New indie press Conduit Books launches with ‘initial focus on male authors’

Novelist and critic Jude Cook has launched Conduit Books, a new independent press that will publish literary fiction and memoir, “focusing initially on male authors”.

From spring 2026, the aim is to publish three “outstanding” novels, short story collections, or memoirs a year, launching with “the emphasis on male writers”. The books will be French-flapped trade paperbacks. The press is actively looking for a launch book, preferably a debut novel by a male UK novelist under 35, and is running a month-long open submissions window on their website.

The team currently comprises publisher Jude Cook, and freelance editorial reader and designer Steve Leard.

The focus of the publishing is in response to “a situation where stories by new male authors are often overlooked, with a perception that the male voice is problematic”, according to Cook. However, he emphasised that Conduit Books “doesn’t seek an adversarial stance”, but “to augment the incredible work of small presses everywhere, some of which are exclusively publishing work by women, with a space for male authors to flourish”. 

Cook told The Bookseller: “There has never been an independent publisher that champions literary fiction by men. Which is not to say we won’t publish fiction by women in the future – but the emphasis at first will be on male authors.”

He added: “We believe there is ambitious, funny, political and cerebral fiction by men that is being passed by, not only by the Big Five publishing houses but by some independent presses too. Conduit Books seeks, in a modest way, to right this imbalance, though not in any militant sense – publishing is and should remain a broad church, which is why it’s always been a fertile environment for nurturing new literary talent, as well as supporting established names.”

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