Giving voice to silent pens
The recent newsroom shooting at the Maryland Capital Gazette Newsroom compelled me, and I am sure anyone involved in media at any level, to reflect on rights and responsibilities. As with any industry, publishing of all types has a limited number of opportunities available. For writers – at all stages of their careers – finding a place to have your voice heard is challenging.
Humans read to explore experiences (potentially real or total fantasy). In some cases these readings allow us to find solace in our own hardships. In other cases we discover ways of mediating challenging circumstances even before they happen. Often we read with no real intent. We are just looking to travel somewhere new, to escape deep into a fantasy place, to lose track of time. Reading is a great addiction that is, in most cases, quite harmless to both the user and the pusher – that is publishers and writers.
And it is legal!
Writers are what make those escapes possible. As a writer, getting work published is awesome; getting paid for it is even better. I have been in both camps and understand from various levels of acceptance and rejection that doing what you love and sharing your voice with others often means writing for the love of writing. Still, there is no denying that it is nice to get paid for your work – an increasingly remote prospect in a competitive arena.
Since starting my new adventure as a publisher and editor, one of my primary goals has been to step back from the writing and offer a platform for new writers to share, and hone their craft. In many cases I have called in favors or gone further into “debt” with friends to bring ideas to our Owl readers. We are a new press, and that means that those of us who are dedicated to the cause are working hard – for free – such is the case with any new venture!
It is incredible how far we have come toward our goals. We have become recognized, in just over a year, as a platform for writers of both fiction and nonfiction. Balancing content such that there are enough advertisers to keep things afloat while leaving the majority of the space for content of interest to readers is, as any writer who has been on the publication end of things knows, an almost impossible task.
One of our main goals is to support arts and innovation across the Finger Lakes region – especially in the more rural, less heard of smaller places. Small towns are, I believe, the future of a new, less corporate America. Every day I meet new, amazingly creative people and am always left wishing I could promote more artists, of all persuasions. We take what comes in and offer up as much as we can each issue in the space we have available. I am often juggling so many things and sometimes fall back on the press releases and content that comes (magically, I like to say) into my “in” box, carefully packaged and ready to use. Unfortunately, the agencies that can provide this “easy” content are often the ones that have the greatest financial and human resources (and in many cases an advertising budget). I also often find myself taking way more time than I should (from a business perspective) helping writers, advertisers and human service or arts agencies with fewer resources better market themselves to me so I can better market what they have to offer to our readers – often for free.
As a writer, supporting writers as artists is so important. We routinely work with writers to help them get their words out there, many for the first time ever. For well-seasoned writers and contributors, many experts in their fields with a lifetime of experience, we offer as much compensation and promotion as we can. Our online platform allows us to not only share their voices in print, but to link back to their websites and other writings.
With the exception of promotional press releases, we publish Owl-original stories and articles in each and every issue. I can’t tell you how exciting that is as a writer. Yet, each and every day I am left wishing that I could do more, and more. We do have some exciting plans in the works as the Owl takes flight and evolves in new and meaningful ways – supporting and showcasing arts and innovation in the smaller places that we all love – and call home! The reality is that like any organization that fosters and supports the arts, resources and time is limited.
Despite the expenses and time that go into creating a print (and online) publication – something that many writers have no comprehension or understanding of, we have been able to offer voice to hundreds of people since becoming the “Owl.” Part of our initial goal was to encourage and publish writers who might not otherwise see their work in print, and not only have we been able to do that but we are, increasingly, thanks to our readership and advertisers, expanding where their voices are heard and finding ways to compensate them for their writing and art. Unlike some publications that fill most of their space with ads, we dedicate most of our (costly) print space to words and images from and about people – as we continue to promote arts and innovative business ventures around the Finger Lakes region.
D.E. Bentley, Editor Owl Light News