Books Aren’t Pink

There is in the publishing industry a definite bias towards women. They dominate the industry. An industry that used to be run by men, is now run by women. Women also dominate the independent author movement. Smashwords and K-lytics, for example, focus heavily on romance fiction, which is basically fiction by women for women, as well as other female dominated genres.

“Why Men Don’t Read: How Publishing is Alienating Half the Population” is an excellent article by Jason Pinter. He explains the reason for the men-don’t-read bias and critiques it. I happen to think he was right on target, and his article was published over 10 years ago. Quite honestly, nothing has changed. And if anything has only gotten worse.

When push comes to shove, publishers may grudgingly admit that maybe men do read, but they’ll immediately add — they don’t read fiction!

I think that’s about as true as the fact horses have feathers.

Men do read fiction. I won’t believe anyone who tries to tell me men don’t read Clive Cussler, or Lee Child, or Tom Clancy, or William W Johnstone. Or when they were boys didn’t read Sherlock Holmes, or Tarzan, or Doc Savage. I just won’t believe it.

Porter Anderson, in a 26 December 2013 post on Jane Friedman’s blog, “Men Don’t Read Fiction? BULL! — Writing on the Ether”, explodes the publishing myth that men don’t read fiction. Do take a read. It’s an excellent post. The most important take away, IMO, is that books aren’t pink.

I think part of the problem is the ever increasing focus on women in our society. A focus that is seen as a way to right their previous inequality. We’ve seen an explosion of genres and categories that target women. Starting with the very explicit Women’s Fiction.

There’s nothing wrong with marketing books to a particular demographic. Nothing. In fact, it’s good business. But if it’s good business to market to women, why isn’t it also good business to market to men? After all, men have money. They also want to spend it. Why lose half the population to video games and TV?

Take me, for instance. I’m a man, and I read. I even read fiction. In fact, I mostly read fiction. And I buy an awful lot of books. I certainly can’t be the only guy who does.

In an exceedingly insightful paper written by Kate Summers and published in the Spring 2013 (Vo. 52, No. 3) issue of RUSA, Ms Summers provides us with information that supports what we already know but fail to act on: men and women are different — and have very different reading interests and habits.

Summers points out that the culprit in fostering the bias against the male reader may in fact be the public school system. The very system that is supposed to encourage girls and boys to read.

She notes the belief that 

…boys’ under achievement in reading is a result of a school curriculum that is “biased towards girls’ reading interests” or a product of the predominance of female teachers versus male teachers, which contributes to boys’ perception of reading as being a feminine pursuit.

Young boys, who certainly don’t want girl germs, aren’t going to be interested in fiction geared towards girls. Why? Because boys have very different interests vis-a-vis girls.

Summers cites a classroom study of 6 boys, which just so happens to coincide with my own experience: namely, that boys will read fiction that ties in with their interests.

Early on, I was fascinated with dinosaurs. Consequently, I liked stories that featured dinosaurs; such as, Danny and the Dinosaur and The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek. 

As my interests developed, so did my interest in fiction on those topics. For example, when I developed an interest in sailing ships, I read sea stories.

If you want boys to read fiction, find out what they’re interested in and give them fiction to read on those subjects. It’s as simple as that, really.

Girls will read Betsy, Tacy, and Tib; and the boys will read Star Rangers. And all will be well with the world. Which is a good thing.

So if we were to have a new BISAC fiction code for Men’s Fiction (one doesn’t exist now, while women have FIC044000 FICTION/Women) what would be the characteristics of this category, or genre? What would make it different from Women’s Fiction?

Based on the information cited in Ms Summer’s article, I put forward the following as a starting point.

Men’s Fiction would in general

• • • • Be written by men
      • Have a male protagonist
      • Contain elements of the genres preferred by men, such as adventure, humor, horror, and science fiction
      • Have believable characters with whom they can identify
      • Be realistic fiction that deals with the contemporary problems of people

Which means if male authors want to attract male readers they need to re-think their reliance on the kick-ass heroine as the protagonist. While the kick-ass heroine may attract some male readers, as a whole men don’t like female main characters. This is because men have a greater need to identify with the protagonist than do women. Something to think about. It may also be why most kick-ass heroines are quite masculine.

Robert E Howard, for example, recognized the fact that men don’t relate to female main characters. He paired his kick-ass heroines with a man. She might be the star, but there was a man there so Howard’s mainly male readers wouldn’t get turned off. 

Erle Stanley Gardner noted that one of the reasons for the popularity of Sherlock Holmes was due to “the extreme masculine atmosphere and the yearning for freedom.” 

After a time, even the most happily married man begins to feel squeezed by his responsibilities to his family. He may be tied to a job he doesn’t like. He may have doctor bills. And chores like cutting the grass, or painting the house. There are dirty diapers, lack of sleep, and the Terrible Twos.

Holmes and Watson were blissfully free from all those things. Their extremely masculine world is something every guy dreams of — no matter how much he may love his wife and kids. Fiction about two carefree guys, doing guy things, will attract male readers — of any age.

Gardner also wrote

Every story, or rather, every type of story that has succeeded has the common point of a single man, unaided, overcoming difficulties by the inherent power that is within him and attached to him.

I don’t think Gardner’s statement applies to women’s fiction, but it sure as heck applies to men’s fiction. That is every man’s dream: To conquer the impossible without any help or aid. It is the essence of the adventure story, a genre much preferred by men — not women. And may be why the female dominated publishing industry doesn’t get guy fiction: it’s alien to them. So they foster the myth that men don’t read fiction.

Men, however, do read fiction. But they aren’t as social about their reading as women, which may account for all those surveys which say men don’t read. Men simply don’t answer them, or they answer them as they think they’re supposed to answer them. But men do read and they do tell other men about the books they’ve read. I’ve gotten lots of great book suggestions from men. Which I wouldn’t have if men didn’t read.

With the advent of e-readers, there is a new privacy when reading in public. No longer can the world see your book cover. This may work to the advantage of men. They can read their guilty pleasures, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage, and Longarm, and not get questioning looks. Something to think about.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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