If you enjoy the raw process of sharing lightly revised fresh drafts, you’ll really enjoy the 30/30 Project by Tupelo Press. (If you can donate, please be sure to put “Kathleen McCoy” into the “Honor” box to credit my fundraising goal, but even if you can’t donate, please visit the site and read our work.) Here is my latest contribution. So far, I’m keeping up. It’s a great challenge for me. I’ve always been more like Elizabeth Bishop who wrote that she preferred to average one finished poem a year than to churn them out–but that approach won’t get your work out there anymore.
If you’re not sure whether contributing is worth it, I can show you why with a handout from CLMP, shown below.
COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES & PRESSES © Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, 2003.
Why Support Independent Literary Publishing?
Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Independent literary publishers are mission-driven—they focus on publishing literature.
Independent literary publishers provide access to the voices of entire communities.
Independent literary publishers produce over 98% of poetry being published each year, and the majority of literature in translation and works of fiction by emerging writers.
Placing the cause and calling of literature ahead of the bottom line, independent literary publishers serve as a primary link between writers—particularly those representing emerging voices, culturally specific communities, and literary art forms not fostered by mainstream publishers—and readers. Independent literary publications create an enduring record of cultural activity, and they provide an essential alter- native to the voices heard through large-scale, commercial publishing. Nearly a thousand primarily non- profit literary magazines, presses, and online publishers can be found across the country, in every state, serving hundreds of unique audiences. Ultimately, they connect diverse communities of readers who would remain otherwise isolated from their living literary heritage.
Currently, the fruits of independent literary publishing remain unknown to the larger public—the com- munity of readers. Nonprofit literary publishers as a whole have been grossly neglected by most private foundations and positioned as marginal within the arts in general. Most independent literary publish- ers lack the marketing muscle of their commercial counterparts and often struggle to compete within the larger publishing arena. Nonprofit literary publishers require support to fulfill their missions: to bring exceptional literature into the hands of caring readers.
Supporting the work of independent literary publishers provides readers everywhere with access to new literary voices and ensures that America’s evolving literary heritage remains diverse and vibrant.
For 35 years, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses has provided technical assistance to and advo- cated on behalf of independent literary publishers. CLMP guides literature through the business of publish- ing and engages diverse communities of readers through a variety of public programs.
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The Real McCoy 