also written American settings (Gabaldon, Cornwell, Seton) but this isn't what they're best known for.
- A great many of these authors write door-stopping epics of 500-plus pages. Obviously many readers aren't afraid of large books - or of committing to lengthy series by these authors.
- Jane Austen is listed by 24 people as a favorite author.
historical novelist, even though she was writing about the time in which she lived. Correction: the survey asked for favorite authors, not necessarily favorite historical novelists, so Austen's presence here isn't the anomaly I'd thought. Apologies for my misunderstanding of the survey question.
- The original survey had 473 US respondents, 134 Canadian respondents, and 86 UK respondents, the rest being from Europe, Australia/New Zealand, and Asia. Despite the US having five times as many respondents as the UK, British authors had a very strong showing in terms of readers' favorites.
How many of these authors are on your personal favorites list?