Bannon's original story submitted to Gold Medal Books was about events in a sorority, in which a subplot involved an affair two women were having.

As Bannon explained in the 2001 edition foreword, Gold Medal publishers had control over the cover art and the title.

Lesbian pulp fiction books usually showed suggestive art with obscure titles that hinted at what the subject matter was inside.

Bannon was inspired to write her books after reading Spring Fire by Vin Packer and The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall.

In fact, it was Marijane Meaker (Vin Packer's real name) that Bannon wrote to and who introduced her to her publisher at Gold Medal Books.

Feeling a pull to Beth, Laura delights in her presence and experiences jealousy and confusion in her attachment to the older woman.

Laura is often so at odds with her unemotional upbringing conflicting with the intensity of the emotions she experiences for Beth that she practices self-injury.

Novels published as pulp were never seriously reviewed in literary magazines; however, The Ladder recommended Odd Girl Out in 1957, noting that "the context is not so sensational as most pocket books on this theme.

[3] Author Katherine V. Forrest described purchasing and reading Odd Girl Out: "Overwhelming need led me to walk a gauntlet of fear up to the cash register.