On female protags
Tamora Pierce writes about that thing with everybody saying that there’s not enough books with boys as protags. She doesn’t agree, of course, and this bit is actually quite interesting:
Why do publishers appear to publish so many books for girls? Because girls buy books. That’s it, clear and simple. Guys don’t. They take books out of the library, or they borrow books from girls, but they don’t buy. Not like girls do.
The person who commented on Moskowitz’s blog who mentioned the need for sex in books for teen boys is right. We also need it in books for teen girls. Too many of our teens are going into the world uninformed–we writers of girl heroes can and do manage to do some good there.
But make no mistake about it: there are still more books for guys out there than there are for girls. It’s fine that people write guy heroes. But please don’t knock those of us who know that being a girl, and a woman, is a lifelong fight, on the shelves and off. This debate comes up every ten years or so in publishing circles, and that it’s important not to work on the guys at the expense of the girls. Both need heroes, and both need books.
From the post Why I write girl heroes for the most part.