and I'm worried. I feel like I'm ordering heavy on the paranormal romance (i.e. vampires) side. Not enough books of interest to teen boys. Not enough contemporary fiction. So I'm going to separate the list by genre and see what we come out with. Bearing in mind possible changes throughout the year, etc.
- 25 Paranormal Romance with brooding.
- 11 realistic/contemporary boy fiction (including funny books about boys) This is not bad, although I'd be happy to add more funny books.
- 11 mystery/thriller that's boy-oriented or at least gender neutral
- 9 contemporary realistic fiction for girls (including anything body image related)
- 8 Gossip Girls/Cliqueish
- 8 girl-oriented fantasy (come on, how many guys read Hale?) including fairy tale retellings
- 7 Horror/paranormal-type fantasy (including funny or nasty vampires) gender neutral or boy-oriented
- 5 Girls with psychic powers
- 5 Post-apocalyptic/dystopian (zombies optional)
- 4 Christian fiction (girly)
- 4 gender neutral "regular" fantasy
- 4 historical fiction (including reprints of classics)
- 4 girl-oriented mystery/thriller
- 3 dead girl books (including novels in verse)
- 3 sort of urban
- 2 High fantasy
- 2 steampunk
- 1 I can't remember exactly but it was boy-oriented
- 1 gender neutral sort of romantic contemporary fiction
Do I have too much fantasy overall? Should I get more contemporary, realistic fiction? I don't see or hear many boys reading this genre, they seem to prefer fantasies, thrillers, and mysteries. But I know some kids don't like contemporary at all.
Balance this out with half or more of my GN order list being boy-oriented (yes, lots of girls like Star Wars comics, but they're outnumbered by the boys).
Some thought is obviously required.
3 comments:
Ooh. This is a hard one. I go through phases. I'll stop ordering girly fiction until I run out for some of the girls. Good bang for the buck are Perma-Bound versions of the Simon Pulse Romantic comedies. They are good, about $10 each, and by the time they wear out, the girls are over them anyway. And if you have to make cuts, cut the girl mysteries and get boy ones. It's tough. Fantasy readers can be insatiable. I think you're doing a great job.
Thanks for the encouragement! I'll have to check out those romances - I was pulling stuff for Valentine's Day and realized we don't have many romances! Somebody at one point was really into dystopias and of course we hav plenty of fantasy from the 1980s. Sigh. I'm still playing with the paranormals list...I think I'll buy some of them in paperback, at least.
See my new release for something not at all paranormal. Angela 1: Starting Over is the first of three books set in a coastal Texas high school. The primary readership is probably middle schoolers. Boys who like to read should like it although the main character is a girl. If interested, look it up on my website. Thanks!
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