this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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I was going through “fantasy books” on amazon and was surprised to see that most of them are written by women, and the ratio is not even close. I was kind of expecting the opposite.

Does anyone know why this might be the case?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, because it's generally one genre, with fantasy > romantic fantasy > horny fairy romantic fantasy > horny polyamorous fairy romantic fantasy becoming increasingly niche sub-genres.

And I do think comparing "best-sellers" versus open Amazon search is important to point out. "Best-sellers" are generally going to be released through a publishing house with the resources and recognition that comes with it. An Amazon search might kick up a lot of self-published books, especially if OPs algorithm is sending them that way. And one very sensible explanation why women would be over-represented among self-published fantasy books... because historically men got more of the "best sellers" / publishing house backed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You mentioned tons of fantasy subgenres, but the one I was singling out is sci-fi, which is not something classical fantasy fans are usually fans of.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I'm saying the industry generally bundles them together as the top level genre. So awards and funding is first considered at the sci-fi/fantasy combined level.

Again, the point was to note the difference between the major genre level where the money and awards are (sci-fi/fantasy, dominated by men) versus the possibility that OP is seeing a sample influenced by The Algorithm (potentially niche sub-genres, potentially more self-published books).

Not trying to make some political comment here, just pointing out some reasons OP might be seeing demographics they didn't expect.