The Publishing
You probably know that I'm crazy interested in publishing, so this piece was right up my alley. Some of the comments about racism took the shine off my publishing apple, and I've been thinking about that. I wasn't surprised by what I read but I was disheartened by my own choice to overlook some of the truths presented in the article when I was doing my dissertation research. I don't think I idealized the world of publishing in that book I wrote, but my focus on small presses with social justice goals may have been a way to avoid some hard conversations about disturbing racist practices in the world of publishing. The piece is fascinating and you should probably read it if you feel like it.
A favorite part of the article for me was literary agent Cerise Fisher's comments about turning down a book because she didn't feel interested in it. This is my big thing about being a classroom press editor. I've got to feel some connection to the stories the Thirdlanders are publishing in order to be a good editor for them. Ms. Fisher commented about the book she passed on:
I personally didn’t want to spend the next year in such a dark novel, so I passed. It wasn’t meant for me. Maybe it wouldn’t have had the huge impact it did if I’d edited it, because I didn’t feel it was right for me.
Each interview shares a unique element of the publishing world, from book store owners to senior editors at big publishing houses. I'm still curious about all things publishing, but now I'm keeping my eyes peeled for the ways things are and aiming to look at the bigger picture. And when we head back to Thirdland, I'm going to share some of these tough realities about publishing when we set up our classroom press.
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