Notes from the underbelly of publishing: In proximity of the academy
* Publication is concretization. Whether you’re self-publishing, by-invitation publishing, peer-review publishing, or publishing as art practice; all this publishing helps you to see what you’ve done in a manner that is solid enough to evaluate. This momentary solidification of your work can propel you into more work because most creative work is actually editing. Tip: Don’t be afraid to see it in print and—more importantly—to have others see it.
* Publication is archiving. Similar to concretization, having your writing cataloged in publications—particularly publications housed by libraries (e.g. journals, textbooks, and handbooks)—allows for your thinking and work to be accessed through databases as part of a literature review process. Although this is a slow process, this is how knowledge is expanded. Tip: Know your keywords. What is the brand of what you do?
*Self-publishing is relational. Because self-publications are not usually widely distributed, these works are a means to get your ideas into the hands of your collaborators and readers fast. They can quickly turn into seedlings of partnerships. Self-publishing includes most of the writing you do for online eyes. Tip: Published works are like art, they represent you when you’re not there. Everything with your name on it is speaking on your behalf.
*Publications emerge from communities of practice. Find your kin in whatever fields are relevant to you and seek to have active exchanges. Most academic and artistic publishing is free labor, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get compensated for your work. Tip: Find your people and be generous; it will eventually come back to you.
*When you can’t write an academic paper, write something else. Answer the questions to an interview (any interview might do), write a letter, send some text messages, make a list of thoughts, make a diary entry, make a Facebook post, or write in response to an image. Tip: Remember that writing is thinking. Sometimes the expectations of academic writing inhibit us from diving into the creative work of thinking through writing. So, if the form is getting in the way, use another form.
*Writing in collaboration with others sounds like a good idea, but is mostly a pain in the butt. Since writing is thinking, it can sometimes be difficult to think with another person. Since it is creative work, it can also feel counterintuitive to try and get on the same wavelength. There is a way to do it that actually pushes it further into the realm of art, and that is through a concerted gesture of killing one’s ego. Tip: By all means write with other authors but know that sometimes you will do most of the heavy lifting and sometimes they will. When you do the heavy lifting, be gracious; and when someone else does the heavy lifting, be humble.
*Figure out what writing you’re already doing and try to publish that. Because writing is already so much a part of our lives, what are we already putting down in words that could serve to broaden the literature. For example, are your syllabi worth publishing? What ideas are you leaving composed in your inbox? What important thoughts have you included in your curriculum, teaching philosophy statements, Facebook posts, etc. Tip: Pay attention to what you’ve written in the everyday, but also pay more attention to how well you’re writing in your everyday activities.
*Seek opportunities to edit the work of others. Because of the emotional detachment, it can be relatively easier to look at and analyze someone else’s work. Becoming a practiced editor helps you to learn through the labor of others. Tip: Publishing is done by people. Don’t hesitate to get to know them and to diplomatically offer your “review” services to them. Offer your availability as a gift, not as a demand. If they don’t take you up on it, they’ll at least know who you are. It’s weird for someone to offer free labor and that makes you memorable.
*Have an experimental internet presence. Wherever you straddle the artist-academic-writer continuum use the internet to—not only “show your face” to the world—but also as a means to continue your writing practice. The internet is the Wild-Wild-West of writing. Today, the majority of people will engage with your work online somehow. Test out the pliability of this medium and figure out how it lends itself to your creative/scholarly work, as well as the promotional aspects of what you do. Tip: Treat your website like your face. Update it, clean it up, make it inviting, and allow it to describe/represent you accurately. It’s okay if your web presence is somewhat palimpsestic, but be careful that it doesn’t become a graveyard.
*Look at stuff (other publications), not just for content, but for form. Most journals and Presses have a style or reputation that they want to sustain. Figure out where you want to see your work published and study what they have published. Tip: Own books and subscribe to stuff. Relatively speaking, books are some of the cheapest art “things” you can own. Having a collection of objects you like to live with will inform what kinds of objects you want to put into the world.
*Teach your publisher, editor, and colleagues. Sometimes the thing you want to do will be too “out there” or just not what is expected. Negotiate. Figure out where the middle space is and attempt to help others come closer to where you’re at in your thinking/practice. Again, publishing is people and people can be convinced. Tip: Ask to speak to people on the phone or send kind emails that feel open and conversational. Yes, you want them to understand your work and to publish it, but sometimes a pedagogical gesture needs to be performed before people will welcome your weirdness into their fold.
* Read good writing. Especially writing that is done outside of your particular area. Tip: I recommend that you read writers talking about writing. These words can be enlightening and motivating. The Paris Review has published a handful of volumes containing many of their interviews with writers. I also recommend Richard Hugo’s The Triggering Town, especially the first three chapters.
* Always be writing. Do it poorly, do it on Post-it notes, do it during meetings, do it at church, do it on your smartphone, do it through your emails, do it in letters of recommendation, do it as artist’s placards, do it as love letters, do it as assignments, do it as to-do lists, do it on marker or chalkboards, do it on a computer, do it with a pencil, do it for a lecture, do it as a joke, do it when you’re asked to present in one of your colleagues’ classes, do it while you’re driving, do it with mere thinking. Tip: Writing is thinking; it can be done in all situations where thinking is possible. Publishing is not a flaming hoop you have to jump through, it’s a flaming hoop you get to jump through.
The modern writer (scriptor) is born simultaneously with his (sic) text…to write can no longer designate an operation of recording, of observing, of representing, of “painting” (as the Classical writers put it), but rather [what is called] a performative, a rare verbal form…in which utterance has no other content than the act by which it is uttered…
—Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, 1967