From Dystopian Britain to a New Social Media Horizon

Social Media Exodus: Why We're Betting on Bluesky

A very happy Friday to you Scribblers,

Did you catch our latest cover reveal this week?! From the Author of 'The Biggerers' Amy Lilwall brings an urgent dystopian tale of Britain's future next year... As rising seas threaten to engulf Britain, four lives are on the brink: Pinko, a privileged heir clinging to decadence; Jane, a working-class veterinary nurse racing to reunite her family; her pregnant teenage daughter Ashleigh, grappling with impending motherhood; and humble young artist Gavin.

With sanctuary beckoning across the Channel, each faces impossible choices. Who will they save? What will they sacrifice? Pre-order here (and Amy and I will both do happy dances, but will likely not put these on TikTok, sorry.)

A really interesting interview this week between two of our wonderful short story writers - Katy Wimhurst (‘Snapshots of the Apocalypse’) interviews SJ Bradley (‘Maps of Imaginary Towns’) about her collection.

3:AM: There are realistic and sci-fi/speculative stories in the collection. The latter tend to be about human rather than technological problems and often extrapolate from tendencies in our world. The first story, ‘Backstreet Nursery 2050’, for instance, explores a failing democracy and underfunded social services, set in the future. Do you think that speculative fiction sometimes offers a more powerful lens for interrogating contemporary concerns?

SJB: Definitely. ‘Backstreet Nursery’ and ‘Genus’, and some of the other more speculative stories, are basically concept-driven fiction. They’re led by me asking the question, “what if the Government was led by civil servants, instead of elected officials?” and trying to see what the outcome of that might be. In the aftermath of Brexit I kept hearing people say politicians should be held accountable for lying, and that they should get punished if they knowingly lie while they’re campaigning. Or that we should introduce a jury service style system for our politicians, instead of voting for them. I was really interested in those two ideas, and the story arose out of that. These questions can’t really be answered in realist fiction. It’s only by going full speculative that you can follow the question to its conclusion. Speculative fiction is also the only way we can envision a radically reorganised society and imagine what the problems of such a society might be. Even an idealist like me has to admit there might be some problems.

You can read the full interview at 3am Magazine here

I’ve been told ‘Christmas’ isn’t necessary to whisper anymore, so why not forward this gift guide to your spouse or friends with some heavy hints…

Xmas Bundle available here!

I’m looking into making tree planting an automatic option with every single book purchased via our website - watch this space!

Events

Plus event wise, we had some online tech dramas last week so we have rearranged our latest online offering: you can join us next Tuesday 26th of November for Alice Fowler’s book marketing session: Thinking Like a Journalist! Tickets here. The event will be recorded.

Or join us in person for the final event of the year, the Northern Fiction Alliance’s Winter Showcase at my fave, Blackwell’s Manchester! See you on Thu 12th of December from 6.30pm - Rosie Garland will perform a preview of her upcoming quirky folkloric collection, ‘Your Sons and Your Daughters are Beyond’, with copies available to buy! Tickets

Performances from us, Comma Press, Northodox Press and Saraband.

🚀 Social Media Evolution: Our Bluesky Journey

I was recently dragged kicking and screaming onto social media Bluesky - I made a personal profile there at the start of the year, and found myself not using it. I also found the writing/book community was fairly quiet then, and not many people seemed to be seeing my posts.

Then came the mass exodus from the now outwardly right-wing X.

Sadly, small publishers cannot afford to rely on one sales promotion avenue. You really do have to be able to ‘do it all’ - but I’ve always believed that when it comes to social media, you can have as many platforms as you like, but do one to the best of your abilities. Be authentic, have fun, and make connections. That place for us, I felt, was X/Twitter, and the follower count we had was proof of that. But in recent months - and years, to be honest, X has barely shown our posts to anyone. We even upgraded, but the visibility is nowhere near what it was before Musk came into ‘power’… We used to be able to track 80% of our sales from Twitter, direct to our website! Admittedly, that was about 3-4 years ago now.

Another social media hit me right in the middle of burn out, when the thought of ANOTHER thing to try gave me anxiety.

The Tipping Point

The final straw? When The Guardian, a stalwart of progressive journalism, bid farewell to X. Their reasons were compelling: concerns about far-right conspiracy theories, racism, and questionable coverage of the US presidential election. While we're maintaining our X presence as a bridge for our transitioning readers, we knew it was time to explore new horizons. The Guardian’s statement can be found here.

The Guardian said content on the platform about which it had longstanding concerns included far-right conspiracy theories and racism. It added that the site’s coverage of the US presidential election had crystallised its decision.

Why Bluesky is Different