- Joined
- Dec 9, 2006
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 2
As I thumb through another periodical, gauging the style of the writers, with hopes to find a home for my own work, an unsettling thought occurs to me. What if I'm the typical reader for this publisher, or for any publisher? Not some voracious reader who picks up a journal for the joy of reading and passes his favorite stories onto his friends, but a writer who's just reading the stories so they can figure out how to get their own work published. It may seem like a trivial distinction at first, I mean a reader is a reader, right? But I can't help but be reminded of my time as a regular performer at the local Open Mic Nights held at every cafe.
At first it's encouraging. You stand up on stage and perform a piece of music or a poem to a real live audience, everyone applauds, and you feel a rush of joy and acceptance as you take your seat. But then you notice one of the audience members takes the stage next, and everyone applauds them as they return to their seat, and then another audience member takes the stage, and another. Soon you begin to realize you're not performing for an audience, you're performing for performers, and they didn't come to listen. They came to play. If you keep at it, you'll see regulars in the audience, but they never become your audience. They always have a guitar in hand or a few lines of verse scribbled on a piece of paper. If you tell one of them about another cafe you're performing at later in the week, they might show up, but again, they don't come to see you, they come as a performer, ready to share with the group.
I feel as a writer, I'm once again being subjected to the Open Mic forum. I buy these periodicals and read the stories so I can get my own work published, but even if I do, the only people who will read my stories are other writers who are hoping to get their own work published. I'm not building a real audience or reputation, except maybe as a guy to follow to see where you can get your own stuff published.
So what does everyone think? Is my comparison unfounded? Or are we just a bunch of performers stuck at an Open Mic Night, forever performing for a crowd that never comes to listen?
At first it's encouraging. You stand up on stage and perform a piece of music or a poem to a real live audience, everyone applauds, and you feel a rush of joy and acceptance as you take your seat. But then you notice one of the audience members takes the stage next, and everyone applauds them as they return to their seat, and then another audience member takes the stage, and another. Soon you begin to realize you're not performing for an audience, you're performing for performers, and they didn't come to listen. They came to play. If you keep at it, you'll see regulars in the audience, but they never become your audience. They always have a guitar in hand or a few lines of verse scribbled on a piece of paper. If you tell one of them about another cafe you're performing at later in the week, they might show up, but again, they don't come to see you, they come as a performer, ready to share with the group.
I feel as a writer, I'm once again being subjected to the Open Mic forum. I buy these periodicals and read the stories so I can get my own work published, but even if I do, the only people who will read my stories are other writers who are hoping to get their own work published. I'm not building a real audience or reputation, except maybe as a guy to follow to see where you can get your own stuff published.
So what does everyone think? Is my comparison unfounded? Or are we just a bunch of performers stuck at an Open Mic Night, forever performing for a crowd that never comes to listen?