Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I remember that there was a recent article about women authors dominating in YA (I believe Nathan also either linked to it or mentioned it, but I couldn't find his blog post), but I was recently directed to this article:
http://ufkidlit.wordpress.com/2012/12/2 ... ef-survey/

This article says, that, yes, there are higher numbers of female writers on the YA list, but when men make the list they not only end up with a higher average ranking, but they also stay on the list for substantially longer.

Or at least they did in the year that the author of the article analyzed. Anyway, it was an interesting perspective because, for me, it points out that just because there are higher numbers of women authors doesn't mean that more books written by females are being sold. (That was one of the things I started thinking about anyway. And also, I hate to say it, but this probably also means that the successful YA male authors make more money, on average, than the successful YA female authors.) Although, of course, if they're selling better, of course they're making more money & deserve more. It's just that that observation was a little sad for me.

And then when it comes to awards, YA female authors do end up with slightly more, but it's not really that big of a difference.

So, what do you think? I wonder why men do better on average. Maybe it's those boy readers that everyone claims don't exist.

I don't have an answer to this, but I have to wonder if it's based on the actual stories, or if the men do better simply because they have a male name on the cover. I've actually heard of female authors choosing a male pseudonym for this very purpose (the same as men using a female name when they write romance--and yes, it seems there are male romance authors out there).

Shipple's got an example of a male/androgynous pseudonym in her signature!

As to the questions posed, I'm not too sure. But remember when VS Naipaul said the ladies write 'feminine tosh'? Try this quiz and see if you can pick out the 'gender' of a paragraph!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/quiz/20 ... s-sex-quiz
- Allyse

I got 7 out of 10. Could have been worse.

Interesting thought. I'm wondering if there isn't a difference in the way demographics buy books. For example (not necessarily thinking this is the answer): what if YA girls read more books but buy fewer? What if YA boys read fewer books but have more purchased for them? Or what if boys, when they finally discover reading, go on a binge for a few years and therefore end up buying more books.

Or... what if more adult men, still enjoy reading YA than adult women. Anyway... Just thinking. There's a research project in there somewhere.

TB