From @BayView's link in a different thread: http://mashable.com/2012/08/26/reading-stats-infographic/ Keep in mind also this is from eBook analyses but I think that is where the market is going. While it bother's me Amazon spies on whether or not I finish a novel, I can't say the data gathered isn't useful. That's good to know. It also turns out men buy more books with male protagonists but currently books with female protagonists are more likely to be best sellers. Analyzing the market matters if sales are important to you. I don't mean one needs to join the copycat market with shiny vampires and female warriors. But once your book is written, it helps to know the market to know how to reach those readers.
If you are going it alone as an indie, you have to learn about the marketplace. Going the indie route is the same as starting a business; you wear many hats. In any business, it is best to know who your customer is. In any successful business, you cater to your customer. This pov often rubs writers the wrong way. You can write whatever you want, but will your readers find you, or will you reach them? It certainly does help to know what market you are writing for so your novel delivers to that market.
I don't think the importance of knowing the market is limited to indie authors. I'm mostly traditionally published, and my publishers won't buy my books if they don't think they can sell them, so it's in my best interest to know what the market's doing, too.
I sure didn't mean to imply you, as published traditionally, have no reason to know your market. We all benefit from knowing our audience. I pointed out indie authors because, with the ease and low cost of self publishing an ebook, many newer writers often overlook the marketing aspect of publishing. Indie authors have the additional burden of self promotion where a traditional publisher is the marketer for the most part. This is not to say that published authors do not self promote to further their success.
Looking deeper, my OP link sites HipType, and that site has gone out of business. If one is going to look at marketing data it doesn't instill confidence that the link cites data from a defunct website. I'll look for some more analyses. Find another positive to go with your male protags.
Weird results - literature is the top seller but not is not the preference of men or women? 30% People will stop reading by page 50? Scary, but as a reader I've been there.
In the body of the article they say, "Men prefer books of a historical nature while women opt for romance and literature." The problem with that analysis is it doesn't define the categories other than with a single title. As for stopping by page 50, for me it's because a lot of books I start don't capture my interest, and by page 50 I no longer want to read the book. But other books I can't put down and want more when I finish.
This is encouraging, for me anyway, writing YA with a female protag: Most Americans don’t read fiction, but younger people and women are more likely to. The article doesn't give the details I'm looking for but it had a few interesting things to say.
