[dalya]

I rarely see a man's name commenting on my FB author page. Now, it could be they're just intimidated by all the gaia energy of the chicks. However, I rarely see a man's name on my mailing list.

I do see a lot of people who use the word "mom" in their email address, though. calebsmom@ or momofthree@ etc.

DATA SO MUCH DATA!!!

 

[Vaalingrade]

But is that because of the genre, or your name?

 

[swolf]

(But seriously, they do. You can believe they do not, but they do. I'm pretty confident saying this without ever meeting anyone's husband/boyfriend/partner. I've helped thousands of customers over fifteen years and have dealt with every single subset of personality. We like porn. This is just how it is. You never see a child refuse sugar after giving it to them the first time, do you?)

If your job was fixing computers, and surfing porn sites is the leading cause of computers being broken, don't you think your perspective is skewed a bit? Kind of like how a worker in a shelter for battered women might think all men are wife beaters?

I do think that the vast majority of men watch porn, but I allow for a small percentage who don't. People are different, and those differences make it very difficult to make any absolute judgments about human behavior.

 

[RinG]

You never see a child refuse sugar after giving it to them the first time, do you?)

Hmm, my child does. Cake too, all the time. Not all sweet stuff, and not all the time, but certainly frequently enough to disprove this theory.

Interestingly, I seem to have male readers for my romance, perhaps because it's also sci-fi? If you check my reviews, several of them are from men (and no, they aren't men I know either).

I think the billionaire trend is just an extension of the fairy tale prince. I have to admit, I don't have any billionaires, but somehow, many of my male characters seem to become princes. They don't start out that way, but at some point, they all seem to inform me that their father is, in fact, the king (and usually they don't get on with him.)

 

[KerryT2012]

I was thinking whether to write one about a trillionaire, but didn't think it would wash down well

 

[brendajcarlton]

Being able to look to a man for security is a powerful cultural idea that goes back a long, long way.

It's a lot more than a powerful cultural idea. It's basic biology. All over the animal kingdom, well at least in mammals and birds, the males compete to convince the females that they are the toughest and the strongest so the female will agree to mate with them. In some cases the male also provides protection for the female and the offspring, but often he's out of there as soon as the deed is done. The instinct is mostly based on the concept that the strongest male, a**hole or not, gives you the strongest babies with the highest chance of survival. Humans (also mammals) have to fight to overcome that instinct to marry men that are more civilized.

 

[Harriet Schultz]

Interesting that the thread has transitioned from billionaires to men and romance novels.

I was shocked to be told that male readers enjoyed my books which are romantic suspense and which I thought would only attract female readers.

One man said that his wife read the book for the romance and he was riveted by the thriller plot. Another male, part of a critique group at a writers' conference, said that anytime the word "nipples" is in a book, men will read it  !

I think if men realized how much sex is in a typical romance novel, the gender of our readers would shift. Slightly, but shift.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Ever notice how it's always younger guys who are doing IT work? That's because they're not experienced/old enough to have caught on. Yeah, dad can take apart a 289-cubic-inch V8 engine with 210 horsepower on a '65 Mustang, then put it back together again, but he can't figure out how to check his e-mail on Yahoo? Yeah, suuuuurrre.

Hubby does all the work on our cars but has problems with anything that involves small buttons, like dialing the phone. Just sayin'.

Betsy

 

[brendajcarlton]

Hubby does all the work on our cars but has problems with anything that involves small buttons, like dialing the phone. Just sayin'.

Betsy

Yeah, most men "have problems" with anything they don't like to do. Of course most women do too. "I'll have to get my son over here to dig a hole for that plant." Really? You can't dig a hole a foot deep?

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Yeah, most men "have problems" with anything they don't like to do. Of course most women do too. "I'll have to get my son over here to dig a hole for that plant." Really? You can't dig a hole a foot deep?

No, seriously, this isn't about him not liking doing it. He really has serious issues. Actually, in my husband's case, I think it's because he was undiagnosed dislexic as a kid...he's really, really old and they weren't diagnosing it in those days. He has a lot of trouble with numbers and spelling and sometimes left/right.

And I dig my own holes (and also work on the cars), thank you very much. But I also think that some people still have gender distinctions for certain tasks. I do, myself. It's my husband's job to get bugs out of the house.

Betsy

 

[brendajcarlton]

And I dig my own holes (and also work on the cars), thank you very much.

LOL!! I do have to say that I have discovered that if you set out to prove that you can do anything a man can do, it might take longer and involve ropes and pulleys, but you can do it -- well guess what? You end up getting all the work. My daughter in law changed the head gasket on a Suburban while my son was photoshopping pictures. Maybe our mothers were not so dumb.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

LOL!! I do have to say that I have discovered that if you set out to prove that you can do anything a man can do, it might take longer and involve ropes and pulleys, but you can do it -- well guess what? You end up getting all the work. My daughter in law changed the head gasket on a Suburban while my son was photoshopping pictures. Maybe our mothers were not so dumb.

There is definitely that, LOL!

Betsy

 

[Nicole Castro]

Interesting that the thread has transitioned from billionaires to men and romance novels.

I was shocked to be told that male readers enjoyed my books which are romantic suspense and which I thought would only attract female readers.

One man said that his wife read the book for the romance and he was riveted by the thriller plot. Another male, part of a critique group at a writers' conference, said that anytime the word "nipples" is in a book, men will read it !

I think if men realized how much sex is in a typical romance novel, the gender of our readers would shift. Slightly, but shift.

I have two (yeah, two lol) major fans out there and one is a guy. He raves about my books and they are all romance. It's nice.

 

[Sara Fawkes]

And I dig my own holes (and also work on the cars), thank you very much. But I also think that some people still have gender distinctions for certain tasks. I do, myself. It's my husband's job to get bugs out of the house.

Betsy

A lady after my own heart. I agree though, my Dude can tear down and put together a motorcycle engine in record time (and name every part/where it goes if you pick it up at random and show him), but he has to reread a single textbook page ten times to even understand what it's saying (and even then it's not always a sure thing).

 

[D.L. Shutter]

It's my husband's job to get bugs out of the house. Wink

My wife has established very clearly defined boy and girl jobs.

And I think this thread needs more billionaires...with tentacles.

 

[D.L. Shutter]

O...M...G.... ROFL Awesome!!!! Tongue

Then you'll love this...

http://www.somethingawful.com/news/kindle-billionaires-review/1/

Last book discussed there is actually a parody. Cover is absolutely priceless. I wanted to post that one instead but the sideways full-nude shot is probably a no-no. Funny as all hell.

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

I'd like to know what Betsy is doing digging holes in the yard...

Banned members have to go somewhere....


Betsy

 

[brie.mcgill]

The worst part of this thread is, while I have spent months marveling in curious awe at the fascinating trend of billionaire books, trying to understand their motivations, cultural relevance, etc...

It made me realize that my (omgwth) 150k WIP is actually hinged on... the billionaire mythos. 

Granted, MC isn't actually a billionaire. But he was adopted by a billionaire, lives in his chateau and wears all the fancy clothes. Hopefully the reproductive security afforded by his mountains of cash is sufficiently offset by his polydactyly, kleptomania, and half-alien heritage.  Otherwise, he might be just another "here, honey, take MY credit card" Gary Stu. 

WHY didn't this thread exist when I was designing my cover! *facepalm*

 

[Deena Ward]

For what it's worth, lots of American truckers love steamy romance novels, but you'll find few who'll admit it. Before Kindles, they'd read romance paperbacks then leave them in company terminals and truckstop TV rooms for the next guy to pick up -- a trucker lending library so to speak. Those books would be so thumbed-thru and greasy it'd look like a hundred drivers had read them. Now they have their Kindles and don't have to risk exposure. Heh.

 

[Vera Nazarian]

Maybe billionaires are just more grounded than regular people, they're probably deeply connected to the world around them (also below them, from their private helicopters).

Obviously the perceived fantasy element is that they are detatched from the humdrum every day grind and can focus all their attention on showering their lovers with gifts and elaborate romance. But we are a culture of escalation and soon Billionaires won't even be able to offer enough and there will be a long line of romance novels about missunderstood island-nation dictators and the women who taim them.

Maybe the only way to strike back is to write a nice tale about a balding, middle-aged man toiling in his job as a team-leader for the bottled-water company's call center. Show how he manages to find the love of his life at a gambler's anonymous meeting and showers her with impromptu gas station gifts of roses in plastic tubing and mutliple types of fruit flavored gum.

The book focuses on exploring their aging bodies body image issues and their awkward passionate moments filled with out of shape wheezing and lackluster sexual encounters... In the end, they buy a sofa together.

hmmm.... kinda got off topic there.

My Gawd, I love this post!