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An Argument for Writers' Taking Charge

By Johnny Temple, Poets & Writers. Posted April 22, 2005.


Reaching beyond traditional venues and seeking out new audiences, indie writers and publishers are rolling up their sleeves and carving out new networks through which literature can be promoted.

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In reviewing the third volume in Norman Sherry's biography of Graham Greene for The New York Times last year, Paul Theroux lamented the decline of literature's impact on mainstream culture. He wrote:

It is impossible now for any American under the age of 60 or so to comprehend the literary world that existed in the two decades after World War II, and especially the magic that fiction writers exerted upon the public.

Theroux's point rings loud to writers, publishers, agents, editors, and booksellers alike. Even young people, new to the trade, long for the time we never actually knew when publishing wasn't dominated by faceless corporations and the public was hungrier for good books.

But Theroux takes his criticism of today's literary landscape one step further when he characterizes ours as "an age of intrusion, where publishers conspire with bookstores to bully writers into the open and make them part of the selling mechanism. This weird and philistine exhibitionism is now the way of the world."

It is an odd notion that 21st-century writers are a bullied lot. If anything, writers tend to be ignored by their publishers; most writers can scarcely imagine a situation in which a publisher makes promotional demands of them.

Anyway, writers should embrace the hard work that is now required to promote their books. Too often, authors watch passively as their books fail to climb onto best-seller lists. Some still presume their talent alone will lead to a New York Times review, even though the newspaper can only cover a handful of books every week--while in the year 2003, 175,000 new books were published. There's tough competition out there. Having a book launched by Random House or HarperCollins is no longer any guarantee that high-profile reviews and brisk sales will follow.

I entered the book business through the portal of underground rock music. Along with Mark and Bobby Sullivan, two friends from Washington, D.C., who, like me, had no experience whatsoever in publishing, I cofounded Akashic Books in 1997.

We had grown up playing in bands together in the D.C. punk scene of the '80s, where we were inculcated with a simplistic but sensible "do it yourself" ethos. The idea was that hardworking bands, upstart record labels (often launched by musicians), and dedicated fans could forge a vital, idealistic alternative to the mainstream music business. A culturally healthier business model, we imagined, would place more value on the adventurousness of the music than on the accumulation of capital.

Burgeoning punk labels aspired to provide a cultural counterbalance to the corporate heavyweights; over the past two decades, a small number of giant companies have dominated the industry (and now the book business as well). These behemoths are often ill-equipped to handle art that is not targeted at huge national markets. Always hunting for hits, they routinely overlook brilliant music that may not have mass appeal.

In 1991 three friends and I formed the band, Girls Against Boys. Though we are largely inactive these days, our first CD came out in 1991 and our sixth in 2002. We worked with independent labels for our first four albums, touring constantly in the United States and Europe, before we signed a high-profile deal with Geffen Records, a subsidiary of the Universal Music Group.

It was the money I received from our record deal that gave me the means to begin Akashic. We modeled it after visionary, independent music labels, like Dischord Records in D.C. and Touch & Go Records in Chicago. Although Bobby, then Mark, left the company early on to focus on raising their families, I have worked with Johanna Ingalls, our managing editor from near the beginning, to keep our doors open for business. Now we publish more than 20 books a year; our list is about three-quarters urban literary fiction and crime fiction, one-quarter political nonfiction.

Today's indie publishing community is in some ways reminiscent of American punk rock in 1982. In that era, bands took it upon themselves to carve out networks that would connect the punk scene in San Francisco to the one in Phoenix, the one in Lawrence, Kansas, to the one in Washington, D.C., to Amsterdam's, to Belgrade's, to Israel's, to Bangkok's, and beyond. Working closely with indie labels, bands did the dirty work of booking their own tours and driving in decrepit vans and sleeping on floors and in parking lots--hammering out a vibrant (and, yes, highly flawed) new underground culture where one didn't exist before. A similar grassroots approach to local- scene building--and to the networking between those scenes--is under way in indie literature.

Calling upon writers to do more of their own promotional "dirty work" is by no means a suggestion that they alone must carry this burden. To be sure, it is primarily the publishers' job to market the books they take on. But in Theroux's "age of intrusion," it is unwise for any author to hand over the reins of her career to someone she doesn't trust. The ideal, of course, is to collaborate with an attentive and zealous publisher, but the reality for most artists in any medium is that little is guaranteed beyond one's own efforts. (Even close friends with "good connections" often fail to come through for artists.)


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Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor of Akashic Books. His rock band, Girls Against Boys, has toured the world extensively over the past 14 years. Temple will appear on a panel titled, "Independent Publishing: Risk Takers & Trendsetters," at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 23-24.

This article is reprinted with permission of the publisher, Poets & Writers, Inc., 72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012.

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Opening up small press and e-publishing
Posted by: Mythsaje on Apr 22, 2005 6:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As my first book is due out in July, I have a distinct connection to this story, and quite understand the impact the new marketplace has on authors who never anticipated the level of promotional effort required on their part by the small press and e-publishers that are now springing up like mushrooms in a pasture.

E-publishing is a growing field, the fastest growing in publishing, actually, and it's offering a lot of talented people the chance to get their books read.

I have a great deal of hope for my science-fantasy epic...with three books already written and accepted, I'm beginning to realize a childhood dream. But it's taken an extraordinary amount of work, not only in terms of writing, but the lengths I've needed to go to promote my own work.

People need to support an outlaw press by learning about the e-book market. I have some commentary on my blog about this very thing. The link to my blog can be found on my website.

http://www.sajewilliams.com

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author and agitator of church and state
Posted by: eileen_flmng on Apr 22, 2005 7:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As an indie writer, progressive Celtic-Christian and peacenik, I offer the first in my series Keep Hope Alive as a FREE download at
www.olivetreesfoundation.org

"Be the change you want to see in the world"-Gandhi

I want to see a world based on genorosity, truth, justice and peace, so I offer the first book in my series FREE.
All commments from readers are gratefully received.

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e-publishing using Adobe Acrobat
Posted by: jalowe1957 on Apr 22, 2005 8:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
For years, I have been distributing and syndicating content (my stage plays) using Adobe Acrobat PDF over MS Word. It's much more secure, and you can freely download and distribute your content to anyone connected to the internet.

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Great Article - However, Same Old, Same Old
Posted by: George In Denver on Apr 22, 2005 11:58 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Very impressed with the enthusiasm of the article and the little tickle of excitement it engendered with regard to first-time publishers. However, alas, upon checking out the Akashibooks site, same old story; same old shit: "We are not currently accepting any new submissions."

Oh well...

I guess this is something like, "...put your money where your mouth is...." or just shut up or, at least, wait a while until you're REALLY ABLE TO extol the joy and adaptability of small, independent publishing houses -- Yes, Akashibooks -- on the promise of what your publisher suggests is possible, re: the AlterNet article.

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SMALL PRESS GATHERINGS.
Posted by: sarah on Apr 22, 2005 1:46 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What a great article... and timely. RIght now, i'm in the middle of a e-mail conversation with a group of poets who wanted me to travel with them via van to a poetry festival in St. Augustine Florida. Since April is National Poetry Month, a perfomance gig with a guaranteed audience of er... maybe 40, maybe more is a big deal... but to the confusion of my non-poet friends (mostly former indie label musicians) in LA, in Austin, in SF, and DC, the show'd be on my dime, completely. When one friend, ironically a Dischord musician, told me that i should know better than to "accept a 'pay-to-play gig,'" i laughed and that although small press is not "vanity press" said that even the best "small press" poets expect only small rewards for pursuit of their art (myself included, of course...a phat ego is essential in this game). And my friend told me that i showed have taken up singing, esp. because i'd be sexy if i whine "on mic." ;)

So there are are still differences between the indie label movement and the small press publishing game. However, as with the indie music people, the artisitic freedoms gained from working with small press publishers are innumerable and well worth the tiny, yet appreciative audiences. Those who write for the love of writing and for the sake of expressing their views in ways and on topics that they feel compelled to express are allowed to do so, and are rewarded by the kindness and the enthusiasm of those who read them and who are appreciative of both content and craft. This love of the freedom and of the art itself is the same as i remember from the earlier days of Indie punk Music... the perspectives, views and experimental skills were apprectated by small but supportive crowds in tiny dive bars across the country. WE weren't fans, we were necessary, appreciative friends. Over the years, I had let many a van-load sleep of indie poorboys on my floors after show... feeding them scrambled eggs and letting them shower and shave before they hit the road again. I loved the music.. . i loved the life.... and now there are rewards for the the purity of that support.... many of those early indie pressings are collector's items, with many contemporary more "mainstreamed" musicians citing these little known bands and labels and musical trends as influencial.

CONTINUED NEXT POST>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (coffee)

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» post script. Posted by: sarah
Question
Posted by: LLHappiness on Apr 23, 2005 10:46 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thank you for the article, Johnny Temple.
You said 175,000 books were published in 2003. Is the figure only for the Unted States only or for the world?

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Eureka
Posted by: Coincidence on Apr 27, 2005 8:24 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There should be ads in books. Or promotion. Like a book in which the hero really loves Burger King, or takes good amounts of Tylenol.

Stuff like that. Major corporations would market these books.

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