Donald Trump ‹Literary Hub

There is an ongoing crisis in the book publisher. I mean there are many, but the consolidation of companies is a threat to everyone who takes care of books. If there are less large and small publishers, there are fewer jobs, fewer options for new voices break out, fewer places where writers can be promoted during their career, and fewer places that are willing to take risks for ideas that differ from the mainstream.

Now I am observing the small art organizations that have managed to survive a new fight after the National Endowment for the Arts, which sent E -Mails on Friday evening, in which it was announced that the majority of the NEA grants were cut off. Small publishers such as transit books, Deep Pergum, Milkweed Editions, Feminist Press and a variety of university presses were and were affected by the NEA cuts and literary magazines N+1Present McSweeneysPresent The Paris evaluationPresent A storyPresent ZyzzyvaAnd Electrically illuminated. As a result, four employees of literary art have resigned. It is difficult not to see these cuts into the arts as a further descent into fascism for America. And then this overwhelming feeling strikes again.

I wrote a lot about being a type -1 diabetics who viewed horrified how other American diabetics died of a lack of access to insulin, but it has repeated itself. I was horrified to look at Gofundme in 2017 and to see how many people could not afford their life-supporting medication, since the prices of large pharmaceutical companies were able to increase increasing prices for insulin, even though the patent for insulin was sold for $ 1 a century ago. I still felt immense to blame that I could not help everyone in difficulties, although I know that it was a systemic problem that a person or even a few people could not fix. This moment feels the same way. I need insulin to live. But I also need books and culture.

We need indie press and literary magazines for a flourishing literary ecosystem.

Already in 2015 I worked at Kickstarter in literary public relations and helped and helped McSweeneys Start of his campaign to collect 150,000 US dollars. The campaign was more than successful and it was wonderful, but I soon realized that unique donations would only go so far. You can save them from a crisis (and this is indeed a crisis), but subscriptions and grants are the key to long -term sustainability. If the state subsidies have almost disappeared, how do we create an environment in which literary culture can still thrive? We cannot start crowdfunding campaign for all affected presses and then only hope for the best. Sure, we can start ordering books and magazines from the affected presses (I started a thread here), but what else?

“One of the things we do in the Center for the Art of Translation is to give all employees 150 US dollars in order to identify one or two favorite prices affected by these latest NEA price representatives to buy books from these publishers or to donate to this publishers,” says Michael Holtmann, the President of the Center for the Art of Translation | Press two lines. Holtmann also emphasizes that there are things that can do individuals who cannot spend money: “You can register for a newsletter as support for support.

Mark Krotov, editor and co -editor of N+1offers another solution that goes beyond the obvious actions that can take individuals: “One thing I noticed – at least at N+1– is how much more difficult it is to convince publisher to advertise in printed or even online. If a publisher reads this and wonders how you can support magazines that are trapped in the crossfire of the Trump government, I would recommend evaluating your advertising budgets! “

Corporate publishers always complain that money is scarce and then spends eight characters for an advance for working with James Patterson and Mr. Beast. Krotov's pitch to the Big Five (and Beyond) to advertise their books in literary magazines feels like a win for readers and publishers. It is not a final solution, but it is not readers who are desperately looking for additional changes so that their favorite publications can survive. And maybe such an advertisement can help a very connected LIT MAG audience to discover new books.

It is a dark time in America when the culture of all kinds is devalued and discarded. We need indie press and literary magazines for a flourishing – or even just good – literary ecosystem (we also need local libraries and independent bookstores). We need this healthy ecosystem because the literature is a kind of elixir of life, and we cannot allow a vampire government to take it away from us by monsters and idiots. So if you read this, you may take one or two ads out if you read this?