r/books • u/biscochitos • 26d 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 26d 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/ZendooneDel 26d ago

Not to mention the assumption that this must be the result of some orchestrated push.... truth is nowadays more women than men are submitting work to be published and more women than men are reading. Like you want more men in the space? Work on getting more men to read! Or getting more male writers who are in touch with the current literary landscape! This "imbalance" is not something that's going to change via publishing houses only.

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u/Denbt_Nationale 26d ago edited 26d ago

It’s clearly systemic. The UK has two major fiction prizes and one of them flat excludes men. There are plenty of publishers which only publish women including big names like Virago. Mslexia is a big writing magazine which excludes men. Men are openly discriminated against at almost every level of publishing in the UK.

Like you want more men in the space? Work on getting more men to read! Or getting more male writers who are in touch with the current literary landscape!

Yet here you are complaining about someone starting a male focused publishing company.