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Dire Straits: The Future of Australian Literary Journals

Close the submissions. Batten down the hatches. The absence of funding has claimed another literary journal.

By Em ReadmanPublished 4 years ago 12 min read
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Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash

Close the submissions. Batten down the hatches. The absence of funding has claimed another literary journal.

In the Australian print world, journals have subsisted since Southerly came into existence in 1939. These journals have given pages to some of Australia’s most talented emerging writers, launching careers with a body of work which allowed their book to get picked up by publishers. There is no argument to be made to the significance of Australian literary journals, their immense contribution to Australian writers and writing is undeniable. They have weathered storms that mirror the struggles of their country, World War II, civil rights movements, flood, fire, the digital age and an ever-shifting change of taste from their readership. A strong canon of publications has followed Southerly, some offering poetry, short fiction, commentary, art or a combination of those forms (Peterson, 2019). They are the vessels of the best writing Australia has to offer, sailing through generations and hundreds of issues. However, what capsizes some of these print publications is money.

On September 7, 2019, Island Literary Magazine sent Issue 158 to print and made an announcement over Instagram (Island, 2019).

“Every time a new issue goes to print, we feel excitement and anticipation. However, as we finish preparing #island158, we feel uncertainty and sadness. Yesterday we found out that we have missed out on the vital funding that we required to survive and thrive as a magazine.”

Since this announcement, there has been no comment from Island about whether they will continue to publish Australian writing. There is also not much certainty for the publication of Tasmanian writers, as Ben Walter notes, saying that the benefit from Island is immense and the funding is inadequate (Walter, 2019). However, they aren’t the only publication to face the money drying up and volunteering taking a toll on the editors. In December of 2017, Tincture Journal published a blog post entitled ‘Death Note’. Editors Daniel Young and Stuart Barnes thanked their readers and bid them farewell (Barnes & Young, 2017). Tincture Journal never had funding, but after 20 editions funded with a love of Australian literature, subscriptions and foregoing editor remuneration, it was time to let another journal die (albeit preserved thanks to The National Library of Australia and State Library of Queensland.)

For the print publications that cannot weather the storm, where do they go? Some send out their last issues and those copies float around Australia, preserving a legacy in café journal stacks and libraries. A few copies will be immaculately cared for by the editors and contributors who poured their best work into these editions. They will meticulously cart their collection of publications with them throughout their lives, securing the box into the passenger seat with a seatbelt each time they move rentals. Every edition will be cherished, a reminder of where that writer started. Those copies are the remnants, the reminders of thousands of hours of work, poetry and appreciation of the vibrant culture that came from these journals (Annear, 2013).

Saying that the Australian literary culture and publishing industry is changing, as noted by Alice Grundy, is “as hackneyed as the word ‘unputdownable’ on a book cover.” In the face of these changes, current journals need to consider they have survived as long as they have, and how they should turn their sails to continue their publishing pursuits (Grundy, 2019).

For magazines and journals, there are three options. Either prioritise print publications with a plan to ensure consistent funding and enough revenue to keep their head above water, get online and release an annual publication, or abandon the physical realm completely. Each of these practices has been adopted by various publications, with varying levels of efficacy.

One of the most enduring consistent print publications is Voiceworks, a champion of writing, comics and art created by contributors under 25. Currently headed by Mira Schlosberg and a volunteer Editorial Committee, Voiceworks is published by Express Media. They are about to debut their 117th issue and are heading for 30 years of publication. With a consistent flow of subscribers (featuring a plead of those thinking of submitting to subscribe), organisational and program funding as well as a handful of presenting partners, Voiceworks is holding strong in the face of a tumultuous print future (Express Media, 2019). One of their most prominent crowdfunding measures is the Subscribe-A-Thon, the literary journal’s attempt to entice another year of subscribers with donated prizes that range from book prizes to writer retreats. Thus far, they're doing well staying afloat. Many emerging writers have experienced the joy of checking Submittable and seeing a notice of acceptance; the magazine takes pride in being one of the diving boards for young people to use to progress in their career. With relevance to the literary community, young people and a government-friendly business model, there is little doubt that Voiceworks will continue on its merry way for the time being.

Another in the ranks of the quarterly print publication is Overland. Despite being a beacon of progressive culture since 1954, they are not immune to the threat of defunding. This year, their precarity became evident with Overland not being invited to renew its four-year funding from the Australian Council for the Arts. Overland will use $80,000 a year in funding from 2021, which, as Jacinda Woodhead notes came “on the same day that the Morrison government announced that they were giving $500 million to defence so they can buy bigger guns.” This poses a significant problem for Overland; the panel that assessed their application mentioned that while they enjoy what Overland products, they could not understand why four-year funding was necessary (Woodhead, 2019). This, of course, negates the very pillars that this literary journal stands on. This journal exists not only to publish aesthetically pleasing work, but also work that is provocative and at times unpopular. Overland is no people pleaser, its modus operandi is to be a home for challenging content. Woodhead continued this critique in a blog post introducing Overland 236, highlighting how absurd cutting funding to an integral, historical publication is;

“Popular culture is incredibly important and perhaps it can at times support itself, but we also need a culture that is unpopular and challenging. Moreover, the idea that journals should be economically sustainable implies that the market can fix things. This is the same market that limits our futures, that gives everything a dollar value, that each season brings global warming to us more rapidly. Why is this the mechanism that should dictate how society functions?...

At Overland, we think art is necessary to being human, not a ‘luxury’, or a pastime for the unoccupied rich (Woodhead, 2019).”

Right as this news dropped, Overland received a letter in the mail from Melbourne booksellers, Readings. They were seeking a refund for unsold copies of an Overland Issue, which in and of itself is fine. However, the envelope did not hold the unsold magazines, it held the covers cut off the original literary magazines. This is a process called stripping, which Readings says is "standard practice" for any magazine. These were the last copies of the edition, and Readings had previously told that members of the Overland team would come and collect any unsold copies from Melbourne Bookstores (Overland 2019). If a literary magazine, amidst a lack of support from governmental agencies, is struck by its suppliers – where does support come from? A loyal base of contributors and readers cannot exclusively be enough to help Australian literary journals survive.

The second option is to transition out of print to the digital age. Kill Your Darlings is a notable example of this technique, ceasing print magazines after their 29th issue in 2017. The Kill Your Darlings online magazine is sophisticated and comes with a string of member benefits, including emails, resources and the ability to submit to Kill Your Darlings as a contributor. In 2019, the literary journal made its first foray into print, with New Australian Fiction 2019, the debut Annual publication of Kill Your Darlings featured fiction (KYD, 2019). The annual is no magazine, its form is best described as a short story anthology softcover. This approach, an online journal physically substantiated by a book-type publication is not unique to Kill Your Darlings. Cordite Poetry Review features an online journal, Chapbooks and Poetry anthologies while being attached to Cordite Books, which publishes poets in their print book, one of their most recent launches being After the Demolition by Zenobia Frost (Cordite Poetry Review, 2019) (Frost, 2019.). Queer literary publication, Archer, has also found success with the fusion model of an online publication and a biannual print journal.

Annual and small press publication is a viable way to keep print in print, without a constant commitment to several magazines or journals a year, and no need to keep a subscribership base for print, which can be an expensive venture.

To circumvent the costs of printing and distributing entirely, some editors turn to online journals to distribute the work of their contributors. Notable recent literary journals that exist completely online include Sydney Review of Books, Scum Mag, Stilts Journal and Suburban Review. These publications share the submissions they receive on their site for free or for a small annual subscription fee. Once again, many of the editors volunteer their time and money to create the magazine, host the site and pay the contributors. Online literary magazines are well-suited to reaching a vast audience; the online medium transcends city lines, bringing the work of contributors and the journal itself to a greater reach. Sharing work has never been easier. Many online journals are a fairly new foray by editors but have thus far proven to be a viable exercise for running an online magazine. Many zines, a more independent and smaller version of literary journals, rely on their online presence to create interest and draw attention to their work.

However, the success online publications have found in recent years does not come without challenges. The Suburban Review recently received the same news Overland did, that their funding would be revoked for future issues. The Suburban Review’s Editor In Chief, Anupama Pilbrow turned to a crowdfunding campaign to continue the publication for the magazine. Yet another blog post from a prominent publication handed down the news to readers, “Our belief at TSR is that it is important to be transparent about the challenges we face in producing a beautiful, high-quality, quarterly creative journal. To nobody’s surprise, funding is the number one challenge,” writes Pilbrow (Pilbrow, 2019).

For some, when the life of a literary journal ends, so does its existence in the online space. At the close of its tenure, Veronica Literary Magazine's site disappeared for some time before the archives resurfaced online. This was believed to be due to issues surrounding how the domain would be maintained without a continuing cost. Ampersand Magazine's domain name has been taken over by another internet user and is not a defunct lifestyle blog. That was the last remnant of Ampersand unless someone owns a copy of the magazine when it was in print form.

Like any medium of delivering information, there are benefits and drawbacks, and online journals are no exceptions (Grundy, 2014). One consideration is how much shorter the supply chain is for online editions; the costs regarding sourcing suppliers and stockists, printing, design and postage represent a significant saving in running costs when compared to online journals. Other considerations for current and future editors is the immaterial nature of online literary journals. They have the capacity to be, and in some cases, have been wiped from the internet in their entirety.

Across this conversation, a lot of weight has been given to publications themselves. The other key component is the audience. The readership. That is who these publications exist for. As it is expected, the most dependable readership of a journal is those published in it and those interested in being published in it (Annear, 2013). Many contributors to these literary journals have a more tangible sense of accomplishment when they can receive a copy of their work. Dr Mark Hom, of Virginia Commonwealth University, credits this to the same reason that people enjoy holding a physical book more so than an eBook, suggesting that humans have evolved from paleolithic times to value spatial memorization (Hom, 2016). He also mentions that it is easier to attach an emotional connection to a physical thing, saying “well-used books have this flawed human quality that digital media cannot convey.” As much as readers enjoy a tangible piece of media to engage with, these readers cannot feasibly financially support every literary magazine and journal in the Australian canon. Some cannot afford any at all. Regardless of this, these readers seem to love print publications. It’s regrettably just not enough without a strong subscriber list, donation base, funding – preferably all of the above.

With ever-dwindling government support and tightening of purse strings, Australian literary journals are in dire straits. There is a multitude of approaches to continuing the time-honoured tradition of sharing stories, ideas, culture and criticism that is an Australian literary journal. All of these approaches have seen journals succeed, and all of them have seen journals fold. The future of each journal is always at risk; however, as a culture, they are more vital than ever. There is no singular solution but where there is value and appreciation from a reader, there will be perseverance. If Australian literary journals have anything, it is value and appreciation from their audience. There is a future yet.

References:

Annear, R. 2013. Puzzling the purpose of Australian Literary Magazines. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/october/1380549600/robyn-annear/puzzling-purpose-australian-literary-magazines

Barnes, S. Young, D. 2017. Death Note. Accessed October 6, 2019.

http://tincture-journal.com/tag/editorial/

Cordite Poetry Review. 2019. About. Accessed October 6, 2019.

http://cordite.org.au/about/

Express Media. 2019. About. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://expressmedia.org.au/about/

Frost, Z. 2019. After the Demolition. Victoria: Cordite Books.

Grundy, Alice. 2014. Nimble Innovators. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/nimble-innovators/

Hom, M. 2016. Why Humans Prefer Print Books. Accessed October 6, 2019. http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/why-humans-prefer-print-books/

Island. 2019. Instagram page ‘@islandmagtas.’ Accessed October 6, 2019.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Gqy7ghebr/

Kill Your Darlings. 2019. New Australian Fiction 2019. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/shop/new-australian-fiction-2019/

Overland. 2019. Instagram page ‘@overlandlitmag.’ Accessed October 6, 2019. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2228zUAI8u/

Peterson, R. ND. Mighty Thunder from Down Under: Australian Lit Mags and Literary Resources. Accessed October 6, 2019. http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/mighty-thunder-down-under-australian-lit-mag

Pilbrow, A. 2019. Pozible Campaign for #16: Unfunded. Accessed October 10, 2019. https://thesuburbanreview.com/2019/10/09/the-suburban-review-16-unfunded/

Walter, B. 2019. On the Defunding of Island Magazine. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://overland.org.au/2019/09/on-the-defunding-of-island-magazine-and-what-it-will-mean-for-tasmanian-writers/

Woodhead, J. 2019. An era of throwaway arts. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://overland.org.au/2019/08/an-era-of-throwaway-arts/

Woodhead, J. 2019. Introducing Overland 236. Accessed October 6, 2019. https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-236/editorial/

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