I am sure that Walt Whitman had a similar reckoning, why he learned how to operate printing presses. He trusted few, if any, to "edit" his work. Not a jot or tittle. Ironically, he probably would have been a kid in a candy store with modern digital self publishing technology. I am grateful to "publish" unsullied, but frustrated I must th…
I am sure that Walt Whitman had a similar reckoning, why he learned how to operate printing presses. He trusted few, if any, to "edit" his work. Not a jot or tittle. Ironically, he probably would have been a kid in a candy store with modern digital self publishing technology. I am grateful to "publish" unsullied, but frustrated I must through the refiners fire of PR, promotion, and the publishing industry to amplify my voice. My fantasy is to create an image so powerful that heads would explode. Then, and only then, could I bypass the bullshit.
Thank you Jeff. I've been thinking a lot about what Whitman did and how perfectly comparable it really is to what's happening now on Substack. There have basically been two exciting moments in the history of literature in the past two centuries - and both had to do with a sudden democratization of publishing. One was the rise of the penny presses, around the 1840s and 1850s, which allowed Whitman to edit his own newspaper and then to self-publish Leaves of Grass. The other was an ease in printing books that allowed the modernists to have their own presses and to publish work that no conventional trade publisher would even have thought of putting out.
Exactly. Thank you for filling in the blanks. In my more optimistic moments, I like to think of myself as a sort of "mini-Whitman." He has inspired so many with his rebelliousnes, both as a writer and as a publisher. The latter allowed the former.
I am sure that Walt Whitman had a similar reckoning, why he learned how to operate printing presses. He trusted few, if any, to "edit" his work. Not a jot or tittle. Ironically, he probably would have been a kid in a candy store with modern digital self publishing technology. I am grateful to "publish" unsullied, but frustrated I must through the refiners fire of PR, promotion, and the publishing industry to amplify my voice. My fantasy is to create an image so powerful that heads would explode. Then, and only then, could I bypass the bullshit.
Thank you Jeff. I've been thinking a lot about what Whitman did and how perfectly comparable it really is to what's happening now on Substack. There have basically been two exciting moments in the history of literature in the past two centuries - and both had to do with a sudden democratization of publishing. One was the rise of the penny presses, around the 1840s and 1850s, which allowed Whitman to edit his own newspaper and then to self-publish Leaves of Grass. The other was an ease in printing books that allowed the modernists to have their own presses and to publish work that no conventional trade publisher would even have thought of putting out.
Exactly. Thank you for filling in the blanks. In my more optimistic moments, I like to think of myself as a sort of "mini-Whitman." He has inspired so many with his rebelliousnes, both as a writer and as a publisher. The latter allowed the former.
Thanks again Jeff