Discussion

Maria Seay Eh people have been up in arms about casting but I’m in different. I think they have a chance to get a lot more details from the books that the OG movies missed which would be cool but at the same time I’m just over the world of remakes we currently live in. I would’ve loved a series with in the world but different story however I’m still going to keep an open mind and give the new tv series a fair chance.

Ophylia St. Grey (I don't know if I'm getting questions crossed here but) I feel like it's cyclical. Books geared towards men seem few and far between, but at the same time, I know literally 2 men that read. 2. My husband and my friend's husband. Maybe publishers think it would just be wasted money because no one is going to buy the books and they are turning those books away? Or are there just no authors that are coming to the publishers to begin with? I definitely think there needs to be more books in stores (Walmart, Target, etc) that are geared towards guys though. I don't think many men are interested in reading about a 16 year old girl who has to go off and save the world or like, The Fae. Vampire/Werewolf books even seem to be more focused on female readers. Buying my husband books is one of the most difficult things to do just because it seems like the only thing out there for him is Reacher books (which is great because he loves those) he has other interests though, but again, most of the books that contain anything at all that he would be interested in are all Romantasy/fantasy geared towards women. Are your only options as a male readers Reacher books, Westerns, Horror and Sci-fi?

Brandon Reed Idk about men being "abandoned," but I will say that romance and true crime seem oversaturated, and the target audiences for those genres are usually women and girls. A lot of fantasy being published these days is romantasy.

Jessica H Let me preface my response by saying I don't have TikTok so I'm not an expert by any means. That being said, TikTok is all about algorithms, so i figure if people can't find what they want, they need to work on their algorithm. Most of the booktok stuff i see is about terrible YA books, but I also think that's due to my algorithm.

Hailey  I wouldn't say publishing has abandoned men, but the genres that are popular and sell the most just happen to be ones that have a mostly female audience. Doesn't necessarily mean men are being excluded, men read fantasy, romance, thrillers and lit-fic too, but the ones that are pushed just cater to women more. I think it also has to do with alot of the authors in these genres being women, men not being as avid of readers as women and also what men tend to prefer to read. I only know 3 men who read and 2 of them read self-help and non-fiction.

Sarah Ortinau Wow, the fragile misogyny of men and their need to be the victims of a precedent that THEY set up is ridiculous. Like the audacity…(also, I didn’t mean you with the post, I meant men who originally posted this topic). Women being published more then men, and out performing men in the publishing industry has only been a trend for the past five years, it started in 2020 (it reminds me of studies done when women talk 30% of the time on a topic, and men talk 70% of the time men perceive it as women either talking equally or for most of the time on a topic). For generations the publishing industry hasn’t published, or hasn’t given women the same opportunities, because women’s education has only been secondary of that to men (also, just talking about white men, because African Americans, Indigenous, and other POC throughout the world have historically been banned from education all together). I also think this topic is intertwined with this point because right now for the first time women are more educated then men, with African American women being the most highly educated demographic in the country at this point, and so many men are complaining about that as well. Here’s where I’m saying they set up the system: men over the past few years are being conditioned to not value education in the same way that women are (I work in elementary and you can see this shift in boys who’s fathers disregard the education system). Also, I’m a millennial and I remember the huge false narratives pushed that women were better at reading and language classes as opposed to classes focused on STEM (I say this is a false narrative because WOMEN FIRST STARTED THOSE JOBS AND ROLES AND WERE PUSHED OUT BECAUSE OF MEN. Then they created these narratives that women don’t thrive in STEM to keep them out). So for the past two of three generations boys have been socialized on an academic level to not value reading and writing as much as their girl counterparts. Now why is all of this important and have to do with this topic, simple: these huge shifts over the years have now trickled into publishing where women writers have now now been consistently out performing men, and men (many of which don’t like to read women authors) are now feeling abandoned by the industry that THEY shaped and controlled. There you go, clock that tea.

Sarah Ortinau Also, because I come across as very angry (which I am, but not at the asker), I’m not mad at men. I’m mad at an oppressive society that hurts both men and women. Also, I think the men that are upset that they aren’t represented aren’t wrong to feel abandoned, however they’re pointing their anger at the wrong thing. Instead of looking at the root of the problem (teaching boys not to value education and not socializing them to read as much), they seem to get mad at the women who just want spaces for themselves. Like we want books, movies, video games, and other forms of media to value books that represent us, and that’s not a bad thing. Men can also enjoy our spaces, but without the constant threats of taking them away. Like Star Trek, Star Trek was created for housewives, and while the fanbase has expanded, I think that it’s done a good job of holding true that everyone’s voice has value to it.

David Rachau I'm not really sure what booktube is. Does it just mean everyone who has book content on YouTube, or is there some kind of other barrier to entry? As far as the topic goes, I haven't really noticed much, except that romance and romantasy are really popular on this app. 😄 It's not really my thing, so I tend to just ignore that content. I also haven't had any trouble finding new books to read. 🤷

James Neumann Hot take: there are already a lot of books for men. Gals and non-binary pals can definitely catch up, and I've also been enjoying reading lots of books from non-male authors AND the ones gauged for non-male audiences. "Fiction for men" has a lot of tropes and conventions that I don't care for. I'm sick of reading books about pushing down your emotions and justifying your actions as being for the benefit of family or for love. I like reading characters who are socially aware and that like to talk out their emotions instead of describing them by internal monologue. Additionally, I don't know a lot of men my age who read at all (late 20s). Lots of podcast listeners, Twitch and YouTube watchers, and movie buffs. No readers except me and my brothers. And I don't read nearly as much as I wish I did. I have stacks of books that I'm taking far too long to get through. Anyways, I abandoned considering if I was the audience for something years ago. I read the title, the description, and usually check genre tags and overall reviews online (I don't trust genre descriptions from most people after far too many inaccurate classifications)

lizard it kinda reminds me of the whole “male loneliness epidemic” like men see women thriving and enjoying something and the fact they don’t have it means they’re somehow ‘abandoned.’ There are lots of books men can read, the world is overflowing with books. But men don’t want to read bc it’s ‘effeminate’ so they’d rather listen to alpha male podcasts.