Moments of Truth
In September of 2007,
The Writer’s Eye Magazine was born in a flash of inspiration, while pondering
the effort of marketing my own work, as an artist and a writer, in two vastly
different directions. Why, I wondered, isn’t there a place where
both my writing and my art would be valued?
The idea of creating such a venue—The Writer’s
Eye Magazine—immediately came to
mind, and I thought, Why
not?
Within two months, the magazine was launched, with a commitment to pay each
writer/artist for his or her work. I figured I would subsidize the magazine (to
the tune of $3,500 in out-of-pocket expenses per year, plus countless hours of
love and labor) and find a way for it to support itself later. Later has
arrived.
Last week, while
preparing the online version of this issue, I came to the realization that I
could no longer afford to subsidize the magazine, either financially or from an
energy perspective. I love The Writer’s Eye; yet, because of the hours spent
reviewing and editing others’ work, my own work has languished. I thought, What
am I going to do? Should I shut down the magazine? But my heart was
not ready to let it go that easily. I then thought, This is the Internet,
right? So why do I hold the magazine to a static publishing timeline of six times per
year? Why do I try to hold what is essentially a volunteer effort to some kind
of external standard? Why not think of something more creative?
And so, another inspiration was born: From
now on, The Writer’s Eye Magazine will be a fluid publishing venue, using
an Internet-based publish-on-demand model.
Instead of publishing just six times per year, I can publish the poetry,
articles, and stories that appeal to me, as they flow in to the submissions
e-mailbox. I can publish weekly or whatever works for me personally. After all,
it’s not as if I’m being paid, right? In addition, rather than letting my own
work take back seat, I will publish some of my own stories and poems,
accompanied by my art (usually photography).
The problem of money
also needed to be solved. I remain committed to the idea that we artist/writers
should be paid for our work, yet my own income at this time is not sufficient
for this kind of subsidy. I went through
a number of scenarios in
my mind, and arrived at the following conclusions:
(1)
This issue of the magazine will be the last
issue for which
all published stories, poems, and articles are paid. Therefore, all of the
writer/artists to whom I’ve made a commitment to publish through the end of the
year are published in this issue.
(2)
The magazine will hold an ongoing Writer/Artist
of the
Month Contest. Entrants will pay a small,
$5 entry fee. The winner(s) of the monthly contest will be featured on the home
page, their submissions published, and they will be awarded a cash prize.
Writer/artists who do not win an award may still have their work published, if
they so choose, as a regular, unpaid submission.
(3)
For those writer/artists who do not wish to
participate in the
contest and/or pay an entry fee, they may still submit their work and have it
published, without pay. I will always do my best to help promote their work by
providing links to their websites, bios, and contact information.
(4)
I will continue to expand The Writer’s
Eye Store and will
include specials that may be purchased with a small percentage to help defray
expenses of The Writer’s Eye.
Someday, I hope that
the magazine will achieve a level of financial independence that will allow me
once again to pay all published artist/writers for their work.
In the meantime,
we are off and running on a new
adventure together. I would love to hear
from you—readers, writers, and artists—about these changes. I am always open to
new ideas, so if you have creative solutions that will help
support the magazine, and therefore the incredibly wonderful and creative work
that is represented here, please email me. I would like to hear about them.
