Do men write anymore?

No they don't - sad really

Bryn wrote: "No they don't - sad really"

ikr. I'm all for female empowerment but I would love to see more male authors publishing

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

the author's sex doesn't matter. and no goodreads didn't deliberately leave the men out.

women do account for 80% of fiction book sales...sooo...maybe get your brethren to read more fiction and there might be more men writing.

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

Not as well as women nowadays ;-)

Nothing looks SFnal.

For the Love of Friends, by Sara Goodman Confino, should be on your debut list. It's hilarious!

Blue Lotus Valerie Peterson a new must read

Don, all writers (OK, most start small). Louise Penny relates a story of writing her first book and telling her publisher she was ready for the book tour. Blank look, "there's no book tour", so she and her husband undertook one themselves. Sometimes there were a handful of people, sometimes no one (she says it was then an early dinner), but the hardest was when 1 person came. Now her book tour is (or was pre-pandemic) usually ticketed events because so many want to come, and she stays to sign books for hundreds of people. And she met her agent by happenstance at a party - at a point when she was ready to give up on writing. Persevere!

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"
Society is far too woke, whatever that means. I think it implies awaken to people who have no idea what that means!
.

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?

Samer Touma PhD has the most amazing book out on character and living with less regret!!

It’s called “Never Say I’m Sorry”

It’s a short read, written by a man whose perspective appears to be judgement free, forgiving, redeeming and open in a way that is totally refreshing given the post-pandemic politically charged world we live in these days. Seriously now who doesn’t need to start over? I really enjoyed reading it and when I get blue about the world, it helps a lot. I think it’s very nurturing for the soul and that’s nice to see from a man!!

Yes Costing, Men DO write. They write war books and....other things.

Costin, why would you even make a comment like that? I have never run my finger down a list of books to get the male/female ratio.

Thanks @MichaelWhittling
Your book looks intriguing!

Michael wrote: "I write, and I identify as male. :)

Looking for your next read? How about The French Baker's War?

Occupied France, 1943. Returning home from the daily hunt for the rationed ingre..."
Thank you for posting. I will read it. peace, janz

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

Only if you're Stephen King, but his debut novel horse left that stall a lonnnnnng time ago :p

Michael wrote: "I write, and I identify as male. :)

Looking for your next read? How about The French Baker's War?

Occupied France, 1943. Returning home from the daily hunt for the rationed ingre..."

I just put it on my list.

J. wrote: "My debut novel is Clifford's War, if anyone is interested in someone not on this list"

I am looking for it.

Nancy wrote: "Costin, why would you even make a comment like that? I have never run my finger down a list of books to get the male/female ratio."

Then you must not work for Goodreads. It's not really something I look at either, but it's hard to miss whenever Goodreads puts out a list of new books or authors and it is almost all women. Unless you're a big name, established author, your book isn't going to get listed on here.

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

Well after generations of men being the only ones allowed to publish and then being the vast majority of those topping the charts, even as recently as the 2000s, it's not really a bad thing to see women on top of the charts for once. We're writing more, and we're reading more.

Hunter's Moon

New book not on the list.

Amy wrote: "Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

the author's sex doesn't matter. and no goodreads didn't deliberately leave the men out."

I strongly disagree with this comment. When promoting literature, it should be equitable. I am a woman and cannot imagine reading books only and always from the female perspective. I would probably get really bored and quit reading. The male voice in literature is very much needed and important too. Goodreads did indeed leave out the men because this is the trend everywhere right now and should not be. We live in a diverse world and promoting of any kind should reflect that. Men are still part of our diverse world and so are the books they write.

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

are you seriously acting like there aren't enough books written by men for you to read?

so many good looking books on this list!

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"
What's kind of interesting is that even when men write, they sometimes use more gender neutral or female pen names. This seems especially true with crime/mystery books. (Riley Sager and Grady Hendrix come to mind as examples)

Most of these covers are hideous. What happened to attractive covers that told you something about the book?

i think the books that men wrote are not necessarily the most loved MPGs but they are better for all that

69. Nice (im sorry)

Laurent wrote: "69. Nice (im sorry)"

lol thank you. I was beginning to worry that someone wouldn't take the opportunity

I know this list is supposed to be "adult debuts" but that's still kind of a weird distinction to me when you have someone like Zoraida Cordova, who has a decade of YA under her belt. That should count for something, but what do I know.

JasonA wrote: "Then you must not work for Goodreads. It's not really something I look at either, but it's hard to miss whenever Goodreads puts out a list of new books or authors and it is almost all women. Unless you're a big name, established author, your book isn't going to get listed on here."

Interesting comment since we live in a male dominated society.

Kasia wrote: "Interesting comment since we live in a male dementated society."

I just want a comprehensive list of promising new authors and I don't care what their gender, race, politics or sexuality is, as long as they can tell a good story. I'm always interested in discovering new authors; I think it's a shame to disqualify someone from the listings because of their sex. Yes, I know we did it in the past, but society is supposed to be moving past that. Let's judge an author solely on their work.

JasonA wrote: "I just want a comprehensive list of promising new authors and I don't care what their gender, race, politics or sexuality is, as long as they can tell a good story. I'm always interested in discovering new authors; I think it's a shame to disqualify someone from the listings because of their sex. Yes, I know we did it in the past, but society is supposed to be moving past that. Let's judge an author solely on their work."


I don't really think they are being disqualified, I see a few males on the list, it's not always going to be 50/50.

Omg haha I see that he just edited his rating on the Grady novel from 1 to 2 stars. Wonder what's up with that

Kasia wrote: "I don't really think they are being disqualified, I see a few males on the list, it's not always going to be 50/50.

omg haha I see that he just edited his rating on the Grady novel from 1 to 2 stars. Wonder what's up with that."

I've been going back and forth between 1 and 2 on FGSG. I'm still not happy about that spoiler, but haven't decided whether to blame Hendrix for putting it in there or myself for picking it up.

I disagree. The sex does matter.

I don't know about the rest of these, but Zoraida Córdova has a bunch of other books? How is this a debut? Do they just...not count because they're YA or something?

Am I the only one bothered, that the debate here ignores nonbinary writers?

In my opinion, most pen names sound like made up porn names anyway. I won't dare to even think of the writer's sex.

Yes, I am not immune to spotting hetetonormative-xychromosome-puberty fantasies in fantasy/sci-fi. Not to mention 1750's toxic relationships and anti-feminist tropes in romance written by privileged xx-chromosome people. But I've also seen those in queer lit and I've read very progressive and feminist texts from people defining themselves as cis-male.

I'm getting carried away with this and my alarm rings in 5 hours. ;) I'll shut up now. Happy reading!

Eve wrote: "Am I the only one bothered, that the debate here ignores nonbinary writers?

"

Honestly, it hadn't occurred to me. I was just going by first names of the authors and assumed that LGBTQ+ authors were sprinkled into the mix. Anyone you'd recommend checking out?

Lisa Taddeo and Zoraida Cordova are not “debut authors.” Both have multiple other published works 🤷🏽‍♀️

I realize it’s not my debut, but I’ve just published my 2nd book, and I’m a man. Stop giggling at the back there, I am.

LGBTQ and novels focused on race - so hot right now.

For those kvetching about the majority female author list, I'm wondering, did you ever complain in the past about male authors dominating lists? I would guess not.
So be quiet and enjoy getting to know some new authors no matter what sex they are.

Robert wrote: "I realize it’s not my debut, but I’ve just published my 2nd book, and I’m a man. Stop giggling at the back there, I am."

Congrats on getting published, Robert. I've been reading a book Jeff Strand wrote about how difficult it can be to get published and get noticed. Good luck to you.

Costin wrote: "Do men write anymore?"

There are 8 books written by men just on this list? So I think it's safe to say they still write.

I (identify as male) just published an eco-thriller about a captive killer whale released into the wild, an animal story for adults. But in writing, I paid attention to the fact that 80% of readers are female. OK, my wife read the first draft and yanked out all the sexist crap and made it a better book (5 stars from Chanticleer reviews). https://www.amazon.com/author/genehel...

I'm a male writer and it's true that the publishing industry (at least here in the UK) selects them out. The agents and editors are almost exclusively women and that's definitely a factor in what gets published. I wrote a novel that a number of agents and editors said was great, but that they couldn't personally "relate" to, and so they declined.

It's a chicken and egg situation. Did male readers leave because they weren't being catered to, or were they never there in the first place? Are there no male writers because there are no male readers, or is the eclipse of both down to the increasing dominance of women in the industry and on book-centric social media?

I can only hope there is an audience. I'm having to go the self-publishing route for my novel, which isn't quite ready yet, but to establish my bona fides I have released a novelette that displays my writing, available for only $1.99. It's been well-reviewed so far, and praised for the quality of its prose.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093RD3LT6

"I was surprised how good this novelette was. Perhaps my expectations were low after getting burned on a few self-published sci-fi works, but Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog actually delivers on its promise." -- Matt, Amazon reviewer

"The writing/prose is one of the strongest parts of the story, and is definitely a cut above other stories I've read." -- Imran, Goodreads reviewer

"Well written with good pacing, a natural flow, and interesting characters." -- John, Amazon reviewer

"... evoked Ursula K Le Guin for me. This is a very well written piece and has strayed into my thoughts since I finished it." -- Jer, Amazon reviewer

What an amazing and blessed time we live in to see so many women from so many different backgrounds getting published.

Goodreads users are the type to complain under the sun at certain subgroups not being represented but will act indignant at the intentional exclusion of male authors that all these lists have.