Publishers Hyperion have announced a new imprint - Voice - for women 35 and over, which will, they claim, have 'a resolutely anti-chick-lit bent'. Instead it will 'offer books that answer today’s women’s needs to dream, to learn, to reconnect and to recharge their lives ... that explores our own day-to-day experiences or transports us to another time and place entirely ...' Sounds like chick lit to me.
An article in the New York Times says, 'To help Voice pinpoint what women want, [the founders] have recruited a panel of 10 professional women to meet twice a year. Members include Subha Barry, a vice president in charge of global diversity for Merrill Lynch; Ellen Levine, editorial director of Hearst Magazines; and Candace Bushnell, a novelist.'
I know what you're thinking - Candace Bushnell?! But it's okay, because apparently Candace Bushnell has 'evolved from writing chick lit' (according to one of Voice's founders).
If only publishers would evolve from using chick lit bashing as a marketing tool.