For women only... what eBooks?

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But getting off of romance, what else do women enjoy reading that men might not read nearly as much?

Well, I like a good needlework book, myself. And I don't suppose that many men have a collection of knitting patterns.

Conversely, I don't know many women who read military history for fun.

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Well, I like a good needlework book, myself. And I don't suppose that many men have a collection of knitting patterns.

Conversely, I don't know many women who read military history for fun.

No but before my eyesight deteriorated and my hands got worse, I had a big collection of Cross Stitch Charts , and Loved to Stitchm Just a shame I can't now .....any eBooks on Cross Stitch ???

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That is true that it is many more women then men who read the type of romance as sold by Harlequin. An aunt of my wife is well into Mills & Boon which is like the UK version of Harlequin.

But getting off of romance, what else do women enjoy reading that men might not read nearly as much?

I don't want to derail the thread too much--the topic is about women's preferences in erotica/romance, and I've seen that shoved aside by men too many times to be happy with "well, what *else* do you like to read?"

There's a category of mainstream novels that are marketed to, and mostly bought by, women; I don't know what to call them. Supermarket novels often with cutout sections on the front cover; supernatural-horror-esque novels. (VC Andrews, and things with fangs on the cover. I don't read them. Anymore. Possibly because they often don't have non-DRM'd ebook formats, possibly because I'd rather be reading erotica or sci-fi, and now both of those are available in large enough quantities that I don't run out.)

Parenting books. Homemaker books. Which get annoyingly cliched, but the market is still there.

Most of the publishing market is by men, for men, and women are supposed to adapt their interests inside the set of what men are writing for each other. Romance, and now erotica, are the only literary genres that women's preferences have a strong influence on.

[Davimee]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Parenting books. Homemaker books. Which get annoyingly cliched, but the market is still there.

Most of the publishing market is by men, for men, and women are supposed to adapt their interests inside the set of what men are writing for each other. Romance, and now erotica, are the only literary genres that women's preferences have a strong influence on.

Yes, there are other genres of books I am interested in that are mostly read by women, but I didn't bother bringing them up, to stay on topic here. Parenting is a good one, though, as I think (although I could be wrong!) that's mostly read by women. Diet & exercise would be another one that I'm guessing is mostly a genre read by women, but again, I could be completely wrong on that one, since I'm not a man and don't really know what kinds of books they like.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Woem do read books other then romance/erotica/porn. To me this says that you think women have really poor taste in books. It's a slight on women (IMHO).

I agree with this one... We're living in a enlightened world (or so I always make myself believe) where actions and tastes don't get put on a gender.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Well said. Sometimes though I don't think it's a good idea to categorize what's for men and what's for women as a lot of things work for both.

Yep.

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Come on Jon, he just knows that women are the people reading these books. You're more insulting by saying we have poor taste. When are you going to stop degrading romance?

So, men don't read those books? And all women do read those books? I personally never liked any of those romance books. If a book has a romance in it, or even erotic scenes, I don't mind if those things are only a minor part of the story.

[MaggieScratch]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Conversely, I don't know many women who read military history for fun.

*raises hand*

*looks around*

*puts hand down sheepishly*



Oh, and yes! Needlework books!

*I should add: mostly Napoleonic-era Age of Sail military history.

[Laura81]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That is true that it is many more women then men who read the type of romance as sold by Harlequin. An aunt of my wife is well into Mills & Boon which is like the UK version of Harlequin.

But getting off of romance, what else do women enjoy reading that men might not read nearly as much?

I'm willing to bet that men are less likely to read a book where a female is the main character. Would men read say... Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series as much as women would, probably not. Would men read it, yes, but not as much as women. Same goes for Jodi Picoult's books.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

So, men don't read those books? And all women do read those books? I personally never liked any of those romance books. If a book has a romance in it, or even erotic scenes, I don't mind if those things are only a minor part of the story.

No, I just mean that most of the people who read these books are women. I didn't feel like it was sexist for Robert to ask women about these books. They are the market for romance/erotica, whether they read them or not. I was much more insulted that Jon thinks that those who like romance/erotica have poor taste in books.

[QIbHom]

I read just about everything except romance (it has been awhile since I've read a Western, come to think of it), except for the very occasional lesbian romance. I do read erotica (and porn). What I seem to read the most on my PP is SciFi.

I no longer work a circ desk in a public library, but when I did, the most polite patrons who took out the most materials were romance readers. They'd check out 10 books a week and bring back 20 (because they'd run out, bought 10 and wanted to pass them along to other readers). So, while I don't read romance, I'd strongly recommend carrying a lot of it. If you can tap into that particular market, you'll have loyal people (yes, some men read romances) who consume a *lot* of books.

[Robertb]

Dear all:

SO many great comments. I guess I am just too old or something.

We definitely do not mean porn at all... but I was recently amazed when I leafed through a female erotica book we have that surprised me. I had expected kind of "soft core"... The UPS guy with rippled muscles who the woman secretly lusted for. What I found is that female erotica gets pretty specific> toys, spankings, certain rings, gags, blindfolds and more in relatively vivid detail.

Rest assured that the new website is NOT a den of roped and tied UPS guys at the hands of a dominatrix. BUT, we want to make this amenable to all interests. Yes: mystery, espionage, romance, adventures, non-fiction, needlepoint, spiritual, how-to and science fiction will all be there. In short, we will not censor anything.

Now, WHEN this certain website is released... it will not be perfect. We have a ton of eBooks on there for everything from cooking to exercising to dieting to UPS guys built like Stonehenge. I am heavily into action/adventure fiction. I love Dirk Pitt and Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griiffon, and all that sort of genre. There will be a ton of everything on there. BUT... we will be adding to the site. I want to add eBooks from Harlequin and from "Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books". I view this as a constant work in progress. Yes, almost all of the latest Bestsellers from the New York Times will be there. Yes, I personally monitor those New York Times lists weekly and we add those titles. Eventually, I want to go after everything from Environmental eBooks to books in langauges other than English.

Thank you, all, for the ideas.

[Davimee]

Robertb, how will the price of the books be determined? Will they be list price, or will it be possible to get books cheaper? The reason I ask is because as I've been looking through different ebook stores, I see prices all over the map. Kindle is usually several dollars less than their competition, although I realize being the Big Bad Giant they can keep their prices lower. I do wish they sold ebooks in other formats, but that's off topic... anyway, Sony bookstore usually seems to be higher than others, and Kobo seems to have really good coupons they send out in emails. It may be too soon for you to know how the pricing of books will be handled, but I was just curious. Thanks!

[MaggieScratch]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Rest assured that the new website is NOT a den of roped and tied UPS guys at the hands of a dominatrix.

*blinks*

Well, when you put it THAT way, Robert...

[Elfwreck]

[QUOTE=Robertb;811618What I found is that female erotica gets pretty specific> toys, spankings, certain rings, gags, blindfolds and more in relatively vivid detail.[/QUOTE]

If you only saw "relatively" vivid detail, you were reading the middle range.

WHEN this certain website is released... it will not be perfect. We have a ton of eBooks on there for everything from cooking to exercising to dieting to UPS guys built like Stonehenge.

A good interface and a good search engine are *much* more important than extensive content. 500 books that are well-formatted and well-indexed makes for a better store than 15,000 books, half of which are google's auto-OCR'd freebies, and the other half with poor metadata, and a search engine that requires the author's first and last name with accurate punctuation. (If a search for JA Konrath doesn't turn up books by J. A. Konrath, that's bad.)

An e-store doesn't work like brick-and-mortar, where if you have Great Stuff, customers will put up with lousy arrangements. If they can't find the great stuff on the site--or if the layout bothers them--they'll click away and not come back.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Davimee

Robertb, how will the price of the books be determined? Will they be list price, or will it be possible to get books cheaper? The reason I ask is because as I've been looking through different ebook stores, I see prices all over the map. Kindle is usually several dollars less than their competition, although I realize being the Big Bad Giant they can keep their prices lower. I do wish they sold ebooks in other formats, but that's off topic... anyway, Sony bookstore usually seems to be higher than others, and Kobo seems to have really good coupons they send out in emails. It may be too soon for you to know how the pricing of books will be handled, but I was just curious. Thanks!

Dear Davimee:

The pricing is still being adjusted... downward. The intent with us is to be the best value. Kindle has great prices... but that is because they can buy straight from the publisher and cut out the middleman (content distributor) entirely. However, they also sell thousands of eBooks a day. All I can say is that we are looking at making almost nothing at the start and building demand. We did go through a middleman... but we are not trying to come out high and work lower. I pray to God that people will find this new website refreshing!!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

If you only saw "relatively" vivid detail, you were reading the middle range.



A good interface and a good search engine are *much* more important than extensive content. 500 books that are well-formatted and well-indexed makes for a better store than 15,000 books, half of which are google's auto-OCR'd freebies, and the other half with poor metadata, and a search engine that requires the author's first and last name with accurate punctuation. (If a search for JA Konrath doesn't turn up books by J. A. Konrath, that's bad.)

An e-store doesn't work like brick-and-mortar, where if you have Great Stuff, customers will put up with lousy arrangements. If they can't find the great stuff on the site--or if the layout bothers them--they'll click away and not come back.

Dear Elfwreck:

You are totally right. A good Search Engine is much more important! WHY? Because you can always add new content BUT if you make things awkward for customers you likely will not be able to correct it later and win them back.

This will have a good search engine. You can search under title or author for either Pay eBooks or Google Free Library. For example, if you want pay eBooks and do a search... it will ONLY search the Pay eBooks. There is also one button that brings up all bestsellers and nothing but the bestsellers. Likewise, if you want business eBooks you have that broken down still further in sub-categories. So, if you do not have a title in mind you can see the titles specific to the sub category you wish.

WHEN the announcement is made I will go over all of this. Rest assured we agree with your points!