Here’s a secret. I hate it when literary journals and publishers ask me to buy their books. “Hey,” I want to shout. “I’m a struggling artist myself. I’d buy your books if I could, but I’m broke! On that note, would you like to buy mine?”
Of course lit journals and publishers come to us because we are writers and know how much they need buyers for all of the great work they produce. They can’t publish us without being able to afford to do so. As a result of cost, so many journals are giving up the ghost when it comes to the printed form, opting to publish online only—I get that! And I do want to help, but—forgive the cliché—it’s not easy being a struggling artist.I buy a book here or there, a journal too, but I can’t subscribe to everything. Plus, my pile of things to read is growing by the moment. My three six foot bookcases have run out of room, so heaps of books have materialized. In theory, I have enough unread material to last me to the New Year. But excuses aside.
For those of us who have had the great fortune of publishing,
and for those of us who are still (sniff, sniff—chin up!) trying, unless we help the journals and publishers who publish our work or may one day do so, they won’t continue to exist and therefore our work will have one less place to find a home in.The number of readers are diminishing too. You’ve heard the statistics—I’ve gotten drunk and cried with librarians out of camaraderie.And then I started thinking one day, perhaps it was around Christmas or a birthday, “Hmmm, what to get so and so…” A toaster, wine, winter boots? Pet snake, jewelry, a gift card? No—why not buy a book of poetry from a small press publisher or a large one? How about that new novel your friend published and is so happy about? In terms of novels, unless you’re a million copy seller, a lot of the smaller sellers get forgotten about. Each sale can help them. And you know what—there’s a book out there for everyone. Light stuff, dark stuff, funny, poignant, women centered, male focused—whatever. It is out there and to give one as a gift helps more people than you can imagine.
(Though I mentioned I have a pile of unread books, nothing seduces me quite so much as getting more and it is my unbirthday, so, on that note...)
For those of us who have had the great fortune of publishing,
and for those of us who are still (sniff, sniff—chin up!) trying, unless we help the journals and publishers who publish our work or may one day do so, they won’t continue to exist and therefore our work will have one less place to find a home in.The number of readers are diminishing too. You’ve heard the statistics—I’ve gotten drunk and cried with librarians out of camaraderie.And then I started thinking one day, perhaps it was around Christmas or a birthday, “Hmmm, what to get so and so…” A toaster, wine, winter boots? Pet snake, jewelry, a gift card? No—why not buy a book of poetry from a small press publisher or a large one? How about that new novel your friend published and is so happy about? In terms of novels, unless you’re a million copy seller, a lot of the smaller sellers get forgotten about. Each sale can help them. And you know what—there’s a book out there for everyone. Light stuff, dark stuff, funny, poignant, women centered, male focused—whatever. It is out there and to give one as a gift helps more people than you can imagine.
(Though I mentioned I have a pile of unread books, nothing seduces me quite so much as getting more and it is my unbirthday, so, on that note...)
