Why Publish?

24 June 2007

Christopher Howell of Eastern Washington University Press gave an excellent overview of publishing options this afternoon–including vanity presses, self-publishing, cooperatives, small, independent, university and corporate publishers. Above all he encouraged right motivation: to publish [He put forward the idea of publishing] as means to enter the larger literary conversation, and encouraged the practice of detachment in both acceptance and rejection.

Strangely, I have sometimes heard that academic programs can be adverse to talking about the nuts-and-bolts realities of modern literary publication. Yet with the explosion of MFA programs in this country, one’s publications become a kind of secondary credentialing–not to mention, as Howell remarked, the means to have a larger and more lasting conversation with–and effect upon–the literary world. So, I was grateful for yet another straightforward and level-headed look at publication, and see it as enrichment to a program that is nonetheless fundamentally about writing, no matter what becomes of the work.

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Posted in MFA, Poetry | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

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  • http://blog.rightreading.com xensen

    That’s inspiring, and right motivation, as you have defined it, is a great thing to aspire to. I wish I could have heard the presentation.

    In fact, people’s motivations in publishing are extremely various and complicated — I suppose each person’s motivations are unique to some degree, and they are likely encompass uncertainties and contradictions. I’m not sure one “right motivation” can be made to fit each individual.

    I believe it’s worth delving into and facing up to one’s true motivations — even if they are not the ones that might be wished for — in finding a path in the publishing world.

  • Robert

    Tom, it was Howell who presented the idea of joining in and contributing to the larger literary conversation – and like you, I think it’s the “right” motivation in the sense of being well worth aspiring toward.

    At the same time, his other point was similar to yours – that, for example, if one is wiling to fess up to wanting recognition within a local literary community and to sell a few books from one’s trunk during readings, then self-publishing, though stigmatized by the academy, is a perfectly reasonable way to go about such aims.

    I thought it was a great way to point out the enormous white elephant in the middle of the room – to ask us writers: why do you want to publish, after all?

  • Robert

    p.s. the more I think about it, the more I think maybe I’m the one who felt it “right” to be motivated by a desire to enter the larger literary conversation. Maybe Christopher just gave it as an option.

  • http://www.pagehalffull.com/humanyms Pearl

    Interesting idea of publishing as entering the conversation. To be a good conversationalist, one must ask intelligent questions of the other people, have a basic common knowledge, be articulate and charming and curious, or curmudgeonly in a room that will accept and adore you as is I suppose.

  • Robert

    David Long was saying today in a craft talk that when he was studying poetry, they used to say that the best response to a good poem is another good poem.

  • Robert

    p.p.s. – ok, I corrected this (see strike-through and square brackets) since I’m not totally confident that Howell actually said such an approach was “right.”