Diary of a Mad Editor

Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category

The Writing on the Wall Pt. 2

You remember that movie, Office Space? Remember that character, Milton and how the boss kept moving him around until he was working in a basement storage room? Well, the great downsizing of American print journalism continues. According to Editor & Publisher, in addition to a buyout of 151 of its reporting and non-reporting support staff, Newark’s Star-Ledger has moved two of its journalists into the mailroom. Can you fucking believe that? The mailroom?!

Here’s my thoughts on this bullshit: Don’t blame New media for killing Old media. This is a death by suicide. Like the auto industry and every other failing industry in the United States, print media is suffering from a supreme lack of imagination, innovation and entrepeneurial spirit. All these buyouts will do nothing to save this industry in the long term — it just drags out the death of the industry. Either make a serious, long term investment in fixing this broken industry — I mean reinvent the fucker or shut it down outright and spare us all the death rattle.

The Writing on the Wall

Recently, I mentioned the Christian Science Monitor’s recent decision to end it’s daily print publication and transform into a fully digital publication. Today, I was reading the first part of a two-part interview with CSM’s editor-in-chief, John Yemma explaining the decision. According to Yemma, “. . . the writing [was] on the wall . . . , the Internet user patterns and reader preferences [are] changing the business model of print. Print [is] becoming increasingly untenable, especially for the Monitor, which has an international audience. We just don’t have enough reach with our print product, but we have great reach with our web product.”

Basically, he was saying what I’ve long said to writers who balked at seeing their work published online. Alhough a small press literary publication isn’t the same thing as the CSM in terms of genre or circulation, a print literary publication cannot compete with an ezine in terms of exposure. Aside from printing costs and other expenses related to print publishing, it’s a lot of work to distribute and sell a print literary periodical. The circulation is typically small and takes some time to sell-out an issue. Typically, much of what is circulated goes unsold and unread. The typical ezine has an international reach that is difficult, if not absolutely impossible for most print literary zines to manage. Whether you are a writer or a publisher, there are clear advantages to Internet publishing. The fact that a mainstream publishing organization is wising up to this should serve as a kind of epiphany for those in the print media who are holding-out for some kind of miracle that would preserve their world.

This post is sponsored by Leptovox.

The Adirondack Review Sponsors Two Competitions

The Fulton Prize for Short Fiction

The Adirondack Review is pleased to announce the third annual Fulton Prize for Short Fiction. The winner will receive $400 and publication in The Adirondack Review. Entrants whose stories receive honorable mention will also have their stories published in The Adirondack Review. In addition, they will be awarded an honorarium of $30. The deadline for the Fulton Prize for Short Fiction is January 31, 2009.
For more information about this contest, visit The Fulton Prize

In addition, The Adirondack Review is acception submission for the 2009 Photography Contest. The top prize includes $250 and publication on the cover of the Summer, 2009 Issue. Up to four finalists will receive publication within the issue and cash prizes of $25. The deadline for The Adirondack Review Photography Contest is December 31, 2008.
For more information about this contest, visit the Photo Contest.