Best of FM 2009?
It’s that time again, when Leslie and I will be going back over the past year’s poetry & fiction to select our nominees for online & small press awards. Which are your 2009 favorites so far?
To Publish Or To Self-Publish?
I’ve been thinking lately about the real value of getting published vs. self-publishing. Of course, as a poet, it’s a different question than it is for fiction or nonfiction prose writers, who have more paying options (though also more competition). So I hope some prose writers (as well as poets) will chip in their views in the comments.
It’s the general wisdom that getting a book published by a press is worth more than putting the book out yourself. But what exactly is this value?
In terms of economic value, a press can supply professional support in marketing, editing, design and production. There are a few better-funded presses that take out ads in widely-read journals or other major venues, that set up well-attended readings, or that have connections to get well-placed reviews. But most poetry publishers (especially those open to emerging poets) have neither the money nor the staff to play a significant role in publicizing a book. In most cases, whether self- or press-published, the writer’s going to be responsible for sales.
With the availability of low-cost, professional-looking print-on-demand (often automatically distributed through popular shopping Web sites), the production support presses supply is of minimal value. In a way, it can even be limiting. The press run for poetry books is generally quite small, so a poet who’s good at marketing hir book might be better off with an open-ended print method. (Some publishers do use print-on-demand).
As far as editing and design goes, I think in those areas presses retain their value, although there do seem to be an awful lot of writers who make their living as graphic designers.
Of course, the main supposed benefit of getting published by a press isn’t economic – it’s prestige. Being chosen by an editor or contest judge tells readers this book is better than a book merely self-selected by the author, right?
But how much does the editor’s/judge’s choice really mean? Arguably, when you pay an entry fee for a book contest (or a reading fee for non-contest submissions), you’re just playing the lottery (at least, if you’re good enough to make the first cut, I expect it’s pretty much a lottery of taste after that). Although in this case, instead of paying a couple of bucks for a chance at millions, you’re typically paying $20 for a chance at $1,000. When you pay a reading fee to a publisher who doesn’t pay for the books or only pays minimal royalties with no advance, and who does nothing to help publicize or promote the book, what are you paying for but the off chance of a stamp of approval (often by editors/judges with limited, if not downright dubious credentials)?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to the many fine authors who have given their work freely to Fickle Muses. I too am more concerned with bringing my poetry to people who’ll get something out of it than with making money. I’m also grateful that FM’s contributors are willing to forgo prestige as well as money – I certainly wouldn’t contend that there’s much honor in being chosen by a couple early-career writers for a journal with a modest, though steady readership. We only promise to publish work that moves us and endeavor to bring it to others. (Our new art editor, whose selections will begin appearing in the spring, is in a different class. See her bio to the right.)
Personally, I’m still sending my first book out to contests & presses. For the time being, I’m still a sucker for the stamp of approval (and the chance of getting a few bucks I can use to promote the book on my own – though I might have saved as much not paying the fees).
Still, it seems a question worth asking – Is press-publishing really any better than self-publishing?
Should FM Tweet?
I got a request for Fickle Muses to start a twitter stream, and I was wondering how many fans would be interested in that sort of thing. So what do you say; would you like to see FM on Twitter, Facebook, etc.?
You can find me on Twitter & Facebook (MySpace too, but I haven’t been there in ages):
http://twitter.com/sarikro
http://www.facebook.com/sarikro
Welcome to the New Blog
As you’ll see now that you’ve made it here, the FM blog has moved to a new format. That’s right, I’ve finally gotten over my squeamishness about Web 2.0 and set up a space where folks can comment and interact like proper 21st century inhabitants.
We’ll also be making an effort to update the blog more regularly (as we have of late been sadly negligent in that respect), including a weekly discussion prompt. This week:
What is your favorite myth-based/themed book?
Originally posted March 30, 2008
It seems I accidentally left a week off of the publishing calendar. To avoid messing up the rest of the upcoming schedule, I’ll leave things as they are for this week, and resume the regular weekly schedule next Sunday. Sorry for the muck up!
—Sari
Originally Posted January 6, 2008
Happy new year, and welcome to the second year of Fickle Muses!
You’ll see some changes in the current volume, some in response to reader feedback, some just ’cause I felt like it.
Readers were pretty much split down the middle on how often FM should come out, with slightly more than half preferring the weekly format, the rest preferring monthly or quarterly. To accomodate both tastes, FM will continue publishing weekly, and will also offer a quarterly, printable pdf edition beginning in April (i.e., including all work published January-March).
To receive notice of weekly updates, email editor@ficklemuses.com with the subject line “Subscribe.” To receive notice only when quarterly editions are released, use the subject line “Subscribe Quarterly.” (Current subscribers who want to continue receiving weekly notices, do nothing.)
We’ve also switched to relative text sizes. If your browser is set to view text size at “medium,” text should appear roughly the same is in volume 1; to get larger or smaller text, adjust the size on your browser.
That’s about it for house keeping. As always, send comments to editor@ficklemuses.com. Hope you all have a happy & creative year!
– Sari
Originally posted November 4, 2007
I keep coming up against this brick wall as an editor. I run smack into it every time, although many people don’t seem to be stymied by it at all, they just plow on through. When I read a submission based on a Native American myth or legend, I have some very complicated feelings. I’m excited because I want to include stories that come from myths other than European, Judeo-Christian backgrounds, but to tell you the truth, I probably wouldn’t know if the myth was genuine if it bit me on the arse. Does it matter? Aren’t we writing fiction here? As writers, are we responsible to cultures other than our own? Do we have a right to play around with stories that don’t belong to us? I’m talking about authenticity and appropriation, as well as how we define myth.
There seems to be a double standard. Maybe even a triple standard. Is it okay to write fiction about Native American myth (especially if you’re not Native American)? That’s my wall. I find myself wondering is the author is “really” an Indian, because I don’t want to publish something by an Anglo evoking an “Indian” style or tone – that just feels wrong to me. On the other hand, I don’t worry about the authenticity of stories based in European folklore. I don’t know, or care, whether the author is really of Celtic descent – the field is wide open for interpretation and inventiveness.
I grew up in a culturally diverse state, which perhaps makes me sensitive to the romanticism of the Southwest and of Indians in particular. When I read something that seems like a white person trying to sound “spiritual” and “Native,” I get a little uneasy. I could be wrong. Perhaps the person writing is the genuine article and it’s my understanding that is incorrect and biased. Whew! Getting into some murky water, here. I think the best thing for me to do is stick with the writing. Does it move me? Turn me on? That’s what makes a story valid, right? Or, am I just trying to squirm out of some difficult questions?
– Leslie
Originally posted September 9, 2007
We are pleased to announce Fickle Muses’ nominees for the 2007 Best of the Web Anthology:
For Poetry:
In Seclusion
by Annette Basalyga
Atlas on the Stairs
by Chuck Rybak
For Fiction:
From the Leaf Lore
by M. M. De Voe
– The Editors
Originally posted July 22, 2007
We are pleased to announce Fickle Muses’ nominees for the 2007 Best of the ‘Net Anthology:
For Fiction:
From the Leaf Lore
by M. M. De Voe
Fickle Myths
By Neil de la Flor and Maureen Seaton
For Poetry:
Three Poems of Kathlin Hermandsdottir
by Carol L. MacKay
Still Without Rhyme
by Tony Zurlo
Hera Spies on Zeus From the Corner Booth at the Diner
by Cassandra Labairon
Thoreau’s Last Hunt
by Jennifer Koiter
Homer-Erotic
by Chuck Rybak
Poem for Cafe Tazza
by Kenneth Gurney
– The Editors
Originally posted July 8, 2007
We have just rounded the halfway mark in the first year of publishing on Fickle Muses. As volume 2 (beginning January 2008) approaches, we are considering a variety of changes in FM’s format. While I’m still attached to some of my original ideas (such as the short weekly features – see the January 14 blog), more important to me is serving the needs of FM’s readers and contributors. Toward that end, we’re launching a survey to get feedback on some of the areas where we’re considering changes, with open comments sections for any issues we haven’t considered. I urge you to participate and help us decide FM’s course for the coming year: Reader Survey
– Sari
Originally posted June 3, 2007
I’m realizing that I prefer myth incorporated contemporarily in fiction to fiction set in a mythological or historical setting. I read and accept all submissions with an open mind and attempt to have a balanced array of work on Fickle Muses. However, after reading the wide range of fiction that has come to me, I find myself undeniably drawn to a certain style. That doesn’t mean possible contributors should be wary of submitting fantasy or stories in historic settings. Some of my most beloved authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, George McDonald, and even C.S. Lewis, but what they did was fresh at the time they wrote it. Making the old Greek and Roman myths original is difficult, and perhaps easier to make new when set in present day. In my opinion, too many writers keep trying to reinvent Tolkien. We all borrow from other authors – we can’t help it – we build on what came before. For example, Lewis was inspired by McDonald’s other world in “Lilith,” accessed through a mirror in the attic, and used that idea when creating his magic wardrobe into Narnia (I can’t believe I just said Narnia on our Web site – sorry Sari).
What I would really love to see is more fiction that evokes less known mythologies. Joy Harjo wrote a story based on the Native American cosmology of the woman who fell from the sky. Ursula K. Le Guinn made the werewolf myth brand spanking new in “The Wife’s Tale,” and drew from Taoist principles in “The Earthsea Quartet.” Robert Olen Butler weaves Vietnamese myth and European fairy tale into his collection of short stories: “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.” Ana Castillo, in her novel, “So Far From God,” incorporates La Lorona and other Southwestern folkloric myth into her dysfunctional family saga.
So many of the old myths (Greek and Roman), while well loved, have been overused. Therefore, the challenge before us is to create a new mythically cognizant style, or genre as Sari refers to it – something that looks back at the classics, while, if set historically, plays with anachronism rather than attempting to imitate a certain time and place. Of course, this is only my opinion and will most likely stir many of you on to write the opposite – just to show me. And if you do (show me) my work here will be done.
– Leslie Fox
Originally posted June 15, 2007
Today, it’s been one year since Fickle Muses went online to start collecting submissions (6 months since our first weekly issue). To our readers and contributors, thanks for your support!
– Sari
Originally posted April 12, 2007
A few weeks ago, I sent FM to a site that selectively lists and reviews various sorts of indie publications (which I won’t name, since I’m about to say nasty things about it, and it is on the whole a good resource). Now, had the editors declined to link to FM because they thought it sucked, I would have disagreed, but at least understood. However, the reason they gave for turning it down was because FM isn’t formatted like a traditional print journal (despite the fact that this was for a section of Web journals).
As I see it, content should be adapted differently to suit different media. For example, when adapting a book to film, narration might take on a different but equally effective expression through an actor’s body language (one good example is Roger Michell’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”). Likewise, the logic behind FM’s format (which I went into in more detail in a January post) is rooted in the medium.
The publishing industry is still largely geared toward print. Though certainly more people are realizing the potential of online publishing, resistance to Web-adapted formats seems to me much like the early film industry’s tendency to format movies as if they were stage plays.
While the Web isn’t exactly new, there’s still plenty of room to experiment with its possibilities, especially in the literary realm. Some journals, for example, use the medium to blend music, poetry and art – a feat beyond the capabilities of the average piece of paper. I say experiment away – the gatekeepers of industry tradition will catch up eventually.
– Sari
Originally posted March 25, 2007
I was delighted when Sari asked me to take on the role of fiction editor. I hope that my background will add to the texture of Fickle Muses. Although I have a basic knowledge of classic mythology, my interests lie most profoundly in third world legend and storytelling (that includes the Southwest.) As a child in Costa Rica and Guatemala, I heard tales with both indigenous and African origination. I read The Arabian Nights, Robin Hood, Zorro, Bible stories and Grimm’s fairy tales with equal relish. I’ve studied Native American writing, Southern, African American and 18th Century Gothic and “Oriental” novels, as well as post-colonial fictions from India, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and the Caribbean. In my fiction, I lean toward the mythic with a hint of magic realism and a propensity toward symbolism. As far as submissions go, what I will look for is good story telling. I want to be swept away by voice and character into another world, whether contemporary, historical or fantastic. As a grad student, I taught three semesters of creative writing. I gained more from those classes than from all of the workshops I’ve attended combined. I know that reading your submissions and deciding which stories should be published will be an extension of this learning process for me and I’m honored to be trusted in that capacity.
– Leslie Fox
Originally posted March 15, 2007
The submissions process here at Fickle Muses is an experiment.
Before starting FM, I was on staff at a few magazines that selected work through committees. The process was, in a sense, objective – while our tastes might not always agree, we could generally agree on how skillfully a piece was written, how adept its technique.
But something is lost in this objectivity. For me, the most important thing writing can do is evoke feeling and thought – not exactly the best measures for impartial deliberation. In those cases where one or two committee members felt strongly about accepting a piece that others rejected because it needed a bit of polish, I think we may have lost something truly valuable, even if I happened to be one of the naysayers.
So in starting Fickle Muses, I decided on an intentionally subjective selection process. Though objective quality of writing is still a factor, I’m more apt to accept a moving piece with a few loose threads than a highly skilled piece that doesn’t touch me.
(In other words, a rejection from FM is as likely to mean the submission doesn’t suit my tastes as my standards. Good work, I hope, will find a good home with the right editor.)
Back to the experiment: If an editor creates a magazine that s/he wants to read, will other readers enjoy it too? The conclusion, dear reader, is up to you.
– Sari
Originally published January 26, 2007
When I was mulling over what to call this myth magazine a couple years ago, my search was centered around one question: What kind of name would express mythic arts without also expressing a limitation to one mythic tradition?
This led to a series of ridiculously long, dull titles (“Journal of Poetry and Fiction on Myth and Legend,” among the worst). For a while I was stumped, until one day “Fickle Muses” popped into my head. Of course, it completely violates the second condition of the question, coming as it does from the Greek/Roman traditions. But as modern myth has made the muses more the gods of art than of ancient Greece, I thought I could get away with it.
At first, I just thought Fickle Muses sounded neat, but since then I’ve given the title more thought. Aside from the obvious association for artists, the term has an interesting relevance to mythic arts. Even the ancient texts within themselves are full of contradictions, and every generation has new twists to contribute to the old tales – religiously sanctioned or not. The resulting quagmire transforms victims to heroes, tyrannical regimes to prophesied saviors, gods to demons.
Perhaps the muses are presenting us with paths as diverse as the people who follow them. Then again, maybe they’re just messing with us.
– Sari
Originally posted January 14, 2007
I read once (I cannot recall where) that the ideal size of a magazine is 48 pages – the length of a comfortable evening’s read.
The online medium presents different needs. A Web journal is not the sort of thing one is likely to curl up with in the comfy chair – at least, not for desktop users like myself. At home, the Internet is something I squeeze in over a couple cups of coffee before work. Though for a longer journal, I can break it up and read a poem or story a day, I thought it would be simpler and truer to the medium to use a shorter format.
The other issue is frequency. A primarily subscription-based print journal will simply arrive when the new issue comes out, with no need for the reader to remember the publishing schedule. A free Web-based journal with no subscription requirement, on the other hand, must come out often enough not to be forgotten – I’d say anything less than monthly risks losing readers from sheer absence of mind.
– Sari
introducing…
Originally posted January 7, 2007
I first had the idea for Fickle Muses about a year and a half ago. I wanted to start a literary journal, but given the abundance of general literary zines, I wanted to fill a niche specific to my interests – thence the emphasis on myth.
I love both writing with myth and reading others’ creations. Some of my favorite writers in the genre are Mary Renault and J.R.R. Tolkien in fiction and Louise Glück and Anne Carson in poetry.
When I launched Fickle Muses, I hadn’t heard of any other journals focused on mythic creative writing. Since then I’ve come across the Journal for Mythic Arts. However, as they take submissions by solicitation only, I hope we serve sufficiently distinct purposes.
Though I began Fickle Muses as a matter of personal interest, I think mythic poetry and fiction can serve broader social purposes as well.
Living in the U.S.A., I’ve seen a narrowing in conceptions of religion over the last couple of decades. While the country remains religiously diverse, it is increasingly viewed as a Christian nation. Moreover, the popular conception of what it means to be religious has narrowed, emphasizing judgment over compassion.
While Fickle Muses is not a religious journal, in re-examining myths – stories born from religious traditions – in contemporary contexts, we explore how those traditions shape the world we live in.
I hope that Fickle Muses will give a sense of the plurality of traditions shaping the modern world and the complexities within each tradition. And, of course, share some funny, titillating, gut-wrenching, entertaining stories.
– Sari
Editor
Sari Krosinsky lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her partner and two cats.
She received a B.A. in religious studies and a M.A. in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. Her poems have appeared in Poesia, Pebble Lake Review, The American Poetry Journal, Arsenic Lobster, Verse Daily, and others. Fiction Editor
Leslie Fox lived in Central America during her formative years and in New Mexico since the mid-70s – before it was cool.
She writes novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and creative nonfiction. Some of her short fiction has appeared in The Medical Muse, red. a journal of arts, Earth’s Daughters and Earthships: A New Mecca Poetry Collection. She has a M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.Art Editor
Dianne Schlies is a practicing artist and has taught studio art since 1986. She received her M.F.A. from SMU at Dallas, Texas in 1990. She has studied or worked with David Bates, Mel Bochner, Squeak Carnwath, Harmony Hammond, Ed Harris, Joyce Kozloff, Mary Ellen Mark, Duane Michals and Robert Rauschenberg. Schlies presently teaches Drawing and 2-D Design in Albuquerque, New Mexico.