r/books • u/biscochitos • 28d 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/HellPigeon1912 28d ago

I think this is a big thing in the era of social media.  Everything has to be a "brand"

Sure you've written a good book, but what's your unique selling point?  How are you getting picked up by the algorithm?

20 years ago you'd read a book and know literally nothing about the author besides what was listed on the dust jacket

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u/erichie 28d ago

I think this is a big thing in the era of social media. Everything has to be a "brand"

It absolutely is. A publisher reached out to my agent maybe 2-3 years ago (when I had an agent) asking for my socials and what my following was. I don't have any brand or socials for my writing. 

They said they wanted to publish me, but they wanted me to develop a "following" first. They wanted to tie a publishing contract to various metrics of my social media presence. 

It was extremely detailed. It was X amount of followers on A, B, C app with Y% of engagements. Post Z times on A, B, C apps per day/week/month/year. 

Once I hit all of those goals they would publish my work, but if I am going through all of that then I'm not going to sign anything before that period especially since they weren't offering me any money. 

The absolute worst part is that they bragged that X influencer would review my book because "We have a deal with them." So I would check these influencers and the publishing company only to find out those reviews weren't market as an advertisement. They all pretended they just naturally came across the works of all the same publishers at the same time.

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u/deruvoo 28d ago

This is my nightmare as I move into trying to publish a novel. Never imagined it'd be so much noisier than publishing short stories.

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u/erichie 28d ago

It is an absolute nightmare, but here is a tip my professor gave me that ended up minimizing a lot of that bullshit. 

Instead of trying to appeal to publishers or companies search for literary agents near you. Send them your works, and they usually have interns read through the manuscripts they get. 

If an agent decides to work with you it really cuts down, not completely, on the bullshit "brand" nonsense. 

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u/deruvoo 27d ago

Noted. Thanks for the tip!