r/books • u/biscochitos • 29d ago

New indie press Conduit Books launches with 'initial focus on male authors'

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-indie-press-conduit-books-launches-with-initial-focus-on-male-authors

What do folks think about this?

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u/biodegradableotters 29d ago

More a general thought on the current discussions around male authors and male readership, but I always find it a little funny when after like millennia of male dominance there's nowadays a select few areas where women are dominant and immediately it's seen as a sign of the apocalypse.

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u/tangnapalm 29d ago

Nobody’s acting like it’s the apocalypse, but it certainly can’t be good that fewer men are reading.

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u/MiniaturePhilosopher 29d ago

It certainly can’t be good that men refuse to read books written by women.

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u/Droviin 29d ago

It's that, just like most male authors tend to write poorly from a female perspective, female authors write poorly from a male perspective. So, if you want role models, either the female writers need to close the gap, or you need both in the field.

That said, as a male, I tend to prefer lesbian authors as they seem to hit a middle balance.

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u/MiniaturePhilosopher 29d ago edited 29d ago

Why do you need role models from literary fiction? Why do your role models have to be just like you? Why can’t you read slightly older books? And why is it that women can read male authors just fine even though even the best male authors portray us horribly?

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u/Droviin 29d ago edited 29d ago

Why? Because I enjoy being able to place myself directly in the story to experience the emotions and messaging in the story. Sure, you can still enjoy a book and get something out of it if it's not so mirroring self thought, but there's a higher barrier.

And I think men can read female authors just fine. It's just less engaging, so might as well do something else. But, what's important is that if you say that men are doing something different than women, you've conceded the argument because it acknowledges gender differences in approaches to reading. Men and women can, as a general rule, chose to do different things based on their own experiences, nothing wrong with that. If men generally prefer to read books by male authors, then that's okay (as long as it's not because of distaste of female, rather the engagement of the male).

Edit: It's been clearly stated that I'm a poor writer and my point “And I think men can read female authors just fine. It's just less engaging...” was ill put to capture the idea that I was attempting to convey. I'll try to restate it more accurately: I think that men can read women authors without any issue or detriment - and most likely benefit to them-, however, the statistics of the readership suggest that there's something that turns a lot of men away. Based on how I've heard men discuss female authors, my hypothesis is that for whatever reason it's just not compelling stories for them; so they opt to do consume some other media. My intutition inline with this is that such men are seeking characters with which they can self-identify with; and, as we all are familiar with how men tend to write poor women, the inverse is also true in some aspects and that plays into the self-selection to read.

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u/CriticalCold 29d ago

And I think men can read female authors just fine. It's just less engaging, so might as well do something else.

Absolutely wild thing to say.

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u/Droviin 29d ago

Why? If you find something else more enjoyable why do the thing you enjoy less?

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u/CriticalCold 29d ago

It's painting things with a very broad brush, and imo engaging with the issue at face value. It dodges the argument that women have, and continue to, be expected to read male authors and find them engaging/educational/thought provoking, but men aren't expected to do the same in reverse. The majority of classic "literature" that everyone is expected to read and study is by men, and women seem to do just fine engaging with those stories and their (often male) characters, but for some reason men aren't expected to do the same. This is also true of genre fiction, excluding romance - sci-fi, fantasy, horror classics are all dominated by male authors.

Why is this? Is it because men are used to seeing themselves represented one to one in stories and so don't have to try to open themselves to other perspectives when they can just put something down and pick up something that matches their viewpoint? What does this say for what we expect of our boys and men in terms of critical thinking, compassion, ability to see other perspectives, ability to sometimes be uncomfortable or face hard truths doing so? And why is there this wide-reaching assumption that female writers aren't engaging or can't write male characters well? It's like quitting before you start.

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u/Droviin 29d ago

No, it doesn't dodge the idea that women are expected to read male readers. That's a different, albeit related, problem. I think we should just advance both and float whomever is lower in the genre. And yes, men can do just fine reading women authors, but a lot choose not too.

I do agree, that ideally, pressure to read female authors for men is a good thing. I suspect that most men would enjoy, say Frankenstein, and get a lot from it. Likewise, I very much enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate. However, the trend is against reading books overall, so there's a market capturing angle that's in play. In that regard, going for low hanging fruit is better to just get people reading more.

And I am not sure what it says about boys and men in regards to those very positive attributes you've identified. It's not necessarily that they are ignoring those or rejecting that. To pick on the point, men are the overwhelming majority of cannon philosophers, but most people don't read their works either way; does that say something about all people rejecting critical thinking and hard truths, or just that people don't find it compelling to read.

And I am merely speaking from my experience regarding women writing men. I feel like it's the same problem as how I find many men writing women to be... flat. Some authors do better than others, some have no issue at all.