March 8 is International Women’s Day! In honor of the occasion, have some interesting statistics on SF/F book review blogs:
In the beginning, I was fairly sure of what I was going to find: men discussing mostly men, and women discussing both either equally or more. Does the data follow?… Men still dominate the literary conversation, but women are in there, too. I was initially surprised by this result, because my gut back in 2011 had said it was not this even. However, if you start rearranging the data a bit, things change. There are women being reviewed by men, yes, but there are also women being reviewed by women. My initial instinct was correct…. the 40/60 is an average, and that average is the way it is because the women reviewing women drive it up.
The more I think about it, the more I think this industry is really poisoned by the marketing-driven self-fulfilling prophecy that boys will only ever read books (watch movies, watch TV shows, read comics) about boys, but girls will read anything about anyone. It reminds me of Harry Connolly’s recent post about fans arguing over which author’s books are better:
Here’s a general guideline I would like people to follow: If you like a particular author’s books and someone unfamiliar with them suggests that the description so far makes them sound kind of dull? Please PLEASE do not start the “… displays an ignorance and shallow judgment that frankly says you’re not worth [author]‘s time as a reader anyway” stuff.
If you like a book or book series, do not try to drive away readers you consider unworthy.
Given all the blather about the death of the industry, why are we still essentially driving men away from books by and about women? If we like these books enough to write and publish them, why aren’t we trying to give them the widest possible audience? You’d think this would make sense purely from a marketing and financial standpoint, in addition to being a step toward real equality.
As more books by and about girls and women become available, there are two types of equality we could end up with: the sort where most people only read books about people who resemble them (that is, girls stop reading about boys because they no longer have to), and the sort where most people are omnivoracious readers (that is, books about girls are marketed to boys and girls alike, the way books about boys are now, and we make it culturally more comfortable for boys to read and enjoy them). I think we would all do well to encourage the latter.
(I’d also love to see more clearly intersex and genderqueer characters and writers, but that’s a topic for a separate post.)
When I have my books (those I personally write, not necessarily those I publish) test read, I make sure I get equal male perspectives so as not to alienate those who will pick them up. That being said, it is definitely more difficult to get a guy to pick them up cold. Those who have them referred by women are more than willing to read them and have enjoyed them saying they’re not too girlie. Not sure why that is or how to capture the “cold” guy who passes them over for a visibly male book by Vince Flynn or Terry Brooks. Of course Harry Potter crossed over but that was a great book for kids and they tend to be more open.
Maybe it goes back to puberty when boys are told that now they are men and therefore limited on what they can like. Women aren’t really, not now. We get to do whatever while men still have to maintain their gender roles pretty rigidly. Not sure, but it is definitely an interesting phenomenon. Whoever bridges that divide in the adult genre will definitely have something to crow about.
My SF novel has a better than 2 to 1 ratio of female to male buyers and 4 to 1 ratio of female reviewers to male reviewers. The book has a strong male protagonist with mostly male main characters, although there are some strong female characters, in particular a sentient computer who has a female persona. The cover has a female face ominously looking over the Earth. Goodbye Milky Way – An Earth in Jeopardy Adventure should garner more male buyers than it has (I think). I have marketed it equally to both genders. My personal sense is that female readers far outnumber male readers, regardless of genre. Any suggestions about how to get more male fans? Any ideas about why I’m getting so many more female readers?
Guys like my novels due to the action, sometimes violence, complex story line, and character development. Gals really like me because of characer development, my sensitivity and ability to portray what a woman thinks and feels. Once the gals are into my stories, they are surprised to enjoy the action, the sometimes violence. The gals always want a complex, layered story line. So, am I pitching to the gals? Yes, and first. 41 years married has taught me who is smarter, who will buy my stories, who will tell their friends about me. And if I did not say this, my wife would beat me senseless.
I honestly think this sort of gender essentialism is more harmful than helpful, and that writers–and the industry as a whole–would be better served by realizing that some women like violence and explosions and some men like romance and character development and some people like all of those things.
Also, can we retire this notion of aggressive, abusive women hovering over men to make sure they say the right things about how great women are? If the intent is to show how great you think women are, it doesn’t really come through in that extremely unflattering portrayal of your wife.
I am always pleasantly surprised by the number of men who say they have read my novels and enjoy them. I do gear the Kim Reynolds mystery series toward female readers (The Inferno Collection, The Drowning Pool, The Truth Sleuth). However, point of view is divided between Kim, a librarian sleuth, and Police Detective Mike Gardner. I’m comfortable writing from both a male and female perspective. Of course, to obtain more male readers women authors might simply use their initials as many writers do.
I remain flummoxed by this whole conversation. I’m not disputing the empirical evidence, or the perception at all. But for me, I’ve never once picked up or rejected a book based on the gender of either the author or the protagonist. It honestly boggles me why anyone would want to limit the potential for finding damn good story.
And that’s what I’m there for. story and character. I like zombies and explosions, robots, elves, galaxy wide pantheons and quiet family squabbles. And, always a heavy dose of romance. The emotional entanglements are what make it all worthwhile for me as a reader. It raises the stakes whether it’s JRR Tolkien, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia Briggs, Jim C Hines, Jim Butcher, Brenda Cooper, Ken Scholes, Isaac Asimov or Andre Norton.
I once had a friend tell me he would never read a book written by a woman. I was floored. Then I made it my mission to introduce him to some fabulous female authors. He’s since expanded his world view in many ways, including authors he will read (by his own work, not just my advice).
As for sexual identity, sexual preference, gender identity, etc. … these all make for an even broader pallet for story. I want to see how real people/characters deal with the world the author presents.
In the end, exclusion is not acceptable. Life is too short. I’m not inclined to let these types of thoughts keep me from truly amazing stories.
Others may not agree, but they don’t live in my head. Of course, they may end up in one of my novels. No promises.
Obviously many of the men who are prompted to write here are going to do so because they are the exceptions to the rule. I’ll just echo what John A. Pitts said before — I read based upon what tickles my fancy no matter the gender of the author.
I’m a big reader. Its my entertainment preference. But I confess, I’m a male that mostly reads male writers. I read 200+ books a year and maybe only a handful, at best, by women.
I honestly have no idea what my ratio might be, and don’t think it matters. I’ll admit to being a bit curious as to whether there’s a man or a woman behind the initials, but that gender doesn’t impact my decision whether or not to read the book.
When I pick up a novel, I’m looking for a great story that is populated by strong characters, regardless of whether those characters happen to be male, female, trans*, or some alien ‘other’. Similarly, sexuality doesn’t make or break my choice to read a give title.
Maybe my lack of bias comes from 20+ years of reading almost exclusively SFF. The genre does an amazing job of allowing authors to experiment with gender and sexuality in new and interesting ways, and I think that diversity is part of what makes it so attractive. When you’re reading about three-headed dragons, insect-like aliens, and steampunk robots, you have to be deliberately and aggressively narrow minded to have an issue with a characters gender or sexuality.
I am also a reader of mostly SFF. Still I seem to mostly read male writers. The SFF written by women generally does not appeal to me.