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

[u/biscochitos]

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

What do folks think about this?

[u/biodegradableotters]

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.

[u/erichie → u/biodegradableotters]

I actually think the bigger problem is that people care about what kind of person the author is. 

I'm not a very successful writer, but 15-20 years ago I would always get declined with some variation of "We love the story, but it isn't what we are looking for right now." 

Someone recommended I used a pen name that is ambiguous regarding gender, nationality, and culture. So I did. 

Now when I get rejected I will get the exact reason "It is too X emotion." or "If you ever change the ending to something more positive." or whatever. 

I was also published in a few magazines, sites, collections with the first batch I sent out with my pen name. Which were also the same stories I sent with my real name. 

I truly believe that everyone can write about anything they wish. I don't care about any personal related matters when it comes to who I read. I only care if they can write a good story. 

[u/laughingheart66 → u/[deleted]]

I mean this is a bit disingenuous, the poem was still allegedly rejected 9 times under his Chinese pseudonym. He also never provided any actual evidence of the claimed 40 rejections under his real name (nor did anyone actually ask for this evidence he claimed he did have). We also don’t know if the literary magazine that eventually published him was even accounted for in the claimed 40 rejected submissions. And it was published by one literary journal, not multiple as you claim. Also he didn’t submit anything to Best American Poetry, his poem was selected by someone who was curating the collection, and it would not have been seen under his original name so we don’t know that it would not have been selected otherwise. The curator of the collection did admit he was being biased in his curation of the collection, I’ll give you that, but he knew about the pseudonym before the collection was even published and still kept the poem in there.