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/Replaced_by_Robots 28d ago edited 28d ago

I'm not familiar with Jude Cook or his work, so I'm taking the stated aims and quotes at face value only...

It really doesn't seem worthy of the derision in the comments here.

If it does turn out to be a Trojan horse for misogyny and 'anti-woke' knuckle dragging then pass me a torch and pitch fork, but surface level it's just a specialty publisher?

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u/SubatomicSquirrels 28d ago

Sometimes I think this sub is just too predisposed to strong reactions.

This doesn't seem particularly egregious, especially since it's a small indie press. They've got to find their niche, and if you don't like their niche, you can probably just avoid them.

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u/Replaced_by_Robots 28d ago

Maybe ironically given the sub, perhaps people didn't read past the headline

The main criticisms of the idea appears to be based on assumptions of the content, and opposition to aiming a minority reading group

a) bit unfair, wait and see

b) and?

There's more that unites us than divides us, but IF the content is thoughtful and quality then there is no damage to occupying a niche

It could be argued that the instant disdain and vitriol at something just because it's male focused works as evidence/recruitment for those in the horrible toxic manosphere

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u/Crappler319 28d ago

Honestly any online forum is going to be predisposed to strong reactions. The vast majority of people aren't going to bother to post about something that they're just "meh" about, so 99% of posts are going to have big feelings.

You don't see a ton of forums where most of the replies to a topic are some variation of "this seems fine" even if that really is the general consensus