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Basically I'm frustrated because the small/independent publications have been around for centuries, usually to promote an alternative point of view to the establishment or to thumb one's nose at the big magazines. There has been alterntive religious and political papers since printing was invented. In more recent times, the small press has covered just about everything, and I've been involved with it for over half my life. Music fanzines have been guilty of mutual backslapping, not being able to take criticism, playing it safe etc - and it really gets me that the problems I and others I know are having is not about the writing, it's about whether or not someone can afford to write a cheque or kiss arse. So the point of doing a small press magazine becomes continuing to do the mag rather than discovering and promoting good writers who would otherwise never be heard.
There was talk on Barbelith of starting a new magazine, which I still think is a great idea. Would it go the same way though? Would ego and the 'name' of the mag become more important than what it was created for? I'm trying not to be cynical. Perhaps one offs are the best way forward; the contents would surely be then at the forefront. I do feel a bit of a traitor, turning my back on the small press, but I want to get somewhere with my writing and I've just had enough. But that doesn't mean I intend to compromise on the what I write about. Which means, of course, that the chance of a book deal is virtually zero.
And yes, Chol, if nothing else, 'my' mag would have had a great name! |
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