What do men want? A poll--and a prize!

by Stacey

Following up on my blog post from last week and based on some of the comments we received, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to ask our blog readers, men in particular, or the women who love them, what it is they'd like to see more of, and/or less of in the marketplace. Reader David Jarrett brings up a good point that a lot of what's published today is derivative of other, successful books or authors, and often not even written by those original authors. But because they've become a household name, it's easier to sell the "branded" version of an author's work than an original work by an unknown writer. I read one of these for our work book club once, and I found it almost unreadable, lacking any depth or originality, a complete by the numbers exercise. It's a frustrating thing that we are all forced to deal with, but it's a reality of the current business model.

So I'd like to know what our male readers really want to read (which categories specifically on the fiction and nonfiction side), what they see lacking in the market, what they see too much of in the market, and what they would feel excited to spend their money on. I'd also like to see positive and negative examples of books they either loved or hated, and why.

Then if I (or any other agents here) sign a new project up that falls into these categories, I will gladly reference this blog post and let editors know there are lots of men out there who are excited to buy and read interesting, original, thought-provoking books in any number of categories, and we need to work harder to find them! As an incentive, I will choose one person who responds at random and send along a copy of a recent DGLM title. Thanks for taking part in our discussion, and in our ongoing effort to make the book biz a better place.