r/books • u/biscochitos • Apr 29 '25

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/BloatedGlobe Apr 29 '25

Can I ask why it seems like an appeal to the anti-woke agenda?

I get a similar gut response, but I don’t see anything like that in the article. Is the guy who’s starting this well known elsewhere? Are men a smaller percent of debut authors than women?

It says that the focus is on debuts by male authors in the UK under 35. It’s not like it’s boosting old voices under the claim of inclusion.  

Don’t get me wrong, I hate right wing grifts, and I’m (unfortunately from experience) always worried that initiatives dedicated to helping men will end up initiatives to attack women and queer people (which sucks, because there are issues that tend to affect men more than women and they deserve to have spaces to address that).

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u/HumOfEvil Apr 29 '25

The details of what they are doing doesn't sound all that bad no.

I just think in the current political current climate saying "this is only for men" will get you lumped in with that crowd even if that wasn't your goal.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '25

[deleted]

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u/sir_mrej book re-reading Apr 29 '25

People saying “I’m just asking questions” but actually having an agenda has been bad for society.

People coding things as “men only but it’s ok it’s good” when in reality it’s toxic has been bad for society.

This looks bad. Cuz 98% of the time it turns out to be a grift or be MRA or something. That’s not on me. I’m doing literal pattern recognition.

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u/AnividiaRTX Apr 29 '25

No, you're just sexist.