A male pseudonym resulted in a better response from literary agents.

Author Catherine Nichols was puzzled by the muted response she’d received when sending her manuscript to literary agents, so she decided to run a test.

She decided to send the same manuscript out under a male pseudonym, just to see if it made any difference.

In a post for Jezebel with the title ‘Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name’ Nichols revealed that as Catherine she had two requests for her manuscript.