Reading That’s Bad for You: Electric Literature
Electric Literature just released its second issue
So, imagine for a moment that you and all your amazingly talented literary type friends are put in charge (by the publishing gods) of revolutionizing the book business, the way we read, where and how and when we get new literature. What would you do? Take a minute. Think about it. The sky’s the limit. Maybe you’ll wander through fantasies of guerrilla poetry-fare where you go to the grocery story and stuff boxes of mac and cheese with lyric poetry for busy, unassuming moms to pick up for their poetically malnourished families. (I saw this done in a movie.) Or your dreams might be even more radical, interrupting congressional hearings to deliver, fully with costumes and props, your latest short story about the virtues of cannabis for the modern American family. The whole thing would be broadcast on CSPAN. These ideas sound fun. They might even get you some press, if they don’t get you arrested (or maybe if they do get you arrested), but would they really revolutionize the way we find and read literature? Probably not, but there’s a new literary journal, Electric Literature, that just might have the right idea. Here’s the fantastic news about this journal: they pay writers. A lot: $1000 for a story. (This journal is fiction only, by the way. Bad news for poets and nonfictioners, but this may be another aspect of their genius. They aren’t trying to be the Wal-Mart of literary journals giving us everything we think we want in low quality form. They’ve narrowed in on a goal, to find and distribute great short fiction. It’s a niche small enough that they can really do it well.)
And here’s the other good news, the part that, if it catches on, could be the beacon in the night for the publishing business: the journal is available in every format imaginable. Well, maybe not EVERY format imaginable, but close. You can get an issue of Electric Literature, which is five short stories, in old-fashioned paper form for $9.95. (Print-on-demand makes this possible.) Kindle, eBook, and iPhone/iPod Touch versions can be got for a mere $4.95. You can go to the website and in seconds order a collection of stories that include such big names as Lydia Davis and Michael Cunningham as well as some lesser known writers. Pretty damn cool.
The bad news? Well, if there is any, I think it may be that the editors of this enterprise, going out on a limb as they are by paying contributors big bucks, will have to be super picky about who they publish. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing if super picky means amazing literary fiction that a wide range of readers can get excited about, but if super picky means big names like Davis and Cunningham monopolizing the pages most of the time in order to excite readers with star power, then I’m a little bit sad about this really good idea. Good writing deserves good pay, regardless of how many books the writers have published or whether movies have been made from their books. I get that something has to pull people in to look at the journal more closely, but once they’re close, they should get to see something, someone new, every single time.
Tags: bark, ebooks, publication
These guys have been getting a lot of buzz. I haven’t read the magazine yet, but a 10/27 NYT story about it reported that: “A start-up fund in the mid-five figures came from private investors …, and about 25 people consistently donate their time to the magazine as advance readers and editors, as well as video artists and animators who make the YouTube videos.” So they’ve got some support, financial and otherwise. Does mid-five figures mean 50k? Aside from the Times story, they’re showing a lot of other blurb buzz in the news section of their website. No matter what else they’re doing, they are definitely getting a lot of attention.
Wow, mid-five figures…I was wondering how they were able to pull off paying writers so much from the very beginning. And, yes, I think that means $50,000. I wonder if the same thing could be done with grants or other more realistic forms of funding that don’t require rich people to love you or die and leave you all their money.
I think that mid-five figures will go pretty quick. It’s not nearly enough for them to be free of money worries. But it gets them started.
i haven’t read an issue yet, either – but my subscription is forthcoming. i was excited about what they’re attempting to do, but the thing that originally drew me in was that colson whitehead was a contributor. and that seems like a wise editorial move. publish some (theoretically) kick ass fiction, attract readers with big names, and once you’ve established some credibility as editors, open it up. publish stories from janey in wisconsin and joey in oregon – and give those unknown writers that same great paycheck. i’m not sure you could pull that off without proving yourself first, though.
What does “prove yourself” mean? Does it mean saying, “Hey, look, we must be good because people whose names you know are in here!”? Or does it mean, “Hey, look, these are some goddamn good stories. And when you read it you’ll see the proof”?
I’d like to imagine it’s the latter, but you and I both know it isn’t. And that’s depressing. Why should a journal have to prove itself with big names? Why can’t it just publish the best stuff around? Is it because nobody will submit until they see those big names in there? What’s the logic?
I agree with what Jason’s saying. As much as we’d like for it to be otherwise, readers need something to catch their attention. Once they see the big name person, they’re hooked and will read the newer “no name” writers. This is how all commerce works, actually. It’s why when you go to a strip mall there’s always one big “anchor” store: Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot…. These big stores draw people in, which gets them to hop over and buy something at the sunglass hut or the yogurt shop. Very few people have the time, energy, or desire to look closely at each thing they’re going to consume, literary or otherwise, before they make a purchase. So, as long as Electric Literature tries to balance it out and doesn’t exclude new writers, I’m fine with it.
“Very few people have the time, energy, or desire to look closely at each thing they’re going to consume, literary or otherwise, before they make a purchase.”
Shouldn’t we be trying to change that, rather than acquiescing? Besides, I don’t think your analogy fits. Because we’re talking about products, not stores here; your comparison is like saying that that someone goes into a store knowing that Kraft (a lit journal) makes good macaroni and cheese (Davis and Cunningham), then sees that Kraft now makes rocking chairs (Janey and Joey from Wisconsin) and decides it must be good because of the other products (writers) under Kraft’s umbrella, so they buy the rocking chair.
Change Kraft to Apple and the analogy fits pretty well, I think.
When I submit or want to read something, I first go to the journals I know I like. But when I want something new, and try wading through a database like Duotrope, with over 2500 different journals, for me, I’m going to be drawn to familiar titles, whether it’s intentional or not. Whether I have any chance at being published or not.
Electric Literature is generating attention, and that attention is going to have that effect for some people. It’s one way for them to be an upstart journal without having to go through a arduous fledgling phase.
It’s lame from an emerging writer’s point of view, but I can see how it’d be attractive to an editor. Maybe it won’t work. It’ll be interesting to see if they can sustain that payment system, and what happens to them if they can’t.
And to your point about acquiescing, I’m apt to think that a lot of writers who submit their work are looking to get published in a journal that isn’t going to fold after a month, because of those precious First North American Serial Rights, so submitting to a journal that has published Lydia Davis may be that criteria for some. There may be too much ego in writing to change that.
I wish you could edit responses.
I also meant, in that last point, that using big names to draw attention and readers could insinuate, to some people, editorial quality and competition, like Jason said. It’s just as attractive to readers (as it is to writers) who want to buy (in to) something without a lot of prior knowledge of it. The idea of getting your money’s worth.
But, again, I want to see how they fair if that payment changes and/or runs out.
I think it’s a false dichotomy to suggest that heard-of writers are all bad, and the so-far anonymous write the best stories. It’s probably not that simple. I can’t stand Davis, but she doesn’t really strike me as someone you’d classify as commercial or cheap or cheesy…not exactly Stephen King (though i guess we’re supposed to take him seriously now) and anyone who’s ever plowed through a slush pile knows that there is, in fact, plenty of bad writing by the unknown, as well as the celebrated.
and there isn’t really a mystery as to the use of names to attract and promote, is there? if i see: “new story by George Saunders!” or something, i might be 6 percent more likely to buy. Doesn’t seem so pernicious to me, unless in fact they’re publishing only shitty work by the famous, and leaving all the good stuff to everyone else. Then you can just not buy it.
That’s absolutely right, and I don’t think anyone would argue that heard-of writers are all bad, or that anonymous writers write all the best stuff. But I’m unsure if name recognition should be much more than a tiebreaker, where a big name’s work is on par with someone unknown, and maybe you print the name because you’re desperate for those ten or fifteen more sales.
Of course this is in an ideal world where if you don’t print big names you’re not labeled as second-rate. But it perhaps is something to strive for.
[...] we’ve had a bit of chatter here about electric literature. but really, that was more about the organization, or the concept, than [...]
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