food for thought

Editing for a small press

   While the smaller publishing houses might not have as extensive a reach for their books as some of the major houses have, it is clear that there is a much more personal aspect to publishing with a smaller house. These smaller presses have been improving significantly over the past couple of decades, “Nowadays, the smaller house is likely to have national sales representation, good sales to chain stores, more varied publishing list, better design, and

usually can offer all of the ancillary services—imaginative publicity efforts, author tours, foreign and domestic subsidiary rights sales, and accurate and on-time royalty reports and payments—that were once solely in the domain of the larger houses.” Independent bookstores and smaller houses have been working together in an extremely beneficial partnership of sorts. Big publishers go to the chain stores, so smaller ones go to independent ones. This helps to continue the brand these small houses are pushing for while also giving them a place to sell their books. If a book is only going to have a shelf life of less than two weeks with big publishers, it seems far more worthwhile to go with a smaller publisher. 

   While I have no interest in writing my own book, or becoming an author, this piece helped give me more information about what it might be like to work for a smaller publishing house rather than the highly alluring big 6. After going to Midtown a couple weeks ago, it really fired up my dream to own an independent bookstore myself. This is something I would like to pursue after I have saved up a significant amount of money working a traditional job. I would love to work for the big 6, but after reading this article, I am seriously considering smaller publishing houses more. I like how much more personal the process is with each book and author. The publishing industry isn't exactly known for making loads of money, regardless of which house you work for. While an independent/smaller house would likely be an even smaller salary, I would rather have their level of care and attention than a big publisher. 

​

Thoughts on editing fiction

   I want to work in the publishing industry, but I don’t have a particular desire to become an editor. This article gave really good insight into what a job as an editor would look like, and while this is not what I want to do, I still found the information shared very valuable. One of the main reasons I do not want to be an editor is that I do not want to lose the joy I find in reading. Brett is able to separate reading for pleasure and reading manuscripts, but I have never personally been able to do this. In my writing and editing class that I am in, we have to peer edit frequently. I recently started reading a new book and found that I was reading it in a very analytical sense. I was hyperaware of the way sentences were written and how they flowed on the page, and whether or not I thought it could be improved. Many aspects that Brett identified they do when reading a manuscript, I similarly do when peer editing - and now tragically with my pleasure reading.

Are Literary Journals in Trouble 

   In the opening part of this article, Friedman mentions how important it is for authors to continuously submit their pieces to literary journals even if they have been repeatedly rejected. She said how some of the editors find it frustrating when an author who has submitted five times stops submitting, because they don’t get to read their work again. To try and support this statement, the editor revealed that they had many authors who sent manuscripts to them for over a decade before their work got published. I found it hard to empathize with the editor and found myself agreeing with many of the comments the piece gained. If I was continuously submitting work to a journal, let alone submitting for over ten years, and never getting accepted, I would naturally start to grow frustrated as an author and try to find other journals to submit to. There is the added component that submissions tend to cost money, so realistically, if I knew a journal had not accepted any of my pieces, I would stop wasting money when it seems I already know what the result is going to be. 

   The editor from this comment did not try to see from the perspective of the authors that are continuously getting their work rejected. When they said that they, as editors, get frustrated when authors stop submitting their work, it immediately distanced me from the editor. If the editor who wrote this used different language in their frustration, maybe the response would have been more positive. The editor could have acknowledged the frustration these authors would be facing, or even the merit in all of the work they are receiving from these authors. Instead, they come across as slightly pretentious and not empathetic to the hard work and grind these authors are having to go through. Another thing they could have done was explaining the hardships the journal has to go through, and that there are very few pieces that get to be published and how funding is always tight. This is mentioned by Friedman later in the article, but I did not find it surprising that the editor who wrote this comment received negative feedback. 

   I do want to mention that one key part to this specific discussion is whether or not each author in this specific journal received feedback for their writing. I realize that if a journal receives thousands of submissions, there is simply not enough time to give a thorough response to each author. Perhaps if there was an author that the journal was continuously receiving and could tell they had potential and could likely be published in the future, the editors/journal could send a response to them specifically. This could show the author that they are being heard and respected and could go a long way in how the author feels about the journal. If I was receiving feedback letters, or even just one after many rejected pieces, this would serve to encourage me rather than dissuade me. I do believe it is important to be persistent as authors, but ten years of persistence in the face of constant rejection is crazy.

Are We Eating Each Other Alive in the Indie-Lit World?

   There were many interesting points made in this article, but one of the things that stood out immediately was the point on writing contests and the revenue associated with it. The article is structured in a way to emphasize how little money (new) writers make, and by including the difference in contest earnings and total money received, it is easy to be upset on behalf of these underappreciated writers. I appreciate that we read an article already that went in depth on the struggles lit magazines have as well, because if we didn’t, I would be upset by the price difference as well. Writing is one of the industries that you go into because of passion, not because of money. While there are always going to be successful authors/writers that do make a substantial amount of money to live luxurious lives, this is not the case for many. All of this being said, it is still frustrating to see how much money is being made and not distributed. Lit magazines are popular mostly within the writing community, other people just don't care as much. This means that the people buying the magazines/subscriptions are likely the same writers that are constantly submitting (and therefore paying again). Lit magazines are becoming less accessible to the greater population, and while it may seem like this is necessary, I believe this path may lead us to a point of no return.

   Another point that was brought up is the cutting of funding and overall decreasing amounts of lit magazines in education. Many universities that receive budget cuts in departments lead to the humanities suffering nine times out of ten. High schools rarely, if ever, have lit mags (I know mine did not). Literature is so important to human culture and expression and it is heartbreaking that we are slowly starting to lose our access to it. 

​

Social Media and Literature

   There is a quote where Ellison says the following: “Fandom is a system of adoptable self-images, representations of a work of art that serve as useful identity markers but will never bring you any closer to yourself or the art.” Ellison also says that the connections you make with yourself are more impactful than those you make with other people, but I disagree. I think both are equally important, but for me personally, I value the connections with other people more. People do have an inherent desire to share what they like with the world, did you really go on a vacation if you don't post an album of photos on your social media of choice? As I am sure many of us do, I love to read, but nothing is more exciting than getting to talk to others about reading. It is my favorite form of connection, and even if we haven't read the same books, I already like you more because of the simple fact that you do read. Fandoms create groups of likeminded people, people with similar tastes and interests, and I believe this has a lot of value.

The Role of the Editorial Assistant

   I thought it was interesting that editorial assistants typically are the first person to read the manuscripts. It did not surprise me that they had a variety of responsibilities as the word “assistant” is in the title and this typically means a lot of work. I appreciated that authors respect editorial assistants because they realize how influential they are to the process of their book being published. 

   When reading this article I realized how much being an editorial assistant interested me. I know that in order to get into the publishing industry, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up (as with most jobs), but the tasks that Fuetsch had were ones that align well with how my brain works. I would love to know all the ins and outs of the publishing industry and this knowledge is something you readily learn as an editorial assistant. 

   I am hesitant about taking any publishing job that heavily involves reading manuscripts, but I think it would be a valuable (and likely necessary) experience to be an editorial assistant for a couple of years to get a thorough understanding of the publishing industry. 

One thing I am curious about is how long manuscripts typically are. I am sure that this varies depending on what genre of publishing you go into, but if you only had to read a couple of chapters, this seems much more doable than having to read entire novels every week. It has been constantly emphasized just how many hours an editorial assistant puts into the job, which is another component that worries me.

Here’s what you need to know about the biggest literary controversy of the decade

“If only books could be reviewed for their intention not execution” is such an incorrect statement. There were a lot of mixed reviews for this book but the most prevalent one seemed to be that the author was not enough of an immigrant to be able to accurately depict the experience of crossing the border. 

 

Scenes from the Literary Blacklist

We are coming into an age where as a whole, we are encouraging writing that is more outside the box (with content that might have offenses personally, politically, historically), but publishers are hesitant to release them. If they take a risk on a story that might not be received well, the blame falls on the publisher more so than it does on the own author. Publishers want to protect themselves and their brand, and in turn, these pieces that could be vital for society to read are not getting to make it out of the draft stages. Now writers are starting to censor themselves in their writing, beating publishers to the punch. If a writer knows they won't get published for writing specific (possibly offensive content) they will write something else. This can have devastating consequences for literature and widening our perspectives as a society.

Editing for a small press

   While the smaller publishing houses might not have as extensive a reach for their books as some of the major houses have, it is clear that there is a much more personal aspect to publishing with a smaller house. These smaller presses have been improving significantly over the past couple of decades, “Nowadays, the smaller house is likely to have national sales representation, good sales to chain stores, more varied publishing list, better design, and

usually can offer all of the ancillary services—imaginative publicity efforts, author tours, foreign and domestic subsidiary rights sales, and accurate and on-time royalty reports and payments—that were once solely in the domain of the larger houses.” Independent bookstores and smaller houses have been working together in an extremely beneficial partnership of sorts. Big publishers go to the chain stores, so smaller ones go to independent ones. This helps to continue the brand these small houses are pushing for while also giving them a place to sell their books. If a book is only going to have a shelf life of less than two weeks with big publishers, it seems far more worthwhile to go with a smaller publisher. 

   While I have no interest in writing my own book, or becoming an author, this piece helped give me more information about what it might be like to work for a smaller publishing house rather than the highly alluring big 6. After going to Midtown a couple weeks ago, it really fired up my dream to own an independent bookstore myself. This is something I would like to pursue after I have saved up a significant amount of money working a traditional job. I would love to work for the big 6, but after reading this article, I am seriously considering smaller publishing houses more. I like how much more personal the process is with each book and author. The publishing industry isn't exactly known for making loads of money, regardless of which house you work for. While an independent/smaller house would likely be an even smaller salary, I would rather have their level of care and attention than a big publisher. 

​

Thoughts on editing fiction

   I want to work in the publishing industry, but I don’t have a particular desire to become an editor. This article gave really good insight into what a job as an editor would look like, and while this is not what I want to do, I still found the information shared very valuable. One of the main reasons I do not want to be an editor is that I do not want to lose the joy I find in reading. Brett is able to separate reading for pleasure and reading manuscripts, but I have never personally been able to do this. In my writing and editing class that I am in, we have to peer edit frequently. I recently started reading a new book and found that I was reading it in a very analytical sense. I was hyperaware of the way sentences were written and how they flowed on the page, and whether or not I thought it could be improved. Many aspects that Brett identified they do when reading a manuscript, I similarly do when peer editing - and now tragically with my pleasure reading.

Are Literary Journals in Trouble 

   In the opening part of this article, Friedman mentions how important it is for authors to continuously submit their pieces to literary journals even if they have been repeatedly rejected. She said how some of the editors find it frustrating when an author who has submitted five times stops submitting, because they don’t get to read their work again. To try and support this statement, the editor revealed that they had many authors who sent manuscripts to them for over a decade before their work got published. I found it hard to empathize with the editor and found myself agreeing with many of the comments the piece gained. If I was continuously submitting work to a journal, let alone submitting for over ten years, and never getting accepted, I would naturally start to grow frustrated as an author and try to find other journals to submit to. There is the added component that submissions tend to cost money, so realistically, if I knew a journal had not accepted any of my pieces, I would stop wasting money when it seems I already know what the result is going to be. 

   The editor from this comment did not try to see from the perspective of the authors that are continuously getting their work rejected. When they said that they, as editors, get frustrated when authors stop submitting their work, it immediately distanced me from the editor. If the editor who wrote this used different language in their frustration, maybe the response would have been more positive. The editor could have acknowledged the frustration these authors would be facing, or even the merit in all of the work they are receiving from these authors. Instead, they come across as slightly pretentious and not empathetic to the hard work and grind these authors are having to go through. Another thing they could have done was explaining the hardships the journal has to go through, and that there are very few pieces that get to be published and how funding is always tight. This is mentioned by Friedman later in the article, but I did not find it surprising that the editor who wrote this comment received negative feedback. 

   I do want to mention that one key part to this specific discussion is whether or not each author in this specific journal received feedback for their writing. I realize that if a journal receives thousands of submissions, there is simply not enough time to give a thorough response to each author. Perhaps if there was an author that the journal was continuously receiving and could tell they had potential and could likely be published in the future, the editors/journal could send a response to them specifically. This could show the author that they are being heard and respected and could go a long way in how the author feels about the journal. If I was receiving feedback letters, or even just one after many rejected pieces, this would serve to encourage me rather than dissuade me. I do believe it is important to be persistent as authors, but ten years of persistence in the face of constant rejection is crazy.

Are We Eating Each Other Alive in the Indie-Lit World?

   There were many interesting points made in this article, but one of the things that stood out immediately was the point on writing contests and the revenue associated with it. The article is structured in a way to emphasize how little money (new) writers make, and by including the difference in contest earnings and total money received, it is easy to be upset on behalf of these underappreciated writers. I appreciate that we read an article already that went in depth on the struggles lit magazines have as well, because if we didn’t, I would be upset by the price difference as well. Writing is one of the industries that you go into because of passion, not because of money. While there are always going to be successful authors/writers that do make a substantial amount of money to live luxurious lives, this is not the case for many. All of this being said, it is still frustrating to see how much money is being made and not distributed. Lit magazines are popular mostly within the writing community, other people just don't care as much. This means that the people buying the magazines/subscriptions are likely the same writers that are constantly submitting (and therefore paying again). Lit magazines are becoming less accessible to the greater population, and while it may seem like this is necessary, I believe this path may lead us to a point of no return.

   Another point that was brought up is the cutting of funding and overall decreasing amounts of lit magazines in education. Many universities that receive budget cuts in departments lead to the humanities suffering nine times out of ten. High schools rarely, if ever, have lit mags (I know mine did not). Literature is so important to human culture and expression and it is heartbreaking that we are slowly starting to lose our access to it. 

​

Social Media and Literature

   There is a quote where Ellison says the following: “Fandom is a system of adoptable self-images, representations of a work of art that serve as useful identity markers but will never bring you any closer to yourself or the art.” Ellison also says that the connections you make with yourself are more impactful than those you make with other people, but I disagree. I think both are equally important, but for me personally, I value the connections with other people more. People do have an inherent desire to share what they like with the world, did you really go on a vacation if you don't post an album of photos on your social media of choice? As I am sure many of us do, I love to read, but nothing is more exciting than getting to talk to others about reading. It is my favorite form of connection, and even if we haven't read the same books, I already like you more because of the simple fact that you do read. Fandoms create groups of likeminded people, people with similar tastes and interests, and I believe this has a lot of value.

The Role of the Editorial Assistant

   I thought it was interesting that editorial assistants typically are the first person to read the manuscripts. It did not surprise me that they had a variety of responsibilities as the word “assistant” is in the title and this typically means a lot of work. I appreciated that authors respect editorial assistants because they realize how influential they are to the process of their book being published. 

   When reading this article I realized how much being an editorial assistant interested me. I know that in order to get into the publishing industry, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up (as with most jobs), but the tasks that Fuetsch had were ones that align well with how my brain works. I would love to know all the ins and outs of the publishing industry and this knowledge is something you readily learn as an editorial assistant. 

   I am hesitant about taking any publishing job that heavily involves reading manuscripts, but I think it would be a valuable (and likely necessary) experience to be an editorial assistant for a couple of years to get a thorough understanding of the publishing industry. 

One thing I am curious about is how long manuscripts typically are. I am sure that this varies depending on what genre of publishing you go into, but if you only had to read a couple of chapters, this seems much more doable than having to read entire novels every week. It has been constantly emphasized just how many hours an editorial assistant puts into the job, which is another component that worries me.