Perhaps it’s time for publishers of literary fiction by female authors that might appeal to men to publish these books with two covers, one designed to appeal to women and won directed at men. It’s certainly been done with albums and CDs over the years (not for gender purposes, just for marketing, to create collectibles, etc.). Men who are interested in climate change or science in general might be more likely to read Barbara Kingsolver’s excellent Flight Behavior if it didn’t have an orange cover with little metallic flower/leaf-like objects (suggesting the monarch butterflies that are central to the story).

Here’s a recent discussion of this and related matters from the website of UK publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson:

http://www.wnblog.co.uk/2013/01/why-men-dont-read-books-written-by-women/#comment-9622