Meg Reid 🦦
@megireid.bsky.social
Executive Director / Hub City Writers Project
Publisher / @hubcitypress.bsky.social
Canadian in the South 🍁
Happy to be on your podcast, etc!
www.megireid.com
Publisher / @hubcitypress.bsky.social
Canadian in the South 🍁
Happy to be on your podcast, etc!
www.megireid.com
Pinned
Meg Reid 🦦
@megireid.bsky.social
· Nov 12
Hey new folks! I'm a publisher / writer / designer who runs a publisher grounded in place and community (@hubcitypress.bsky.social) and advocates for small, local, diverse, and authentic in direct response to the consolidation and corporatization of nearly everything in the book industry.
meanwhile, threads is still an incredibly stupid place
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 AM
meanwhile, threads is still an incredibly stupid place
we're not talking enough about how awful that American Canto cover is
November 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
we're not talking enough about how awful that American Canto cover is
bots talking to bots talking to bots talking to
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
bots talking to bots talking to bots talking to
My recent experience is that readers are on meta (ig and threads) and writers/journos/media are here and so you kind of have to do both. Our newsletter still has crazy opens and sells stuff so I push people to that as much as I can (but for how long...?)
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
My recent experience is that readers are on meta (ig and threads) and writers/journos/media are here and so you kind of have to do both. Our newsletter still has crazy opens and sells stuff so I push people to that as much as I can (but for how long...?)
Reposted by Meg Reid 🦦
EDITOR'S NOTE: "Encouraging young journalists isn’t just about their careers. It is an investment in this world’s ability to understand one another," Torsheta Jackson writes.
Editor’s Note | Teach Young Journalists to Ask Great Questions
Torsheta Jackson reflects on returning to USM to speak to students and the messages she hopes listeners took away from her speech.
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
EDITOR'S NOTE: "Encouraging young journalists isn’t just about their careers. It is an investment in this world’s ability to understand one another," Torsheta Jackson writes.
You can support small/midsize LLC presses like @beltpublishing.bsky.social, @twodollarradio.bsky.social, @dorothyproject.bsky.social by buying their books. You can support 501c3s (@coffeehousepress.bsky.social, @deepvellum.bsky.social, @hubcitypress.bsky.social) by making a tax-deductible donation.
November 24, 2025 at 4:21 PM
You can support small/midsize LLC presses like @beltpublishing.bsky.social, @twodollarradio.bsky.social, @dorothyproject.bsky.social by buying their books. You can support 501c3s (@coffeehousepress.bsky.social, @deepvellum.bsky.social, @hubcitypress.bsky.social) by making a tax-deductible donation.
sorry, link was in my previous post and I'm on a tear lol www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:18 PM
sorry, link was in my previous post and I'm on a tear lol www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
The Mellon Literary Fund is the first seriously substantial new funding line that has been announced since I started in publishing. I'm 38. We need to get literary workers in front of philanthropists to make this case because I think most don't think of books as something they can/need to fund.
Our books are inherently non-commercial, art objects. I talk about this a lot in bookshop circles but, people don't hesitate to support dance, visual art, and other modes of artistic expression that are totally nonprofit but culturally valued. Why do people not apply that to books and literature?
November 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The Mellon Literary Fund is the first seriously substantial new funding line that has been announced since I started in publishing. I'm 38. We need to get literary workers in front of philanthropists to make this case because I think most don't think of books as something they can/need to fund.
My fear is that with the rise of AI, it's only going to get worse. I do have a bit of hope: if all communication is featureless, ChatGPT robot drivel, I believe people will eventually crave interesting, creative work again. We just need to make sure small publishers survive until that awakening.
November 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
My fear is that with the rise of AI, it's only going to get worse. I do have a bit of hope: if all communication is featureless, ChatGPT robot drivel, I believe people will eventually crave interesting, creative work again. We just need to make sure small publishers survive until that awakening.
Our books are inherently non-commercial, art objects. I talk about this a lot in bookshop circles but, people don't hesitate to support dance, visual art, and other modes of artistic expression that are totally nonprofit but culturally valued. Why do people not apply that to books and literature?
November 24, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Our books are inherently non-commercial, art objects. I talk about this a lot in bookshop circles but, people don't hesitate to support dance, visual art, and other modes of artistic expression that are totally nonprofit but culturally valued. Why do people not apply that to books and literature?
This puts a nice (UK) pin on something that I've struggled with: if you read the above paragraph and think, "Well be better at your jobs and make more money" you're failing to grasp that the entire industry is set up for volume publishers and it's not scalable. We pay 10x more to publish our books.
November 24, 2025 at 4:06 PM
This puts a nice (UK) pin on something that I've struggled with: if you read the above paragraph and think, "Well be better at your jobs and make more money" you're failing to grasp that the entire industry is set up for volume publishers and it's not scalable. We pay 10x more to publish our books.
November 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
I run a small potatoes nonprofit press whose sales barely covers the costs of printing and overhead. My books are all in there and it makes me livid, for both me and for my authors.
Look, I am very small potatoes as an author. I make too little in royalties to live off them. But I can tell you the reason I got to write my 2nd book was bc the sales of the 1st were very good. That's what else you're eating into by pirating, our ability to keep writing what you claim to love.
November 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
I run a small potatoes nonprofit press whose sales barely covers the costs of printing and overhead. My books are all in there and it makes me livid, for both me and for my authors.
I think it's interesting that you see this as bemoaning. I'm a more than certified hater, as well, but my post basically agrees with you. Like, if the submittors and the reviewers are using it, why bother making anyone do the labor? just ask chatgpt who should get the prize lol
November 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I think it's interesting that you see this as bemoaning. I'm a more than certified hater, as well, but my post basically agrees with you. Like, if the submittors and the reviewers are using it, why bother making anyone do the labor? just ask chatgpt who should get the prize lol
Per my earlier post--more short stories coming from @hubcitypress.bsky.social in 2027. This "Denis Johnson x Over the Garden Wall" collection is so strange and tender and will stay with you for a long time after you finish it. Thanks to Bill Clegg for sending it to me!
Thrilled about this collection that reads as if Denis Johnson wrote Over the Garden Wall--coming out in 2027!
November 23, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Per my earlier post--more short stories coming from @hubcitypress.bsky.social in 2027. This "Denis Johnson x Over the Garden Wall" collection is so strange and tender and will stay with you for a long time after you finish it. Thanks to Bill Clegg for sending it to me!
This experience actually made me feel so much for teachers. It was actually more exhausting to read totally competent, featureless work than the usual apps. We did have a great conversation about building storytelling into the second round, so maybe those will be more human.
November 23, 2025 at 10:17 PM
This experience actually made me feel so much for teachers. It was actually more exhausting to read totally competent, featureless work than the usual apps. We did have a great conversation about building storytelling into the second round, so maybe those will be more human.
Reposted by Meg Reid 🦦
This thread makes me want to cry but also gives me hope, because there are those of us out here who very much want to keep art and writing by humans alive, and I know we are going to do it. But it is increasingly countercultural to believe in...basic human culture.
i just reviewed 50+ applications for an arts award and most of them were written by chatgpt. And then the other reviewers said they put them into Gemini to rank them. At a certain point, if everyone is giving their thinking entirely over to AI, why are we even bothering with any of this anymore?
November 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
This thread makes me want to cry but also gives me hope, because there are those of us out here who very much want to keep art and writing by humans alive, and I know we are going to do it. But it is increasingly countercultural to believe in...basic human culture.
I truly thought that was an error too! This year has been a decade.
November 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
I truly thought that was an error too! This year has been a decade.
If any national pub wants to pay me to write about this (from the pov of a "gatekeeper" who takes this protection of language and literary culture pretty seriously, pls let me know)
November 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
If any national pub wants to pay me to write about this (from the pov of a "gatekeeper" who takes this protection of language and literary culture pretty seriously, pls let me know)
I read literary work for a living. I can spot chatgpt writing quickly based on the word choice, cadence, and overall competency. People haven't been taught grammar in schools in decades, so the complexity of the sentence structures, in addition to some telltale rhythmic obsessions, gives it away.
November 23, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I read literary work for a living. I can spot chatgpt writing quickly based on the word choice, cadence, and overall competency. People haven't been taught grammar in schools in decades, so the complexity of the sentence structures, in addition to some telltale rhythmic obsessions, gives it away.
Reposted by Meg Reid 🦦
In a time of slop, AI or not, it’s time to lean into niche communities and odd work by passionate weirdos with well-honed clarity of intention and craft
This is so relevant to my day-to-day thinking at @hubcitypress.bsky.social. instead of being demoralized and saying, let AI do all the publishing work and pump out more slop to boost sales, our new focus is carefully curated + clearly human created. Hence the focus on short stories, novellas, etc.
November 23, 2025 at 8:07 PM
In a time of slop, AI or not, it’s time to lean into niche communities and odd work by passionate weirdos with well-honed clarity of intention and craft
Some, but not all, thankfully.
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Some, but not all, thankfully.
AI is a massive boon to the fly-by-night vanity publishers and high-output KDP book content. Even big 5 publishing has embraced AI for covers for their republished fanfiction. It's more important than ever for real independent presses to stress the human-made, anti-algorithmic nature of our work.
This is the only sensible way forward. If people don't want to do the work, they should do something else. Thank you for holding the line against the slop.
November 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
AI is a massive boon to the fly-by-night vanity publishers and high-output KDP book content. Even big 5 publishing has embraced AI for covers for their republished fanfiction. It's more important than ever for real independent presses to stress the human-made, anti-algorithmic nature of our work.
This is so relevant to my day-to-day thinking at @hubcitypress.bsky.social. instead of being demoralized and saying, let AI do all the publishing work and pump out more slop to boost sales, our new focus is carefully curated + clearly human created. Hence the focus on short stories, novellas, etc.
November 23, 2025 at 6:20 PM
This is so relevant to my day-to-day thinking at @hubcitypress.bsky.social. instead of being demoralized and saying, let AI do all the publishing work and pump out more slop to boost sales, our new focus is carefully curated + clearly human created. Hence the focus on short stories, novellas, etc.