Did your mother ever tell you that haste makes waste?

Yesterday, after posting the top historical fiction authors, I checked the comments at Reading the Past where Sarah Johnson had also mentioned the top 20, and found a query about Tracy Chevalier. Interesting point, I thought. I certainly loved the two of her books that I read. Perhaps she missed the cutoff point. I decided to check.

I am embarrassed to say that the methodology I used for counting was not sufficiently thorough. As a result, I have now completely redone the count with the assistance of my Excel savvy, and very patient, husband.

Tracy Chevalier along with Sarah Dunant, Lisa See and Edward Rutherfurd should have been included.

Revised Top Authors Lists

Forty names in total. All but Alan Furst, Kate Quinn and Julia Quinn remain on the list in roughly the same order. Congratulations to those who have been added.

• a few author counts have gone up or down
• readers chose 29 female authors and 11 male authors
• as an update to what I reported yesterday, 14 of 58 Cornwell mentions are men; 8 of 37 Follett mentions are men
• overall, men offered fewer favourites than women (which made counting their entries easier)

Every author mentioned by every survey participant is now accurately reflected in a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet. That’s 2366 names that I can sort and count for future purposes.

I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused to Sarah Johnson who graciously hosted yesterday’s list.