I’ve been selling kids books at a large, independent bookstore for 35 years. A few very popular Middle Grade series are marketed to boys: besides Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, there’s Spy School, Alex Rider, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Wings of Fire (just to name the top brands).
However, the Young Adult has aggressively failed teenage boys since around the time that the fourth Eragon book was released. Besides Eragon and The Maze Runner franchise, a few other (mostly fantasy series were written by dudes, for dudes: The Alchemist, I Am Number Four, the Michael Vey books… But almost all of those are at least ten years old, and many of them are barely still in print (in some cases, it could be argued that their reputation and popularity took a hit because of bad movie adaptations).
There were actually several more series (GREAT ones, like the Alfred Kropp books, and Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series) that are no longer in print, and so completely memory holed that it almost seems like they never existed (except for when the odd copy turns up in a used bookstore).
There are theories (some conspiratorial) as to why this has happened… It’s definitely strange that, even though some of the “forgotten” series sold well enough at one time to justify publishing multiple installments, once their sales began to diminish, there haven’t really been any major attempts to replace them with something new.
Thanks to you, I picked up the first of Jeff Putnam’s Cole Harper series, and a couple of the books for boys published by Raconteur Press. I applaud them for taking steps in the right direction, and it frustrates me that the indie publishing and distribution model prevents those books from being available in indie bookstores. (They “COULD” be, but the discount and returns issues are big hurdles for my store’s book buyers to get over.)
One thing that we need to address is a tendency—and I’m as guilty of this as everyone who might take issue with what I’m about to say—for Boomers, Gen Xers (like me), and older Millennials to impose the things that we loved in our childhoods on today’s kids.
It worked for us: Indiana Jones and Star Wars were built on top of pulps and serials that our parents and grandparents grew up on.
But now we have a tricky problem (which deserves a LONG discussion): any and all of the currently-popular brands that boys and teens are into (Minecraft, Pokémon, D&D), have several shelves’ worth of licensed tie-in books that help to delay kids from branching out and exploring outside of the brands’ respective bubbles. (And that doesn’t even include fan fiction!) It’s the literary equivalent of the algorithm providing an endless grind of whatever one is into, so there’s no need to “discover.”
Yes, there were (and are) also a lot of Star Wars books, but it was pretty easy to get ahead of those, if you read them as they were coming out. Then an avid reader would be free look for something else…
And the Minecraft novels were written by “real” authors, so maybe they’re not completely unreadable, soulless cash-ins…
Anyway, my point is that anything we (as indie authors) come up with now is going to go directly head-to-head against franchises that are heavily marketed by large corporations, and that also have fandoms and communities that are more active and interactive than anything we had when we were growing up.
I don’t know if an Indiana Jones pastiche (even a well-written one, that *I* enjoyed) has a fighting chance of winning over a significant number of Chainsaw Man fans.
I sincerely hope that the indie efforts to fill a gaping hole in publishing succeed! The attempts that I’ve seen look promising, and some titles making Amazon’s bestseller lists is keeping me optimistic, but the important thing is that they resonate with their intended audience.
If some of the stories don’t make an impact (because they’re too much like 80s movies, they read like books that were written when Boomers were kids, etc.), I hope that lessons are learned, and further attempts pivot towards something new.
(BTW, back when I was on YALSA’s email list, occasionally some of the librarians would mention that a teen reader had asked for Bizarro Fiction…)
I want to compliment you on your clear-sighted opinions. (And your dedication to your faith! Very impressive! I assume you received a private school education. Let me know.) Your views enlighten many in this post-scientific and post- Christian world. The youth (those under 40) are terribly confused and unmoored.
Further, I talked my writing group into using your videos. The Rough Writers | Facebook. The one for aspiring scribblers, not the script-producing bunch.
You have inspired me in my rehabilitation. I am a family practice doctor with a massive head injury bleeding out of my Broca’s and Wernicke’s brain regions, the ones that enable the understanding of incoming speech and the ability to output speech.
Keep up the outstanding producing better communicators.
This is a great little episode. I have a series that I wrote for young boys. The first two are out the third is coming in January and the rest have been written. Check it out. inkworldsagas.com.
I’ve been selling kids books at a large, independent bookstore for 35 years. A few very popular Middle Grade series are marketed to boys: besides Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, there’s Spy School, Alex Rider, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Wings of Fire (just to name the top brands).
However, the Young Adult has aggressively failed teenage boys since around the time that the fourth Eragon book was released. Besides Eragon and The Maze Runner franchise, a few other (mostly fantasy series were written by dudes, for dudes: The Alchemist, I Am Number Four, the Michael Vey books… But almost all of those are at least ten years old, and many of them are barely still in print (in some cases, it could be argued that their reputation and popularity took a hit because of bad movie adaptations).
There were actually several more series (GREAT ones, like the Alfred Kropp books, and Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series) that are no longer in print, and so completely memory holed that it almost seems like they never existed (except for when the odd copy turns up in a used bookstore).
There are theories (some conspiratorial) as to why this has happened… It’s definitely strange that, even though some of the “forgotten” series sold well enough at one time to justify publishing multiple installments, once their sales began to diminish, there haven’t really been any major attempts to replace them with something new.
Thanks to you, I picked up the first of Jeff Putnam’s Cole Harper series, and a couple of the books for boys published by Raconteur Press. I applaud them for taking steps in the right direction, and it frustrates me that the indie publishing and distribution model prevents those books from being available in indie bookstores. (They “COULD” be, but the discount and returns issues are big hurdles for my store’s book buyers to get over.)
One thing that we need to address is a tendency—and I’m as guilty of this as everyone who might take issue with what I’m about to say—for Boomers, Gen Xers (like me), and older Millennials to impose the things that we loved in our childhoods on today’s kids.
It worked for us: Indiana Jones and Star Wars were built on top of pulps and serials that our parents and grandparents grew up on.
But now we have a tricky problem (which deserves a LONG discussion): any and all of the currently-popular brands that boys and teens are into (Minecraft, Pokémon, D&D), have several shelves’ worth of licensed tie-in books that help to delay kids from branching out and exploring outside of the brands’ respective bubbles. (And that doesn’t even include fan fiction!) It’s the literary equivalent of the algorithm providing an endless grind of whatever one is into, so there’s no need to “discover.”
Yes, there were (and are) also a lot of Star Wars books, but it was pretty easy to get ahead of those, if you read them as they were coming out. Then an avid reader would be free look for something else…
And the Minecraft novels were written by “real” authors, so maybe they’re not completely unreadable, soulless cash-ins…
Anyway, my point is that anything we (as indie authors) come up with now is going to go directly head-to-head against franchises that are heavily marketed by large corporations, and that also have fandoms and communities that are more active and interactive than anything we had when we were growing up.
I don’t know if an Indiana Jones pastiche (even a well-written one, that *I* enjoyed) has a fighting chance of winning over a significant number of Chainsaw Man fans.
I sincerely hope that the indie efforts to fill a gaping hole in publishing succeed! The attempts that I’ve seen look promising, and some titles making Amazon’s bestseller lists is keeping me optimistic, but the important thing is that they resonate with their intended audience.
If some of the stories don’t make an impact (because they’re too much like 80s movies, they read like books that were written when Boomers were kids, etc.), I hope that lessons are learned, and further attempts pivot towards something new.
(BTW, back when I was on YALSA’s email list, occasionally some of the librarians would mention that a teen reader had asked for Bizarro Fiction…)
Kristen,
I want to compliment you on your clear-sighted opinions. (And your dedication to your faith! Very impressive! I assume you received a private school education. Let me know.) Your views enlighten many in this post-scientific and post- Christian world. The youth (those under 40) are terribly confused and unmoored.
Further, I talked my writing group into using your videos. The Rough Writers | Facebook. The one for aspiring scribblers, not the script-producing bunch.
You have inspired me in my rehabilitation. I am a family practice doctor with a massive head injury bleeding out of my Broca’s and Wernicke’s brain regions, the ones that enable the understanding of incoming speech and the ability to output speech.
Keep up the outstanding producing better communicators.
Slai’nte,
Daniel Herlihy DO. (Retired)
Bestpossiblebrain@gmail.com
Adam McAllister: The Day a Navy Kid Finally Chose His Own Path
A life built on orders. A Seattle scout troop that changes everything. Adam’s story begins the moment he realizes he’s allowed to choose himself.
A Coming-of-Age Origin Story from The Great American Eagle Hunt Universe
Read Free:
https://thegreatamericaneaglehunt.com/2025/11/21/adam-mcallister-the-day-a-navy-kid-finally-chose-his-own-path/
Substack
https://americaneaglehunt.substack.com/
Hi Kristen,
This is a great little episode. I have a series that I wrote for young boys. The first two are out the third is coming in January and the rest have been written. Check it out. inkworldsagas.com.
Thanks,
Christopher Dean