Why don’t many men read our books?
Okay I know that is not all men. I read and I’m a man. But a large number of men don’t. Why? I write Contemporary romance, SciFi and paranormal and yes most of them have an erotic flare. But men like erotica just as much as women. In fact statistically men think of sex more often than women. So why don’t they read it? Stay with me those of you that write other than erotica because believe it or not men do think of other things too.
Time and again I have been aptly informed by my editors that the primary target readership is female and I should write my stories accordingly. Okay okay I will.
I guess most men are too busy watching sports on TV or reading magazines about sports. I think a lot of them are looking at magazines like SI swimsuit edition. Lol
A lot of the books I read have handsome hunks in them. Yeah, well, go figure. Look who the target readers are. Duh! There are also some fantastic female characters in the same books. I don’t know, maybe men don’t think it is manly to read a book. That’s silly. There are vast worlds to explore by reading. It is extremely enjoyable and a lot less expensive than many other forms of entertainment. Like going to the local exotic dance clubs for example. Now that is expensive.
I have been reminded by many of my female friends that women primarily process things emotionally while men primarily use sight and touch to process. So maybe we should add photos to our books. If they are in print maybe pop-up photos and scratch and sniff. Lol
So ladies, I’m sure women are the primary ones that will read this, the next time you are curled up on the couch or in bed, nudge that man next to you and ask him what would motivate him to read books. If we answered that question and dealt with it, we might just increase our readership and sales by nearly fifty percent. So how about it ladies? What are your thoughts?
Gary
5 comments:
Because men are more visual, lol, pop-ups may work! IMHO it's also because men don't need the romance like women do. Some erotic authors have commented that men do buy their more explicit (get right to it) works.
Wish I could recall the man who recently did an article about this. He feels women are missing out on bringing male readers to the romance genre, especially male readers looking for m/m stories, because men don't want too much romance thrown in. I believe he's right! Took me a few rewrites (adding more romance) to get just such an m/m/f novella published.
That's my 2 cents.
Any man that has been married or lived with a woman for a while knows that there better be romance involved if he wants to get to second base. What better place to get tips on romance than in a romance novel lol
A friend of mine bought two copies of The Catalyst, one she gave to her sister-in-law who is a librarian. Her sister-in-law said you would be surprised how many men read romances.
My WISRWA chapter has authors who write erotica. These same gals said there husbands were very interested in those scenes, and read their books. I was told it did a lot for their sex life. lol
Now Sandy if we could just get them to buy the books. lol
Lol Gary.
Well, my hubby reads too, though less than me but when we go to the public library we both get books. He's not into romance, lol, but more of the sci-fi or John Grisham, Ludlum/Clancy and Stephen King kind of stories. Most of the time too, he'll take ages to find a book to read because he says he wants a round story and one that is not cliche and not totally done-to-death.
That's all he asks for, so maybe you should try to slant that way. As long as the read is full and filling, and it holds the line, I think you'll be appealing to men. Men don't wanna be taken for granted ever - and this applies in books too.
As for the hunks - well, hey given the chance to picture Sam Worthington or Brad Pitt or George Clooney in our minds, we wouldn't choose Homer Simpson, would we?
Hugs, good post!
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