Tuesday 20 January 2009

The future of the book ... your chance to air your views in a poll

A bookworm at Hay

The Poetry Society alerted me to the If Book: London site, run by Chris Meade. Many of us are faced with a dilemma as paper magazines become electronic. Our work is much easier to submit electronically and there can be real ecological benefits, but the whole process can seem more ethereal despite the fact that the readership comprises the world at large. It would be great to know your views, and what goes through your mind when you try to decide whether to submit to a book or hardcopy journal, or to an electronic zine. The poll (see right column) is just for interest and will run until the end of January. You can leave comments, too.

My recommended online magazines:
More online magazines at The Poetry Kit

My friend, Wendy Webb of Norfolk Poets and Writers has just started an electronic version of her popular Tips for Writers magazine (details in box below). Issue 2 is due out in February. Issue 1 carried an interview with Sophie Hannah.

Wendy Webb's Facebook Profile

My thanks to Matt of Polyolbion for recommending the following web-based magazines:
On a slightly different but related note, I am grateful to Professor David Morley for pointing me in the direction of President Obama's Bookshelf. How much can we tell about a person from the books he or she reads? What do our books tell others about us?

You might like to check out the Green Book Festival.


3 comments:

Matt Merritt said...

At the moment, I do roughly 50-50, but I am moving more and more towards online mags, simply because there's a bigger potential audience, and many of the zines are getting better and better.

A couple I like are Horizon Review and Umbrella, but there are more and more.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Thanks for recommending Bolts of Silk! I tend to submit more to online journals, though i do try to send a fair number of poems to UK paper magazines.

Mistlethrush said...

I enjoy Bolts of Silk. Not tried the other two yet.
I suppose online magazines cause less damage to the envoronment but I still prefer to hold a book or magazine.