so many thoughts, so little time
on prepping for 2022 (& cramming in things I didn't do in 2021 into this week).
[source: Enterprise Health]
Friends,
I’ll be honest: I failed at staying off social media. Because I had 4ish things to post about the week I said I would be off, I’ve had to more-or-less stay on to promo them since it’s IMPOSSIBLE to get eyes on work otherwise in this capitalist project we call publishing. Though I am grateful for people publishing my words, I DESPERATELY wanna be the uwu soft boi who is off the grid indefinitely.
But alas, I am a writer & people have to see my shit in order to consume it.
It’s all so weird & overly taxing. I know that participating in traditional publishing (AKA “publishing stuff in magazines”, “getting a book published with a publisher”, “having a clout-filled internet presence so someone wants to buy your books/book you”) is optional, but the alternatives feel rather bleak. Yes, I have two zines I published in 2019 & 2021 respectively with an amazing bookstore & a dear friend, but publishing & shipping those shits with a stapler, stolen printing paper & pennies was ROUGH. It was even rougher to be the writer/administrator/marketer/editor/performer/graphic design fielder/canva promo-graphic designer/enthusiastic steward of these zines during the almost-beginning & middle of a pandemic that will likely be around indefinitely. It is admittedly much easier to work with a press that can help you with some of these pieces & even easier to work with a press that has more than one contact that does everything. As a person moving from a one-person press for my chappy to a multiple-people press for my full-length, I can attest.
Choosing to be an 8-occupation writer under capitalism isn’t really all that fun, y’all.
I will say that I’m excited for the work that I’ve been producing, though. As some of you know, I got an agent earlier this year that I’m working with on my first collection of prose (!!!!) & though I still can’t say much about it, but it’s exciting to get familiar with a genre outside of poetry for the first time.
Speaking of this, I wanna say some snarky shit about publishing & hope that you will forgive me later.
**
I’m realizing that the world of essay-writing (specifically cultural criticism & personal essay) is… different than poetry in many ways. One big difference is that I haven’t seen one essay outlet that charges a submission fee yet. Presumably, this could be because most of their business is handled via email (& not platforms that make you pay for them like submittable) or that everyone doesn’t always get back to you. In poetry-land, I’ve definitely had magazines ghost me, but essay entities are upfront about that as a possibility, which I like more than being left in the dark.
Another difference is that essay-focused magazines operate 90% of the time on you pitching them an idea, them liking it, you working with an editor on the piece, & them making a final decision on whether or not to publish. The other 10% of the time it’s sending them the entire piece, & then they get back to you or not. It’s fascinatingly layered. Luckily, I’ve gotten some luck with about 4 outlets this year.
A last one, that I will be honest & say I don’t like, is that you have to do some serious digging to find an editor’s email — ESPECIALLY for bigger publications. The other day I spent an hour just looking for one email for a magazine. For me, it creates this mystified, gatekeepy type of dynamic between contributor & publisher that I felt when paying submission fees in the past. I’ve also seen editors say “DM me” then get annoyed when you DM them lol.
It’s all so strange to learn alone.
So much of writing & publishing has been me scouring the internet, trying to find answers to my questions. As I’ve been thinking on what I want 2022 to be, I’m invested in eliminating barriers for people wanting to get eyes & money on their writing. I want to give people who wanna participate in tradpublishing (til we have better, working class & disabled people-friendly alternatives) the tools they need to succeed. I’ve probably spent a year’s worth of time trying to figure out how to make my poems better, what to put on my website, how to get booked for a show, how to get a mentor, how to put together a bio, what to say in the retched “cover letter” field, how to be ready for contract negotiations, etc etc etc. Marginalized writers shouldn’t have to pay a million katrillion dollars to get answers or enter into a field with no interest in making itself enterable.
**
Publishing rant over. There are so many thoughts, & so little time. I’m STILL trying to figure out the craft and business of essay-writing & the cheapest class I’ve seen that offers what I want is $299 for 5 weeks. If you see cheaper options please holla at me. All in all, I’m hoping that you’re having a good ending to your year, & I hope you’re enjoying being subscribed to my random thoughts.
PS: I have a thing I’m gonna announce in the next 2 or so weeks (it’s real good, I promise). I also will get on a consistent (likely bi-weekly) schedule with posting so your inbox (& my life) has some normalcy lol. Have a good week, yall. <3 :*
Love, peace, & chicken grease,
KB
Some spaces that offer classes also offer scholarships that you have to apply for separately. Look at University of Arizona poetry center, Grackle & Grackle, the shipman agency, Corpus Christi’s writing group (I forget their exact name but they are free and do monthly workshops), and Roots Wounds Words.