Do Males Read Female Authors?
Not as much as you might think—enough that I once tried to publish under “A. J.” to hide my gender.
At the InterVarsity Writers’ Workshop last week, one of the presenters had done his dissertation on transformative reading in the young adult transition years (is this not the most perfect dissertation for someone in Christian publishing? Amazing!).
One fact jumped out: of the females he surveyed, they read about half female authors and half males: 46% to 54%.
But men read 90% male authors and 10% females.
This did not surprise me. Years ago, when I was still working in the homeschool world, I heard a quote from children’s fiction author Shannon Hale. She won a Newbery Honor for one of her titles. She said something like, “When I go to do book signings, I had girls and homeschooled boys. They hadn’t learned that boys weren’t supposed to read books titled Princess Academy, and were free to enjoy books with compelling plots and good stories.”
Some years ago, this stood out to me so much I tried to make my name less female (with A.J. Lykosh). It’s disheartening to know that 50% of a possible market will not even see a book.
This is less a complaint, and more a conversation.
Which is also to say: for all who read this email: thank you.
May we live for the praise of his glory,
Amy Joy
You are invited! Sign up for the Prayer Refresh, an email series with short prayers to pray as you go about your day. The first five readers all wrote me at different times and said, “This is changing my life.”