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Do men ever read women authors and vice versa?

quodec

Reading books for nearly 50 years now and as a male, when I'm browsing books to read, I find I gravitate towards male authors as a matter of course and would hardly ever read women authors. So I'm wondering:
1: as a male do you/have you read female authors?
2: as a female, do you/have you read male authors?

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[Deleted User]

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Yeah but if you ARE an aspiring author ...pretend to be a white dude even if you aren't a dude or aren't white ....better safe than sorry.

Not in Fantasy, or many other genres. You really going to tell me that Marion Zimmer Bradley, or Janny Wurts, should have pretended to be "dude"? Being female didn't hurt them in slightest.

Unless you're going for a sub-genre, and then I suspect the gender of authors is more important for women than it is for males. Males tend to buy based on a good cover and summary.

[Deleted User]

donegal. wrote: »

80% of books read are by women, a very large percentage is fiction. Men mostly read biographies.

For women the sex of the author is irrelevant but men will ONLY read male authors

This is according to a guest on newstalk based on sales figures

citation please. Linkies. Because it's absolute BS.

nkl12xtw5goz70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apNQDNKjWCI

Igotadose

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Not in Fantasy, or many other genres. You really going to tell me that Marion Zimmer Bradley, or Janny Wurts, should have pretended to be "dude"? Being female didn't hurt them in slightest.

MZB occasionally published under a male pseudonym. Janny Wurtz didn't start publishing until the early 90s.

I hope that choosing to pretend to be male doesn't matter in today's publishing decisions, but who knows. It used to.

vriesmays

Deleted User wrote: »

I've got 19 psychology books, and only 3 were written by males.

How many of your psychology books are original works rather than summaries of previous theories done by men.

Greyfox

vriesmays wrote: »

How many men regularly watch movies directed by a woman.

It's an irrelevant question as most films are directed my men and men do watch films that are directed by women.

donegal. wrote: »

men will ONLY read male authors

Nonsense, men read the female authors that create characters they can relate to

[Deleted User]

Igotadose wrote: »

MZB occasionally published under a male pseudonym. Janny Wurtz didn't start publishing until the early 90s.

Janny Wurts started in the 80s. As did many other female fantasy writers. MZB become succesful in her own right under her own name. Her gender wasn't a factor... because this focus on gender didn't become an issue until much later.

I hope that choosing to pretend to be male doesn't matter in today's publishing decisions, but who knows. It used to.

I find people look for excuses for their own difficulties. Writing and getting published is extremely difficult.

[Deleted User]

vriesmays wrote: »

How many of your psychology books are original works rather than summaries of previous theories done by men.

Most of them, actually. People seem to ignore that psychology as an institution, and the writers of psychology books is pretty heavily populated by women.

vriesmays

Deleted User wrote: »

Most of them, actually. People seem to ignore that psychology as an institution, and the writers of psychology books is pretty heavily populated by women.

Off you go then, name these theories in psychology devised by women without any input by men.

[Deleted User]

quodec wrote: »

Reading books for nearly 50 years now and as a male, when I'm browsing books to read, I find I gravitate towards male authors as a matter of course and would hardly ever read women authors. So I'm wondering:
1: as a male do you/have you read female authors?
2: as a female, do you/have you read male authors?

This can't be serious can it?

Of course I have read female authors. Stephanie Perry springs immediately to mind because she has written a number of books in a genre I like.

Of course both sexes read Steven King, terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin and so on.

And if your thing is biographies or history then the author is not an issue in the first place because it's the subject matter

[Deleted User]

vriesmays wrote: »

Off you go then, name these theories in psychology devised by women without any input by men.

I hear you like men. Name every man that ever existed.

[Deleted User]

vriesmays wrote: »

Off you go then, name these theories in psychology devised by women without any input by men.

Without any input from men? Now you're shifting goalposts. Considering that research teams/panels tend to have both males and females on them.

Anyway, you're plugging away trying to encourage a gender conflict. I'm not terribly interested in falling into that trap.

CrankyHaus

Greyfox wrote: »

Nonsense, men read the female authors that create characters they can relate to

Exactly. I doubt Hillary Mantel or even Margaret Atwood have much difficulty getting male readers.

On the other hand if you're writing about Emma, a 30 something London fashion journalist with bad taste in men who has to choose between safe dependable Dave and wild darkhorse Phil but eventually settles down with caring millionaire Stelios, the reason why you lack male readers isn't because of your gender. It would be like Eamonn Dunphy complaining that no women read his football biographies because their sexist.

vriesmays

Deleted User wrote: »

Without any input from men? Now you're shifting goalposts. Considering that research teams/panels tend to have both males and females on them.

Anyway, you're plugging away trying to encourage a gender conflict. I'm not terribly interested in falling into that trap.

You mean you can't back up what you said. There are no schools in psychology devised by women. Just because they write books in this area doesn't mean it's a new field.

vriesmays

Greyfox wrote: »

It's an irrelevant question as most films are directed my men and men do watch films that are directed by women.

Name these titles.

[Deleted User]

Not all chick lit is written by women. Nicholas Sparks is doing well for himself writing it.

[Deleted User]

vriesmays wrote: »

Name these titles.

I know loads of men who quote Big as one of their favourite childhood movies.

kinsy

vriesmays wrote: »

You mean you can't back up what you said. There are no schools in psychology devised by women. Just because they write books in this area doesn't mean it's a new field.

Melanie Klein would beg to differ

vriesmays

kinsy wrote: »

Melanie Klein would beg to differ

A follower of Freud who did most the work.

[Deleted User]

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Yeah but if you ARE an aspiring author ...pretend to be a white dude even if you aren't a dude or aren't white ....better safe than sorry.

The opposite is in fact true. Many Literary agents even have it on their home page bio that they are actively looking for underrepresented voices. Lgbtq, trans, bame, are all hot in the publishing world today. If your novel doesn't have at least have one of these factors you better put one in.

EmmetSpiceland

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Not all chick lit is written by women. Nicholas Sparks is doing well for himself writing it.

“Chick lit” is just a term used for crapping on a type of literature that some people don’t like. Celia Ahern was right not to accept the term for her work.

However, her defence did seem a little like she was “passing the buck”. Sort of saying hers wasn’t but maybe others are. Like, say, Marion Keyes? And I’m sure she’d bristle at the suggestion herself.

I’d be disgusted if I were an author who’s “work” was being summarily dismissed like that.

It’s coming from the same people who’ll use the term “magical realism” to deflect from the fact they are reading “fantasy”.

The same crowd were the ones reading Harry Potter books but with the “grownup” covers.

Widdershins

Deleted User wrote: »

The opposite is in fact true. Many Literary agents even have it on their home page bio that they are actively looking for underrepresented voices. Lgbtq, trans, bame, are all hot in the publishing world today. If your novel doesn't have at least have one of these factors you better put one in.

Yes. I've written short stories for various magazimes etc, thats exactly what many of them want. The actual story seems to be a secondary concern...mind you they were American based online agencies

vriesmays

Deleted User wrote: »

I know loads of men who quote Big as one of their favourite childhood movies.

That's only one from 30 years ago.

05eaftqbrs9jlh

I read mostly male authors and I'm female. It's not intentional. I like Susanna Clarke and Simone de Beauvoir but they're the only two women to really make my top 100. Women often write about different themes than men, and almost always through a differing lense, which I just don't find as interesting, compelling or relevant. The vast, vast number of books I've read by women would not pass the Bechdel test (not that the ones by men do either, I would just have thought it would be something women would try and do).

I write, and I use a male pseudonym because I don't want to be limited in my readership to just women, who I've often found don't enjoy my work as much as men. It's very abstract, surrealist and quite ruthless. Female authors tend overwhelmingly to write about romantic passions and conflict without much interest in developing the broader strokes (see the likes of Katrin Schumann - "It was WWII").

In a sad way, it's like hundreds of years of subjugation has infiltrated into their perception of status. It's very depressing to read that and feel the author has been repressed to the extent that they actually can't break the cycle.

Personally, I write sci-fi in the style of Douglas Adams with influences of Steinbeck and Kerouac, I enjoy detailed character exposition and focus is on individual selfishness and folly, because I think the world is full of it.

On the upside, in terms of music, I listen to as many female artists as I do male. In my opinion, we seem to have a handle on music; seemingly just not yet with other forms of expression. No doubt it will take time.

If anyone has any recommendations for strong, compelling female authors, I would love to hear them.

Greyfox

vriesmays wrote: »

Name these titles.

Wonder woman, the hurt locker and American Psycho.

nkl12xtw5goz70

I have read women writers — Jane Austen, George Eliot, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf — but can't abide the self-conscious, "writerly" prose of modern literary fiction. Most emerging writers nowadays have spent years in MFA programs honing their ability to sound like already published writers of literary fiction, so there's a stultifying homogeneity about it all, despite dust jacket proclaiming that every new writer is a bold original voice breaking fresh literary territory.

I spend most of my reading time these days reading older books — and yes, most of them are by men. I'm regularly reassured, reading the New York Times' list of the best books of the year, and so on, that I'm not missing out on much.

[Deleted User]

Widdershins wrote: »

Yes. I've written short stories for various magazimes etc, thats exactly what many of them want. The actual story seems to be a secondary concern

As have I. It depends on the magazines, and the genres they're targeting. It's a business after all. Feminist driven themes are extremely popular in many of the teenage sub-fantasy genres, along with trans-sexism (especially in the whole vampire "lovestory" genre)

I write mainstream Sci-fi/fantasy, I don't have any such things in my books, and my editor/publisher have not pushed me to add anything like that. Why? because I'm writing to the overall market, rather than a sub-genre where buyers are specifically looking for something agenda driven.

Magazines are often aimed at being political with the submissions. Books, generally aren't.. unless it's specifically being driven by market concerns. Which is definitely a factor for some authors. And then some people want to get a particular message out.

Writing workshops are often like that. A political/social/moral angle being driven in the background by the organisers.

[Deleted User]

Greyfox wrote: »

Wonder woman, the hurt locker and American Psycho.

Buster Mal Hart is a cool movie.

But I think the fact we can only name 5 or 6 is actually proving the point.

Canis Lupus

I can't say I pay attention to gender when reading. Like I have my favourites and they're male (Sanderson, Connelly) but that would be more coincidence than anything. I read books based on genre not author.

05eaftqbrs9jlh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

As have I. It depends on the magazines, and the genres they're targeting. It's a business after all. Feminist driven themes are extremely popular in many of the teenage sub-fantasy genres, along with trans-sexism (especially in the whole vampire "lovestory" genre)

I write mainstream Sci-fi/fantasy, I don't have any such things in my books, and my editor/publisher have not pushed me to add anything like that. Why? because I'm writing to the overall market, rather than a sub-genre where buyers are specifically looking for something agenda driven.

Magazines are often aimed at being political with the submissions. Books, generally aren't.. unless it's specifically being driven by market concerns. Which is definitely a factor for some authors. And then some people want to get a particular message out.

Writing workshops are often like that. A political/social/moral angle being driven in the background by the organisers.

That's very insightful. I've never done a writing workshop but of course they're going to be emphasising writing about themes that the genders typically relate to. No wonder so much modern writing is totally stultified and homogenous.