So, I have been stewing on this one for a while and just have to get it out there. Mostly this is directed at men, but I hope a broader audience can take something from it too. We have lost something over the last couple of decades guys. We have lost out minds.
I don't mean that we're crazy. I mean that somewhere along the way we lost control of what we are putting in our brains. We used to be proud of what we learned and discerning in our entertainment. Even the guys who picked on nerds would pick up a book once in a while. Where the hell are we now? Not to insult either genre, because there are wonderful works in both that I think everyone should read, but are you really happy reading children's books and young adult novels to your kids or hearing about chicklit plot lines from the women in your life while never filling your head with things that matter to you?
People look at me funny when I say I mostly write for men. Those looks annoy me but they are right to give them. I mean, I have seen it multiple times recently, the studies and surveys. They show how adult males are the least likely to buy a book for themselves, much less read one. Look at the book bloggers, agents and everyone saying they are an avid reader. Their ranks are filled with women and teens because only readers go into that.What happened to us? Boys read, so why do we stop? These studies are used to prove that men don't read, so books aren't published for men.
I think that is false logic. For years the movie studios said people in their late teens through twenties were the ones who watched movies. So, guess what, movies were made only to target that audience, by the major producers anyway. They were wrong. Other demographics wanted to watch movies too. A few years back some movies got released for alternative audience (thank you Sundance for pushing the envelope) and guess what again. They did just fine. The people waiting for their movies went out and saw them and money was made so now you see more experimentation. I think books for men are like this. We don't read because there aren't that many books published for us. How do we fix it? We can't sit back and wait for someone to notice, we have to get noticed.
How are we spending our entertainment time and dollars? Not so long ago it was on magazines targeted at men, and that was fine. At least we had a voice. As more content goes to the internet and becomes free we are losing even that though. So we visit websites, spend annoying amounts of time on social media that usually makes us both depressed and dumber by the second. When we don't? Maybe we watch a movie with almost no plot and lots of special effects. More likely we watch the idiot box.
Even then, do we watch quality programs? Sometimes, maybe, enough of them are surviving that I'm starting to think our tastes are evolving. Mostly though, we watch the most mindless drivel with uninspired plots or no plots at all. When is the last time you made an hour every week to watch a good drama? How much more of your time is spent on mindless sitcoms and programs designed with a a female market in mind because you're watching it with a woman you love and pretending it counts as quality time? Here's a hint, quality time with the TV leads to conversations about the plot and the message, not how cute the stars are or a simple comment of that was good. Even worse, how much time are you spending watching so called reality television? Do we even care that our brains are screaming out in pain and strangling themselves until we can't think anymore? Do we concern ourselves with how little we gain? No, but we have to.
So how do we fix it? Take back your reading! Buy a book for yourself and read it. I don't care if it's in a genre designed for another demographic. I don't care if it's physical or on an e-reader. What I care about is us taking control of our destiny again. Buy some books so those publishing them know we want them again and actually start considering our tastes. Women are such prolific readers they have two fiction genres dedicated to them. It's time we got guy books back. Here's an even better idea than picking up something not published for you though. Pick up a book that matters.
Get something that touches, entertains, and teaches you. Want some suggestions? Sure, I can do that. Pick up a classic and decide for yourself it if's any good. Look in the genres of Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy. There's bound to be something you'll like. If you have older tastes pick up some Bradbury, Orwell, Poe, Shakespeare, Lovecraft or Hemingway. Those men wrote for men. Want something a little more modern? Go check out some Stephen King, George RR Martin, Tom Clancy, Jim Butcher or Clive Barker. Those men do or did write to the male sensibility. I will note, I actually don't like every author I have listed but I respect them and each one appeals to a part of the male mind that wants to be engaged and entertained.
So, go buy a book this week and let them know you're out there.If you don't like any of the authors I've listed find one you do. Better yet, make a difference in someone's life and find and independent or small press author and make the day of a struggling artist a little better. I'm not saying you should buy my book, but you should, (oh come on, you knew I was going there eventually) I am saying to take back your brain. Take back your entertainment. Take back your pride and your power.
As much as I would love your money and your review that is not what this is about. It is about something deeper. I want you to have a voice and to build up synapses that only reading can give you. You know, the ones that are currently firing every once in a while in the dark when you're bored in the seconds before you turn on the television and drown them out? Those ones, they are lonely and abused and they miss their imaginary friends. Even more than that, I want a different reaction next time I query an agent and say my target audience is everyone but mostly men. Instead of the assumed eye roll I want that agent to sit up and take notice. I want them to get excited and think, "Hell yeah! Men read and publishers will be all over this." I want us to be proud again, of being men and of our intellect. I want us to have something to talk about on break beyond which idiot we don't care about got kicked of which show last night.
I want us to make a difference and be proud of it as we rebuild a connected community of readers that we are currently on the outside of. I can't do it alone though. I need your help with this. So, go buy a book this week. Be careful in the choice and buy it only for yourself and the idea of making a difference with your actions. Once you do, don't hide it in the bag like you used to do with your all nude magazines. Walk out or around with it proudly in your hand as you throw away the bag, or better yet go green and tell the attendant you don't need a bag at all. That last assumes you want to make a real difference and went to a real bookstore to make sure they stick around. When someone asks what you're reading, proudly show it to them. When they ask why say it sounded good and suggest they get a copy. Then sit down and read it.
Now, I'm going to go do a little more writing and then read my own current book. Yes, it's by someone on my list above.
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