In a fascinating study shared by The Reading Room, men were found to be quicker to judge a book they’re reading than women are.
Study by Jellybooks
The study was performed by Jellybooks, who used a bit of JavaScript in eBooks that measured reading habits of volunteers. By breaking down that data, they Jellybooks determined that men stopped reading books at an earlier point than women did. This suggests that men are quicker to decide whether they like a book.
Interestingly, the study shows no notable difference in the completion rates of most types of books. In other words, women and men were equally likely to toss a book aside before finishing it – but men made that decision having read fewer pages.
One way of looking at this is to say that women give books more of a chance than men. On the flip side, it also means that men are more likely to stick by a book once they’re a certain portion of the way through it.
This present a unique challenge for writers. In Jellybooks founder Andrew Rhomberg’s analysis, writers have only 20 to 50 pages to capture [male readers’] attention.
Interestingly enough, all of these conclusions apply more or less equally to all types of books – with the notable exception of books that deal with feelings, which include books about emotions like grief, loss and love, but also books about relationships in general and romance in particular. On these books, men’s completion rates dipped below women’s.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the gender of the author doesn’t seem to matter – only that of the reader.
You can check out Rhomberg’s full write-up of his company’s results over at Digital Book World.
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Fascinating stuff. As I think someone else has already said, it would be interesting to see the effect of age, because I know I’m less willing to persist as I get older. All the more reason to hook the reader early on.
Thanks for sharing, Nicholas
I promise to share if I come across an age-related study 🙂
Interesting. It will be interesting to see their report on the influence of age in completion of books.
True!
Actually, these results don’t surprise me. But it’s nice to have validation.
The benefits of research 🙂
Nicholas, never thought about gender reader preference when writing my personal book. Something to think about. Interesting post. Yep, I’ll need readers! ? Elizabeth
It was interesting to share, but I wouldn’t change anything in my writing because of it 😉
Hm-m … I give a book a couple of pages … maybe the first chapter. If it hasn’t hooked me by then, I’m gone … life is too short to read something all the way through if it doesn’t ‘grab’ me … that said there’s always the train-wreck effect. When something’s so bad, incredulity keeps me intrigued. (but that’s only if I have the time – which is mostly never 🙂 )
Lol – so, the worse the book, the better it is? 😀
Seriously though, I know what you mean. When I browse through a wide selection of possible buys, 2 pages can already be too long.
Well, there’s worse, and then there’s worse-erest! 🙂
Perhaps not surprising.
I guess. Even 20-50 seems too generous. The surprise is the difference between men and women.
I actually think that 20-50 pages is generous, Nicholas. That gives an author quite a bit of time to snag a reader. I used to finish every book I started, but my time is so crunched now that I no longer do that. Reading time is precious and if a book doesn’t grab me, I move on, almost always by page 50. Interesting statistics.
Indeed. I, too, would be grateful for anyone sticking past the first couple of pages – or, indeed, as few as appear in a typical Amazon “Look Inside” feature.
I suppose those first few pages are the first hurdle, Nicholas, but once the book is purchased, it seems 20-50 pages should be enough to prove a book’s merits. I’m happy with that 🙂
The only book I’ve given up on is Wuthering Heights. I soldiered on until half-way, forlornly hoping that something would actually happen. Utterly tedious. I wish I’d binned it after 20 pages because it didn’t get any better. Maybe the second half picked up but, judging by the first, probably not.
I tried reading this on the back of other Victorian/Gothic novels such as Frankenstein, A Tale of Two Cities and Dracula, which were all excellent. I have no idea why Wuthering Heights has such a fan base. Hours of my reading life wasted!
I hang my head in shame, but I confess I’ve never managed to read it myself! And this from a man who loved War and Peace so much that’s he’s read it a couple of times 🙂
I am so glad it’s not just me! 🙂
I suspect there are others, too. Just don’t tell anyone 😉
This made me think about whether or not I was likely to give up on a book. To be honest, I have rarely done so. If I bother to get a particular book, I tend to stick with it to the end, even if the beginning is disappointing.
Best wishes, Pete.
You probably have a rather good selection process, then 🙂
I used to generally buy books by the same small group of authors. Once I had enjoyed one, I would usually find that most of the others were up to standard.
Ah, that makes perfect sense 🙂
I wonder if there is a national cultural aspect to this study. I know from Cinema that Americans will judge a film within the first five minutes, while Europeans will wait until the film is over before passing judgment on it.
I’m certain there will be one. Sadly, this particular research doesn’t examine that.
The results are not surprising. Men and women think differently and want different things from books. There’s a large grey area where some books are loved by both genders. I won’t change my writing style to please the interest of quick-judging men. I write the stories I want to read; if others enjoy them too, that’s wonderful.
Lol – it’s as I said earlier: readers. Who needs ’em 😀
Not much of a window. I wonder if anyone has done a similar study for different age groups too.
That would be interesting. I suspect the younger you are, the less time you spend on a book. Which seems counter-intuitive somehow, doesn’t it?
Yes and no. Younger people tend to have more activities. When you’re older, there’s work and maybe 1-2 hobbies. Also, younger people might read less in response to all of the forced reading from school.
Interesting, Nicholas. It’s about the same thing we continue to hear. You have to grab the reader’s attention early. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 — Suzanne
Well said 🙂
Fascinating stats – in my case probably quite accurate. I have read books that are sooooo dull I was almost falling asleep, but at the same time I want to give a fair review of the book; so I at least try to complete it. However, there have been times when I just couldn’t complete the book, usually for a number of reasons: ghastly characters that are so flat they may as well be card-board cut-outs, a really dull plot-line or the formatting/editing/proof-reading are so bad that the book is unreadable. Great post 😀
Thanks! 😀
Wow…no pressure. :/
Meh, readers. Who needs ’em? 😀
lmao – right, who indeed. 😀