Monday, September 27, 2010

Chapter Nine and MYTHS Done

I'm exhausted but also relieved that within the last two weeks I've managed to finish Chapter Nine of You Know Me, Etc and also produce the MYTHS issue of Cliterature (and on time, to boot). MYTHS is a significant issue for me because it marks the four-year point for publishing Cliterature. Things have changed dramatically in my life and the rest of America's lives in that time. For one thing, social media has gone from a self-indulgence to a necessity for many of us.

I really don't think Cliterature would have taken off on the international scale that it has if it wasn't for two things: Cliterature is an exclusively online journal, meaning the distribution isn't limited by print runs or geography, and I've been able to promote it across several social media channels that reach a far wider audience than I could have done with more traditional forms of marketing. It makes me happy to see so many people from such different places and walks of life enjoying and submitting to Cliterature, many of whom struggle to see their work published in more mainstream publications. Over the course of the past four years, whenever I am able to publish someone for their first time, I feel a special pride that I am able, in my own small way, to get their voice into the public realm.