Forum / SUPPORT SMALL PRESS

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Jul 16, 11:24am

  The links Gary posted re the USM have opened up a large area for discussion.

  University writing programs are experiencing shrinking enrollments. Some, like Marymount Manhattan College, have shut down their writing programs.

  Commercial publishers are practically impossible now for emerging writers of fiction and poetry who don't have "publishing contacts".

  So what is a talented story writer or poet to do???

  Go after the small press. There are many fine ones out there still publishing books.

  BUT-- with grant money drying up, too, these people desperately need your help to stay in business. Most are operating out-of-pocket.

  If a journal publishes your story or poem, then take out a subscription to that mag!

  It generally costs less than 2 cups of coffee at Starbucks.

  If we keep these presses alive with subscriptions and/or small contributions, we will continue to have an outlet for our own work.

  If not, it all goes down the tube.

  Each week Amazon lists all their hot new books. Literary fiction and poetry isn't exactly dominating those lists.

  Support small press. Everyone can afford to take out at least one journal subscription, or buy one small press book.

  We owe it to ourselves, to our future as literary writers.
  

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Jul 16, 12:38pm

  You're right, of course. I don't do Starbucks, so I won't miss it, but I'm going out today to buy someone's journal.

  ... and just to prove I don't hold a grudge, I'll pick one that has recently sent me a rejection slip. Won't be difficult. So many journals ... so many rejections. Maybe all of them.

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Jul 16, 01:10pm

  James, that's the ticket! Support them and the universe will get your message of support and I bet you get an acceptance very soon from some mag you sent to~
  I believe in the old adage: what goes around comes around...
  

• 
  Linda Simoni-Wastila

  Jul 16, 01:16pm

  I gift myself subscriptions every year. Every year: The Sun, Bellevue Literary Press. Around the end of the year, a lot of journals have buy one get one free, so I gift a friend. This year - Glimmer Train. Two others I just subbed to and can't remember their names, but smaller. I send donations to some of the on-line ones, and always subvert my meager royalties/payments to places that pub me back to their fount.

  I was getting tired of UNICEF getting all my charitable contributions. I support the arts these days. And local indie book stores. And debut novelists pubbing at small presses.

  Thanks for the post, Susan. You just woke me up! peace...

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Jul 16, 01:30pm

  I think you are definitely "already awake" Linda--
  If every writer did even one-tenth that amount of support, the small presses would be in very good shape, many wouldn't have folded, and there would be many more places for us to get our work in print.

  When I look at my old Writer's Digest Directory, I am stunned by how mags no longer exist. Many of those were high level and made a point of presenting new writers each issue.

  In the end, what happens to literary publishing rests squarely on the shoulders of the literary writers.

  The print venues are still out there, most struggling. But that doesn't mean they can go on indefinitely. And certainly not without our support

• 
  Darryl Price

  Jul 16, 02:57pm

  Susan nailed it:In the end, what happens to literary publishing rests squarely on the shoulders of the literary writers.Or as Pogo put it,"We have met the enemy and he is us!"

• 
  marci stillerman

  Jul 16, 02:58pm

  I write in a special genre--Young Adult. while most big houses publish books in this genre (the age limits of which are always changing and are anyway very flexible) I find that the small press (Westside Books of Lodi, New Jersey) who published my last book and who specializes in Y A books is a far more one on one critique and advocate for me than agents who rep the large presses. I am revising a second bookfor them and writing a third.

  marci stillerman SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED ON KENMORE

• 
  Susan Tepper

  Jul 16, 03:43pm

  Yep, Pogo is one smart little dude

• 
  Dorothee Lang

  Jul 17, 01:09am

  thanks, Susan, for this note. it was the same thoughts that made me start "Daily s-Press" this spring, a blog dedicated to books published by small and indie presses, here is the link: http://dailyspress.blogspot.com

  there are so many amazing small presses and small press books out there, and most can't afford advertising, and depend on word-of-mouth. (or: word-of-mail).

• 
  Gloria Mindock

  Jul 25, 12:57pm

  Dorothee, you have a wonderful service for small press books. Thank you for what you do.

  Being a small press publisher, it is a struggle but Cervena Barva Press has been managing. If everyone could support a small press by any donation, it would help them. Most of the small press needs donations and book sales to keep going.

  I have published a print magazine for 10 years that did well, and with Cervena Barva, I am determined to keep it going. I just started an experimental print journal called "X-Peri" with Irene Koronas. We shall see how it goes. Thank God I have a long publishing history. It hasn't been easy at times but I am never one to give up. It is important to publish writers.
  I am in contact with so many editors/publishers in the small press and they all say what I do. We all feel the pinch but keep going.

  On the other side of this, many small presses and magazines are folding. It is sad and upsetting to me.

  Anyway, wanted to throw my two cents in this discussion.

  Onward!

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