Now that I have your attention...(ok, so not all guys are shallow). I've noticed something lately. Most of my followers, and almost all of my recent ones, are women. Not that that's a bad thing at all, or even unexpected. I mean, I am one. But for publicity's and also just curiosity's sake, I was wondering, what do the guys out there look for in the blogs and books they read?
There are the generalities and summarized statistics: guys read mostly action/thriller/comic books, and girls read much more anyway. But I don't like generalities, and I want to know what's really behind the statistics.
So here are my questions: Why is it that girls read more? And are there just more girls than guys who read author blogs? What's the best way to reach the guys who do read author blogs, and are the topics they're interested in so different than the ones interesting to the girls? And what about books. Who are the guys that read stuff like adult mainstream/literary fiction or YA? And how do you reach that (even if it's small) segment of the population?
Anyway, there you have it. Like I said, because of what I write, because girls read more anyway, and because I myself am of the female persuasion, I expect and and am totally happy with the majority of my readership being women. That's awesome. I'm just musing, just wondering if I can find more ways to expand, learn something new. Let me know if you (meaning guys or girls who know any guys) have any insights or ideas, yeah?
And just to keep things from the shallow generalities level, I'm aware everyone is different and unique and has totally different taste. Mine is somewhere between
and
(Ok so they're both married. Don't judge me. And don't ask me what it is they actually have in common, besides me thinking they're awesome.)
I'm saying this so you guys out there know two things: 1) Like I said, I know you're all different and have your own unique taste (in books and women. Or...not.) That's why I'm asking for your input. And 2) We women aren't all shallow, either, and being nerdy, sweet, and smart is much more meaningfully attractive than pecs like Eric Bana. Trust me.
Anyway, happy writing! Girls and guys.
Sarah Allen
13 comments:
My Sweetman reads action-packed-spy-thrillers if that helps.
Hi- I'm one fo your male followers (you can find my blog here: Moody Writing) and most of my followers are women too . It's not really to do with what men like vs what women like, it's more to do with most bloggers being female, especially when it comes to writers.
The vast majority of the blogs by and about writing that I've come across are female, and the most popular genre for writing are kids/YA. I'm not sure why this is, although many are at home with young kids (not all though).
Some blogs, even writing ones, veer off into more general issues like holidays and what people are having for dinner (and cats, lots of cats) which I guess is of more interest to women than men.
So I think it's more to do with not many men being out there, certainly not in terms of writers.
All this is total guesswork though. Come over to my blog and see if there's any difference (I do have some male followers).
mood
@mooderino
follow!
I know it's another generalisation, but I've noticed that guys tend to be drawn more towards forums than blogs. I have no idea why, but while the majority of bloggers I follow and followers I have are women, most of the people on any writing or author's forum I've encountered have been men.
Nerdy, sweet and smart...
James McAvoy. That is all.
I go hunting for guys in twitter and on the bloggosphere.
Kidding!
(Sort of)
:-D
I think women are just more verbal and connect-y in general. They probably write more emails than a guy would, too. So it makes sense women would have more blogs. But whatever the reasons, I've noticed fewer men have writing blogs, too!
Most of my followers and commenters and reader mail comes from women, but, I am always surprised at the men who read and like my work! I think as someone said here, women are more "verbal-social" - ? maybe mens are less inclinded to go visiting and more inclinded to just post? Huhn . . . now I wonder - maybe someone will create a mathamatical equation! :-D
Reading this immediately made me do a quick run through of my friends that are "readers" and it's pretty lopsided in favor of women. Actually it's not even close. Four of my friends (all female) and my mother burn through books like it's a contest.
My guess for why there aren't more male followers(and this is coming from a male with an author blog) is that they tend to read the blogs and move on. I think men tend much more to go at the internet in a goal oriented way (I want to find a book by this author or a review or tips about this thing) and once they find it, then that's it. I don't think it usually occurs to them to also comment [end generalizations].
For myself, I've read blogs on and off for years but I've only recently been commenting on them. It wasn't that I didn't like them or didn't read them, it just never occurred to me to comment.
Anyway, I just broke both taboos. I have increased your male follower count by 1 and I have one of those lonely male author blogs.
Oh and a good way to lure in male author bloggers? Go comment on their posts. Everybody likes attention.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm yet another new female follower for yours. Lovin' it.
I asked my grown son what his take on blogs are. He reads the ones that are connected with video games or movies like THE HOBBIT. A coworker said he spends his "computer reading time" on newspapers. Neither of them clocks very many blog hours at all.
I'm on the male side of the fence and I don't pay a lot of attention to the gender of the author of the books I read. A good story is a good story. Ditto the blogs I read though, you're right, there are far more blogs written by women than men. My blog is kind of about writing and kind of not but it's written and writing is what I do. Oh, and YA is just about all I've been reading this last year, fwtw.
I'm a bit eclectic when it comes to reading blogs.
So long as the blog is well written and covers a plethora of topics without being preachy, chances are that I will be a steady reader (like this one).
I have a tendency (it seems) to gravitate towards blogs that are written by older females. I think that the reason why has a lot to do with the fact that most of those blogs are written by people who aren't politically correct (like they were born in the same decade I was, the 60's) and aren't afraid to speak their mind.
Also, I'm one of those rare people who don't do forums, simply because I find them to be too cliquey and narrow minded in their pursuit of their topic of choice.
@mooderino - for the most part, I'm not interested in reading blogs to find out what people are having for dinner. LOL. I'm a woman, yes, but while I love food, I'm here for the write-talk! And the movie-talk! And okay, there are some random-talk entries I like reading, but yeah...not into the day-to-day mundanities ;) I talk about those things elsewhere! :P
This is such a good question. My husband loves to play racquetball, sail, build things, shoot guns, AND he's a fireman, but he loves to read the YA novels that I leave around the house. They can even involve mostly female characters as long as they have a good plot, and adventure. Hook him and he'll stay up all night reading Wildwood Dancing or Twilight!
But I still don't think you'd find him reading anyone's writing/art blog -- except mine.
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