Why is it women read fiction more than men? I posed that question to a some well known names in Christian fiction who were most gracious to offer their insights. Some of their answers weren’t that hard to anticipate while others might surprise you.

Not surprising is the observation that men tend to be more action and detail oriented.

Men are usually more visual creatures.  If we are not participating in something we are watching others do an activity.  How many women will stand for an hour watching someone else work on a car?  A lot of men will.  Men also are hooked on sports, thus TV has a constant draw for them.  Women tend to use their time differently and treasure moments when they have a few quiet moments to themselves.  That leads to more time for activities like reading. (Ace Collins)

My guess is that men are visual and there are so many alternatives that are more visceral in providing entertainment for men these days, from video games to movies to t.v to sports.  (Stuart Stockton)

I think one reason is the old stereotype that men are more visual than women and a page full of words just doesn’t turn us on (not meant the way it sounds). Given some free time, men would rather watch TV, a movie, work in the yard, or at the very least, peruse a magazine. Generally speaking (very generally), men’s attention span is shorter than women; men want action, not words; and please oh please don’t bore me with details. (Mike Dellosso)

If a weapon is used, men like details.  They want to know what kind it is, for what use it is designed, its range, what kind of bullets, etc.  For many women readers, a gun is a gun.  It shoots, it kills.  Enough said.  I notice when reading male writers that they go into detail about distance, equipment, cars, setting, buildings, etc.  Women don’t really care so much about those kinds of details.  There is simply a basic difference in the way men and women are hard-wired and those differences extend to their taste in fiction. (Karen Young)

Another obvious factor is the way books are marketed and who buys books in the first place.

Statistics of who buys books doesn’t account for the fact that women buy many novels that men read. By the same logic, we’d have to say that more women eat food, since more women shop at grocery stores.Athol Dickson)

Women are the dominate force in most churches.  In the churches I go into women outnumber men two and three to one.Thus, a lot more women are looking for Christian fiction than men. Ace Collins)

We continuously hear data that women buy more novels than men. Now, women can buy novels for the men in their lives. And they do. I’m not sure it is difficult to get men to read, generally speaking. I have a lot of male readers, even with my female protagonists. (Brandliyn Collins)

Beyond these obvious factors it isn’t quite as clear as to what separates male and female readers. There is a valid argument that men do lean more toward the rugged action hero and see Christian fiction as too “touch-feely”.

It is not difficult at all to get men to read—they are reading now.  What they aren’t reading are Christian novels, which have often had too much self-exploration and sentimentality for the male reader.  When there are really great novels for men, like those written by Steven James, there is a bit of a General Motors problem—they can fix the quality, but they are guilty by association with their failings in the past.(Steve Oates)

If we aren’t careful that would lead us to think that all men want is the Sgt Rock kind of main character. Several successful writers of Christian suspense disagree.

The characters need to be ones that men can fully identify with.  Thus we have to have leads who have flaws and have difficultly at times drawing the line between right and wrong.  In other words, life is a bit of a struggle for them and at times they are lost.  That is the way real life is and that is something I think men will identify with. (Ace Collins)

Men (and women?) want to be able to identify with the protagonist of any story. I’m sorry (really, I am, especially if I go stepping on toes again), but I can’t identify with an FBI agent who’s six three, has a thick shock of dark chocolate hair, square jaw, perfect teeth, and broad shoulders that taper to a trim waist. But I can identify with an average Joe auto mechanic struggling to find his soul and his courage and getting beat up every day by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And if I can identify with the protagonist and the world he lives in, I’ll read it cover to cover. … Seriously, though, some real, flawed, I’m-doing-the-best-I-can-and-it-never-seems-like-enough guys is refreshing to see in fiction, especially when they conquer their weakness, find their soul, and emerge a changed person. Maybe if there were more of those kind of protagonists, the kind normal guys can identify with, there would be more male readers (Mike Dellosso)

Regarding the “strong” part, a thought. Take my last adult suspense release, Exposure. The protagonist, Kaycee Raye, is ridden with fears—of heights, the dentist, being watched, claustrophobia, bees. So you could say she’s “weak.” But I say no. A flawed protagonist, a protagonist dealing with lots of issues, isn’t “weak.” She’s burdened. It’s how she deals with all the challenges that arise from those flows that makes her strong or weak. If she fights them, if she does her level best to survive and overcome in a very difficult, often life-threatening situation, she is strong. (Bradilyn Collins)

Personally, I think the main problem is we aren’t teaching our boys to read and we aren’t putting good books into the hands of men who might read if they knew of the options available.