I was reading the post by Zombie kat and I was wondering are there any statistics about what percentage of YA readers are male/female? Also by genre, I suppose there are more females in ya romance and less in ya science fiction if we follow stereotypes.
Male/female ratio in YA readers
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Becca C.
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The vast majority of YA readers, in every genre, are female. The boys usually go from middle grade novels straight to adult, or stop reading altogether.
I'd even go so far as to say 98% female, 2% male. Yeah, really.
I'd even go so far as to say 98% female, 2% male. Yeah, really.
I agree with Becca that girl readers outnumber boys (although I don't have any hard and fast stats) but each of the main commercial publishers has active 'boy friendly' lists, which can be targeted.
MM
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I don't think it helps that the way YA books are packaged sometimes seems to be aimed at girls even when the books aren't necessarily 'girly' (bright pink, hot dude on the front, girl with flowing hair in pretty dress etc).
I'd agree that it's predominantly female. However, there is an increasing number of teenage boys who read YA - and not just YA targetted at boys. I've seen conference feedback (the link escapes me) where boys have commented that they enjoy reading YA with female protagonists, but would like to see these books made more appealing to them.
I have a teen boy who loves reading. He's dying because all the books for his age are girly. Yet publishers apparently don't sell as much boy YA. If it was there, my boy would read it. It's not, so he splits his reading between MG action/adventure/fantasy, nonfiction, and adult SFF.
Alas, as most of my most appealing ideas lately have been for boy upper MG/YA.
Alas, as most of my most appealing ideas lately have been for boy upper MG/YA.
I have done some research. There is an estimate that 80% of fiction is read by women. And it seems in teens the difference is far greater. But they also said that more boys than girls have read Harry Potter.
Becca C.
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Pretty much. But that's not to say you can't write YA books that aren't girly. I almost always write in first-person POV with a male protagonist, and while everything is very guy-centric (lots of swearing, action, fighting), there is romance and a strong emphasis on relationships, so girls can relate, too.
Also, helps that my male MCs are gay, so there's the same amount of hot boy swooning as if it was a female MC
So, you can write a "boy book" and have it appeal to girls, too. John Green does this perfectly, so does Patrick Ness and a lot of others.
There's soooo much good manly boy YA, though! It may be the minority of the genre, but there's a lot of great stuff out there. Trash, Chaos Walking, Ship Breaker, Going Bovine, Gone, The Monstrumologist, Happyface, Lockdown, The Deathday Letter, Rot and Ruin, The Enemy, The Marbury Lens, The Great Wide Sea, and justabout anything by Walter Dean Myers, Mike Lupica, Carl Deuker, Matt de la Pena, Neal Shusterman, Todd Strasser, John Green, Francisco X Stork, James Dashner, Jordan Sonnenblick, KL Going, or Allen Zadoff. Off the top of my head.
I think a big problem is that YA as a genre is so concerned with internal emotional journeys (even when there are also exciting external journeys going on, even during the manliest of fictional activities), and yet teenage guys are being so indoctrinated into our culture of male=very masculine=stoic=don't have feelings and don't express feelings and dear god don't talk about feelings if you find yourself having any. So to be an adult-in-training, YA novels, for guys, go against that requirement. (It's beside the point that most adult women/men would at some point like a spouse who is capable of experiencing and expressing his feelings, so YA guy lit is doing a better job preparing guys for that than the rest of pop culture is...)
WILD GENDER STEREOTYPING AHOY:
What I've noticed about guys reading YA is that they'll happily pick up a specific book/author (think about guys and John Green) but they so rarely branch out and explore what else is on the shelves. Girls are more likely to roll around and try out different things (due in no small part, I'm sure, to the larger number of "girl-oriented" YA books). which means that an author's probability of getting guy readers increases with how popular that author gets in general (i know, what a shocking discovery!) because guys aren't likely to browse the shelves and pick up something they haven't heard of.
that being said! there is a noteworthy number of male YA bloggers/reviewers.
What I've noticed about guys reading YA is that they'll happily pick up a specific book/author (think about guys and John Green) but they so rarely branch out and explore what else is on the shelves. Girls are more likely to roll around and try out different things (due in no small part, I'm sure, to the larger number of "girl-oriented" YA books). which means that an author's probability of getting guy readers increases with how popular that author gets in general (i know, what a shocking discovery!) because guys aren't likely to browse the shelves and pick up something they haven't heard of.
that being said! there is a noteworthy number of male YA bloggers/reviewers.
Even though my current novel follows a male protagonist (and exclusively takes place in his POV), to try to give the novel some appeal with girls I made a lot of supporting characters female. The two most important characters other than my protagonist are female and so is the villain trying to kill them. Also, out of my protagonist's parents (who are fugitives of sorts), the mother has a slightly more dominant presence than the father (though that's because the father is a bit more closed-off emotionally).
At the same time, the emphasis is on action and peril so there's a lot of stuff that appeals to boys more than girls. I also try to give my protagonist a semi-typical teenage boy worldview and language.
So basically I'm trying to give a good balance between material that boys typically like while including material that girls typically like, in the hopes that the end result is a novel all will enjoy. Similarly, I tried to include a few "parental bonuses" for any older readers who pick the novel up.
As for real life, I have seen boys take a look at novels like The Hunger Games and Uglies, though I have yet to see any take a look at Twilight or anything vampire romance-related except for one, and he was being prodded by his girlfriend. So I think that whether the lead is male or female largely doesn't matter. It's whether the novel carries a "anti-guy" stigmatic stereotype like Twilight.
At the same time, the emphasis is on action and peril so there's a lot of stuff that appeals to boys more than girls. I also try to give my protagonist a semi-typical teenage boy worldview and language.
So basically I'm trying to give a good balance between material that boys typically like while including material that girls typically like, in the hopes that the end result is a novel all will enjoy. Similarly, I tried to include a few "parental bonuses" for any older readers who pick the novel up.
As for real life, I have seen boys take a look at novels like The Hunger Games and Uglies, though I have yet to see any take a look at Twilight or anything vampire romance-related except for one, and he was being prodded by his girlfriend. So I think that whether the lead is male or female largely doesn't matter. It's whether the novel carries a "anti-guy" stigmatic stereotype like Twilight.
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Litgirl - I think that's why you should write those boy-centric novels you're thinking of. I've heard several agents lament the fact that they can't find MG/YA ms's with boy protagonists. Go for it!!
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I've often wondered why their isn't more YA made for males. Is it because boys don't read much YA, or is it that there isn't much YA made for boys? Kind of a "chicken and the egg" issue.
When I was a teenager ( ten years ago...damn I'm old) I NEVER read YA. I never really read kid's books, either. Granted, there wasn't as much out there then, but still.
I always felt that YA, at least back then, was insulting to me. I would pick up a book and say "yeah, you expect me to believe this?" Now, there is actually some that's more sophisticated.
No, when I was fourteen, I was all about H.P. Lovecraft. Granted, it might have been because his books were banned from my school library and I HAD to see what all the fuss was about. I went from thinking "what'ev, it can't be that bad!" to rocking back and forth saying "it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book...."
When I was a teenager ( ten years ago...damn I'm old) I NEVER read YA. I never really read kid's books, either. Granted, there wasn't as much out there then, but still.
I always felt that YA, at least back then, was insulting to me. I would pick up a book and say "yeah, you expect me to believe this?" Now, there is actually some that's more sophisticated.
No, when I was fourteen, I was all about H.P. Lovecraft. Granted, it might have been because his books were banned from my school library and I HAD to see what all the fuss was about. I went from thinking "what'ev, it can't be that bad!" to rocking back and forth saying "it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book....it's only a book...."
Amadan
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Wild gender stereotyping indeed.
My experience is that boys will branch out and try different authors and genres as avidly as girls will. In fact, I'd even reverse the stereotype and suggest there's an increasing trend of girls who never break out of YA lit, even after they are well out of the target age group. If boys don't read widely within the YA genre, it is indeed because there's relatively little that is targeted at or appealing to them.
(I said relatively little -- as a percentage. Obviously, there are tons of great books for boys. But browse the shelves in the YA section, especially the books that get the prestigious end displays and out-turned covers, and it's mostly Scandalous School Drama and Magical Boyfriend fiction.)
Robocracy Now
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I 100% agree! It's vampires or angels doing there best Fabio impersonation on every other cover in the YA section of BN. Not something your average teenage boy would be interested in.
I mentioned that...
Is it a problem that there isn't enough YA for guys? Absolutely. I did this whole blog post that got me in a whole mess of trouble about just that.
But is it also a problem that girls will gladly read--fuck, girls are forced in school to sit down and read--pages and pages and pages of men bitching about how hard it is to be a man and how sexually frustrated they are and how they were castrated in a war but guys won't pick up a book with a pink cover?
There's plenty of blame to go around, is what I'm saying.
Liosse de Velishaf
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We had a great thread on a similar subject a few months back. I'll say the same thing now that I said then:
I'm perfeclty willing to read "girly" YA books with pink covers and glittery embossed letters. But when I walk up to the counter with a stack of such books, the way the cashiers react to me is not positive. It does not encourage or support my desire to read outside the usual male genres. And for a lot of YA aged guys, I think the effect would be a lot more detrimental.
Even a relatively pink-less, sparkle-less cover like Before I Fall gets bad reactions when a guy brings it up to the counter.
I'm perfeclty willing to read "girly" YA books with pink covers and glittery embossed letters. But when I walk up to the counter with a stack of such books, the way the cashiers react to me is not positive. It does not encourage or support my desire to read outside the usual male genres. And for a lot of YA aged guys, I think the effect would be a lot more detrimental.
Even a relatively pink-less, sparkle-less cover like Before I Fall gets bad reactions when a guy brings it up to the counter.
Liosse de Velishaf
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Something just occurred to me. The real reason I don't read a lot of YA, even though I have tons on my TBR list:
I fucking hate trade paperbacks. Maybe reading AF has spoiled me, but I hate reading anything but MMPB books. Hardbacks are expensive, sure, but that's not the only reason I don't buy them. Whenever I walk into a book store and head for the YA section, I see tons of books that I plan to read or just plain look interesting, and they are all trade paperbacks (and or of similar dimensions?).
I don't know if publishers think these will be more attractive to YA readers or what, but I have never liked them, and I avoid buying them at all costs.
I fucking hate trade paperbacks. Maybe reading AF has spoiled me, but I hate reading anything but MMPB books. Hardbacks are expensive, sure, but that's not the only reason I don't buy them. Whenever I walk into a book store and head for the YA section, I see tons of books that I plan to read or just plain look interesting, and they are all trade paperbacks (and or of similar dimensions?).
I don't know if publishers think these will be more attractive to YA readers or what, but I have never liked them, and I avoid buying them at all costs.
Same here. A relationship, and two girls as main characters in an action story, so my group of four is relatively equal by gender, but the sole PoV protag is male.
I will also add that when I was a boy and devouring HP, when done I did search for YA focused on boys, but ended up in epic fantasy land instead. Now I was using Amazon to get my books, but I remember the results as being Inkheart (good book at the time, if lacking in action), Artemis Fowl (too young for me to love it, but I read it), The Thief Lord (once again, too young and a lack of action). I simply didn't come across something like Percy Jackson at the time, and there was definitely nothing I noticed that was for older YA.
So I ended up buying the who's who of epic fantasy and didn't return to YA for years.
But that was before all YA exploded though (i still remember news stories of Twilight catching America by storm).
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I used to have a lot of guy friends. It wasn't that they didn't read YA. It was that they didn't read period. Out of my fifteen guy friends, only one was into books. And he was a slow reader. It took him two weeks to finish Eragon in 6th grade.
In elementary school, the guys read a lot more. Stuff like Goosebumps, anything by Louis Sachar or JK Rowling, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. But as they got older, they just weren't into reading anymore. Maybe it's the combination of video games, more school work, or a general disdain for reading. Even on GoodReads, the majority of readers are female.
It seems like YA, UF, and PNR is dominated by female writers while everything else is still pretty male oriented, like Science Fiction and especially High Fantasy. But it was hard to convince my cousin to read Harry Potter. In fact, he never finished it. It's a strange topic to say the least.
In elementary school, the guys read a lot more. Stuff like Goosebumps, anything by Louis Sachar or JK Rowling, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. But as they got older, they just weren't into reading anymore. Maybe it's the combination of video games, more school work, or a general disdain for reading. Even on GoodReads, the majority of readers are female.
It seems like YA, UF, and PNR is dominated by female writers while everything else is still pretty male oriented, like Science Fiction and especially High Fantasy. But it was hard to convince my cousin to read Harry Potter. In fact, he never finished it. It's a strange topic to say the least.
I feel like the whole "supernatural boyfriend" thing does more harm than anything else to the appeal of YA fiction to males. It seems like every book published in the YA market has to either be urban fantasy with (probably shirtless) vampires on the cover, or at the very least feature a love triangle that the story would, in my opinion, be better off without.
Behind that, though, is the fact that most YA readers would probably be female regardless. Males in high school/college are less likely to want to read a lot (just going from the statistic someone else posted, 80% of fiction readers in general are apparently female, so I think I'm fair in saying this). I'm the exception, rather than the rule I guess.
Behind that, though, is the fact that most YA readers would probably be female regardless. Males in high school/college are less likely to want to read a lot (just going from the statistic someone else posted, 80% of fiction readers in general are apparently female, so I think I'm fair in saying this). I'm the exception, rather than the rule I guess.
Robocracy Now
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That's bs. Yes, more women than men read fiction, but the ratio is not that high. If it was, I sincerely doubt R.A. Salvatore would be in business...
I hope that statistic is inaccurate. If it's not, then it's really disappointing.
Amadan
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It may be close to 80% among YA readers. I doubt it's that high among adults, but I would not be surprised if it is heading in that direction. Look at any book club or book discussion group online, and except for those dedicated to specific series and authors that are geared towards a largely male fanbase (e.g., GRRM and most hard SF authors), the female/male ratio ain't far from that.
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