Some of this is pretty interesting - but did you consider quoting any stats or opinions from the UK? Do you think those might also be relevant in an article about a British publisher? (I also wonder: did you read much about Conduit books? Feels like you've misunderstood a few things. For instance, you say Conduit books has "a mission is to publish at the exclusion of any other identity"? It doesn't take too much research to discover that Jude Cook has stated the opposite.)
Yes, I think this article would benefit from thinking about the U.K. context of this press. I think it would be quite niche to set up a British independent press to print the work of Hispanic authors (although Foundry Editions specialises in Mediterranean novels in translation), for example - but Peeple Tree Press in the U.K. has been proudly running for over 40 years, publishing the work of Caribbean and Black British writing.
Why shouldn’t a UK press specialise in literary fiction by male writers, if that’s what they want to do? I think there’s a real benefit to specialist presses who are looking for particular approaches and voices, and who are willing to champion their authors with booksellers and the press, rather than expecting every book to be published by the big five, when that’s not always a particularly rewarding or enjoyable experience for the authors concerned.
The general thinkpiece complaints I recall recently were more specifically about a dearth of young men authors rather than men authors in general. Would you have stats for that cross-slice?
Minor probable typo that jumped out to me: in "Conduit Books is hardly the only causality" causality looks like it should be casualty.
I can't find the specific data on gender and age, but my impression is that there's a dearth of young authors of all genders, which I wrote about previously (link below). Although I would venture to guess that it can be harder for young men who want to be fiction writers simply because sometimes they are inclined to write fiction with only traditional masculine concerns (books that are usually described as "muscular" or contain lots of violence). They're writing for readers who aren't there. What's funny is sometimes you ask these young writers what fiction they read and it will be all the classics (Cormac, DFW, etc.) but nothing contemporary (the very thing they're frustrated about not being able to get published!).
All in all I still think class is still the driving factor in publishing as opposed to the sex of the author. But I still think we need to focus more away from the literary fiction market. Non-fiction especially in the form of food/cookery writing is still the best selling genre you've likely to come across due to package deals between publishers and other media! 😎
Some of this is pretty interesting - but did you consider quoting any stats or opinions from the UK? Do you think those might also be relevant in an article about a British publisher? (I also wonder: did you read much about Conduit books? Feels like you've misunderstood a few things. For instance, you say Conduit books has "a mission is to publish at the exclusion of any other identity"? It doesn't take too much research to discover that Jude Cook has stated the opposite.)
Yes, I think this article would benefit from thinking about the U.K. context of this press. I think it would be quite niche to set up a British independent press to print the work of Hispanic authors (although Foundry Editions specialises in Mediterranean novels in translation), for example - but Peeple Tree Press in the U.K. has been proudly running for over 40 years, publishing the work of Caribbean and Black British writing.
Why shouldn’t a UK press specialise in literary fiction by male writers, if that’s what they want to do? I think there’s a real benefit to specialist presses who are looking for particular approaches and voices, and who are willing to champion their authors with booksellers and the press, rather than expecting every book to be published by the big five, when that’s not always a particularly rewarding or enjoyable experience for the authors concerned.
The general thinkpiece complaints I recall recently were more specifically about a dearth of young men authors rather than men authors in general. Would you have stats for that cross-slice?
Minor probable typo that jumped out to me: in "Conduit Books is hardly the only causality" causality looks like it should be casualty.
I can't find the specific data on gender and age, but my impression is that there's a dearth of young authors of all genders, which I wrote about previously (link below). Although I would venture to guess that it can be harder for young men who want to be fiction writers simply because sometimes they are inclined to write fiction with only traditional masculine concerns (books that are usually described as "muscular" or contain lots of violence). They're writing for readers who aren't there. What's funny is sometimes you ask these young writers what fiction they read and it will be all the classics (Cormac, DFW, etc.) but nothing contemporary (the very thing they're frustrated about not being able to get published!).
(thanks for reading and for the typo catch)
https://dearheadofmine.substack.com/p/where-are-all-the-young-writers
Wow, finally a piece that has some stats! Thank you (seriously)!
All in all I still think class is still the driving factor in publishing as opposed to the sex of the author. But I still think we need to focus more away from the literary fiction market. Non-fiction especially in the form of food/cookery writing is still the best selling genre you've likely to come across due to package deals between publishers and other media! 😎
This is fascinating. Very helpful in understanding landscape as I develop the target audience portion of my proposal!