Are there too few boy protagonists? (This week in books)

This week! Books!

First up, I have rare availability for editing and coaching in the month of December! For those who have tried previously to book a slot and saw nothing available, now’s a great time.

Meanwhile, the interesting articles really piled up in the past two weeks. Let’s get to it.

An Underrated Reason Boys Are Reading Less (gift link) – Sophia Nguyen, The Atlantic – In 2026, girl protagonists in middle grade (8-12 year olds) outnumbered boys by 2-1, and in realistic fiction 3-1. If any editors out there would like to buy my middle grade novel featuring a boy protagonist, you know where to find me.

The Booker Prize Gets Its First ‘Bona Fide’ Science Fiction Winner (gift link) – Alex Marshall, New York Times – M. John Harrison’s dystopian tale The End of Everything won the Booker, the first science fiction winner.

‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ Book 6 Breaks Sarah J. Maas’ Release Day Record With 1.7 Million Copies Sold – Jennifer Maas, Variety – Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Splintered Harmony is flying off the shelves.

‘Gatsby’ Police Procedural With Gender Twist In Works At NBC From Jake Coburn & Jason Tracey – Matt Grobar, Deadline – I won’t pretend to understand what this headline means. The plot description in the article doesn’t clear things up.

You Must Be a Model! Yes, and an Author, Too. (gift link) – Ash Wu, New York Times – The fashion world’s fascination with books and authors continues apace, as brands are now employing some authors as models.

South Korea’s Latest Viral Youth Trend Is Reading Books (gift link) – Thu-Huong Ha and Sohee Kim, Bloomberg – The kids in South Korea are reading the books.

A Day to Remember – Michael Cader, Publishers Lunch – Congrats to Michael Cader for twenty-five years of Publishers Marketplace!

iPage Is Not Your Inventory – A Field Guide to Getting Your Book into Bookstores – Brooke Warner – The leader of hybrid publisher She Writes Press has a solid deep dive into distribution, the process of getting books onto bookstore shelves, and how self-published authors can navigate the process.

Like many authors, I’m bombarded by scam fan mail. I wasn’t prepared for what would happen when I wrote back – Joe Dunthorne, The Guardian – Another look into the rampant scams targeting authors.

Writing Scams Are Reaching a Whole New Level of Awful – Jane Friedman – Seriously though, these scams are getting very, very sophisticated. It’s so important to be on high alert.

The AO3 Outage and the Fanfiction Industrial Complex – Katy Hershberger, Publishers Lunch – An outage at fan fiction megasite AO3 is drawing attention to just how huge it is, with 18 million works on file, and industry insiders are speculating on where the writers and readers will now go in the meantime.

Translated Fiction Is a Booming Business in the UK (gift link) – Andrew Dickson, Bloomberg – Literature in translation is on the rise in the UK.

Authors Can Defend Against AI Allegations With ‘Paper Trail’ Tools. Is It Enough? – Miles Klee, Wired – In the latest dystopian turn with AI witch hunts, authors are now documenting their paper trail and “proving” they’re writing their book to guard against future accusations of AI-generated writing.

When Writing Discipline Becomes Self-Punishment: What to Do Instead – Marni Freedman, Jane Friedman – Some writers are diligent to a fault, and burn out or psych themselves out with ideas on what they “should” be doing. Here’s some advice on how to escape the spiral.

Tastemaking American Fiction Editor Gary Fisketjon Dies at 72 – Sam Spratford, Publishers Weekly – Hugely influential editor Gary Fisketjon, who edited the likes of Cormac McCarthy and Donna Tartt, passed away at 72.

RIP, Salon.com – Laura Miller, Slate – Hard to imagine an internet without Salon.com, but it shut down last week.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J. Maas
2. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
3. The Hollow by Michael Connelly
4. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
5. Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. In the Shadow of Eight by Collin Gosselin
2. Blockers by Michael Lewis
3. Friends, Lovers, and Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
4. The Gales of November by John U. Bacon
5. My Book of Days by Eric Dane

Young adult hardcover:

1. The Last King of Faerie by Cassandra Clare
2. Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
3. The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth
4. Sharpest Court by Kiera Azar
5. Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The Wild Zone by Rick Riordan and Annabelle Oh
2. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
3. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
4. Building 903 by Lois Lowry
5. Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How to list your publishing credits (or lack thereof) in a query letter
• Will you ever buy mostly e-books? (20th annual poll)

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Threads, Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter

And finally:

The Lost World of Aquaterra (gift link) – Toby Lester, The Atlantic – For much of human history, sea levels were two hundred feet lower than they are now, meaning much of the secrets of the past are buried in the ocean.

Have a great weekend!

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Photo: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY