Dudes don't read

[Malickfan]

According to many in the publishing business.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-goldberg/dudes-dont-read-the-book_b_152362.html

[Acapelli]

I joked with my cubicle-mate when Twilight became big that it was only a matter of time before we had a Jane Austen vampire book. It didn't take long. In June Publisher's Marketplace announced Jane Bites Back, pitched as "the humorous, sassy account of Jane Austen as a modern-day vampire," to be published by Del Rey Books.
terrible

[Ezee E]

It's nearly true. Outside of people lower than twenty, I can probably count the people I know personally on one hand that read books.

[Benny Profane]

According to many in the publishing business.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-goldberg/dudes-dont-read-the-book_b_152362.html

True, but women cannot read maps, so it evens out.

[megladon8]

Maybe guys don't read because a good 2/3 of all books released are marketed towards women?

The Chapters I was just at today even has a section of "Books For Her" but nothing for men.

It'd be like releasing only romantic comedies in theatres, and saying guys never go to movies unless they're with a date.

The answer is right in front of them.

[EyesWideOpen]

Maybe guys don't read because a good 2/3 of all books released are marketed towards women?

The Chapters I was just at today even has a section of "Books For Her" but nothing for men.

It'd be like releasing only romantic comedies in theatres, and saying guys never go to movies unless they're with a date.

The answer is right in front of them.

Umm what? Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels these are quite predominately catered towards men.

[megladon8]

Umm what? Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels these are quite predominately catered towards men.


Yes they are catered towards men, but these are never front-row items. At least not in any book store I've been to.

The stuff they keep out in the easy-access, middle-of-the-store sections are the murder mysteries by people like Nora Roberts and Kay Hooper, the romances by people like Danielle Steele, and sections for "Oprah's Book Club" and such. These are all marketed towards women.

[Wryan]

While my publishing company does works of history, the publishing industry as a whole is very female. And usually young. Kinda like how most film directors are men and a movie pretty much has to be "specialized" (a chickflick) to be considered an interest to the average woman.

[Duncan]

Guys have about two and a half millennia of male authored literature to choose from. The Booker prize list is loaded with men. The Nobel laureates list is loaded with men. Don't try to tell me that The Nanny Diaries is the death of phallocentric literature. Ridiculous.

[Wryan]

The Booker prize list is loaded with men. The Nobel laureates list is loaded with men.

Doesn't this speak to a slightly different issue tho?

[number8]

Guys have about two and a half millennia of male authored literature to choose from. The Booker prize list is loaded with men. The Nobel laureates list is loaded with men. Don't try to tell me that The Nanny Diaries is the death of phallocentric literature. Ridiculous.

I don't think the gender of authors have anything to do with the gender of their readers.

Mitch Albom is a dude. I'm pretty sure only housewives and pussies read his stuff.

[Duncan]

I don't think the gender of authors have anything to do with the gender of their readers.

Mitch Albom is a dude. I'm pretty sure only housewives and pussies read his stuff.

Well, of course there's no formula that says men will like everything written by other men and nothing by women. But gender definitely influences how we experience the world and what we put on the page. That a man may more easily relate to another man's experience than a woman's experience is not some controversial claim.

Bottom line is that claiming there's no literature out there aimed at men is preposterous. There are plenty of genre writers out there writing specifically for men. This article is saying there are few publishers out there willing to take a chance on young male authors. Has he never heard of Jonathan Safran Foer, Michael Chabon, Joseph Boyden, or David Foster Wallace? All those guys were young when they got their first book deals. Plus there are literally thousands of masterpieces written by men for a largely male reading audience that have been released over human history. I'd say the fact that men are not interested in them is a problem with what we value overall as a culture. It's definitely not because the covers aren't cool enough. How ridiculously shallow is that interpretation? There are too many great books out there.

The article reads like the author's bitter there's a huge market for cheap romance novels and detective stories. Who the hell cares is women buy that stuff up like crazy?

[thefourthwall]

That a man may more easily relate to another man's experience than a woman's experience is not some controversial claim.


True, but I'm not sure that gender of an author necessarily correlates to the experience being portrayed. Neil Gaiman has an interesting essay "All Books Have Genders" (http://neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/All_Books_Have_Genders) in which he notes that each book has a gender that relates to its protagonist. I find this interesting, although I'm not sure I buy the claim that every book has a gender. It seems more likely to me that there are genderless books than that we have equally fulfilling relationships with books of both genders.

[Duncan]

True, but I'm not sure that gender of an author necessarily correlates to the experience being portrayed. Neil Gaiman has an interesting essay "All Books Have Genders" (http://neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/All_Books_Have_Genders) in which he notes that each book has a gender that relates to its protagonist. I find this interesting, although I'm not sure I buy the claim that every book has a gender. It seems more likely to me that there are genderless books than that we have equally fulfilling relationships with books of both genders.

I agree there are genderless books in the sense that they can be enjoyed equally by both genders. But I don't think our experience of those books is ever quite the same.

I dunno. I guess it's just that, to me, walking into a bookstore as a man and thinking, "I really wish more literature was marketed towards me" is absurd.

[Wryan]

I don't think the gender of authors have anything to do with the gender of their readers.

Mitch Albom is a dude. I'm pretty sure only housewives and pussies read his stuff.

Hey now. That scene when Morrie was complaining on the pot touched me deeply.

It was one scene right? Actually, it may have been several.

[SpaceOddity]

Back in the day, the novel was considered women's reading.