The contemporary literary system's house of cards could be collapsed with one good shove-- but it will take that shove.
Right now I'm looking for support against the system wherever-- wherever-- I can find it. That support isn't to be found where I've been looking, so I have to search elsewhere.
Here are the current trends which are approaching an extreme:
CHAIN BOOKSTORES:
Trend: Down.
ELITE MAGAZINES:
Trend: Down.
NEW YORK TIMES:
Trend: Down. (For all of these, going-out-of-business Down.)
SUPPLY OF WRITERS:
Trend: Up.
DEMAND FOR CREATIVE WRITERS:
Trend: Down.
VALUE OF THE WRITER:
Trend: Way Down.
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- Karl Wenclas
- New ideas. New writing. Karl Wenclas is currently an editor at New Pop Lit. www.newpoplit.com Contact Karl at ampoplitNOSPAM@gmail.com
2 comments:
You're right about the value of a writer. I used to be able to pick up some extra dough pretty easily occasionally freelancing for a newspaper. Now those gigs are tough to get, if they even exist anymore (aside from the online content mills which seem to pay less than minimum wage). A lot of writing (or, as the computer folks call it, "content") is provided for free such as our own blogs so the supply is up but it doesn't look as if demand has grown as much, so the result is a glut on the market. Ah, well, at least we know where to find the good stuff, and as readers/consumers we can't complain much since it's cheaper than ever.
For fiction and poetry, it's particularly "literary" writers who are glutting the market. Note the Poets & Writers issue bragging on its cover about how many MFA programs there are-- that they keep multiplying. For the hapless writers signing up for them, they don't understand that the degrees being produced in this number are close to worthless.
There are ways around it. See my next post.
What I'm trying to get is a stake, from somewhere. The ULA had a very short window of opportunity. Doing that strategy now wouldn't work-- p.r. is close to impossible. Emails, for instance, don't work-- too many spam guards. Too many emails everywhere. Too much noise, period.
There are still strategies which would work-- new windows, if you will. They won't be easy to jump through.
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